I've hunted with a 25.06 for about 20 years, and I'm a big fan.

But there's a lot of fans of the .257 Roberts, too.

Got to wondering which one was actually more popular, and reasons why?

Is it difference in recoil, or nostalgia, or tradition, or what?

(I see Kimber is taking a run at reviving the Roberts.)

Votes? Thoughts?

I think both the Roberts and the 250 Savage are both a lot more practical.. based on efficiency...

the one that is really nuts tho, is the 257 Roy...

I think that here in Canada, you'll find the 25/06 to be more popular. I could be wrong on that, but the 257Roberts just don't seem to be here in any great numbers at all.

The 25/06 offers a bit more velocity and in some places that would come in handy, but for the hunting I do here in NB, my 257Roberts is more than plenty and has never let me down. Both are great deer cartridges.

I wanted a smaller case. Easier to shoot and a nice break from some of the larger med bores I shoot. The 257R is a nice old classic, and that worked for me as well.

BTW ... Consider that Kimber is NOT offering any warrenty for their rifles sold here in Canada. This is not hearsay. I contacted them personally with this question. I might have bought one otherwise.

Both are good cartridges but if I'm going to drop down to 25 caliber,I start wanting a somewhat shorter,lighter rifle that burns less powder.I know the 25/06 uses a 24" barrel,and is faster than the Roberts but the Roberts does well with a 22" barrel,and I always have felt that if I have to deal with a full size, 30/06 length case,I'd rather have a 270 or 280.To me the 25/06 does nothing I can't accomplish with a 270 or 280,and both those rounds make a bettr general purpose big game rifle than any 25.

The Roberts does 3250-3300 with 87 gr bullets;3100 or so from a 100,and I have had them do better. You'll do about 2900 with 115's. These ballistics are ample for anything I want from a 25,without making a lot of noise and burning more powder,and in a substantially shorter,lighter rifle without a lot of recoil.

I love my Kimber 257. Have no use whatsoever for a 257 Weatherby.

I'd rather have a .243. I don't like any of the .25s.

I suspect that most people that buy the 25/06 buy it for their primary rifle. In that case, they look at the bigger case and higher velocities and deem it better than the Roberts for deer, black bear, and other big game.

Two Bit Aught in a long action or single shot.

Bob in a short action.

GE

I took a lot of deer with the Bob.
Love it.

T

For me, the .257 Rbts does everything that I want in a primary deer rifle. I use Hornady 100 gr. SP at approx 3000 fps and Nosler Partitions in 115 gr at about 2800 fps when I want a little more punch.

Though I've been whitetail hunting for better than 30 years, I never bought a centerfire rifle for that purpose until last year. My father's .243, 30-30, and 30-06 along with my own general-purpose .303 SMLE were all I'd ever used on deer. Once I decided I needed a dedicated deer rifle of my own, I studied cartridges hard to pick the right one for my hunting distances and the size deer we have in the southeast. Twenty-five caliber seemed about right to me, so I looked at the 250-3000, .257 Roberts, and 25-06. I got to try a friend's .25-06 and found the muzzle blast & noise too much for me and the velocity unneeded. That put me onto the Roberts next, and I've very much enjoyed the flexibility I have in creating loads for it. For my part of the world, however, I might well have gone for the .250 Savage...had rifles been available for it. I've never shot one, but the cartridge tables and stories I read indicate it might give me the "just right' level of power I need for Georgia and South Carolina deer.

25.06 vs .257 Roberts..........280 vs 7x57.....

it's all been hashed over so much there's nothing left.....

Since you brought it up, would you rather have a 25.06 or a 7X57? Which one is better?

Rifle,

One of each.

Dave

In a 25-06 vs 7X57 contest doesn't the 270 Win win?!

Isn't the answer obvious?

Why did I know that?

I have the 06 version of the 25 cal and really like it. I tend to look at it this way. The recoil difference between them is neglible - why not have the extra 150-200 ft/sec? I don't see the SA feasibility of the 257. I personally have not seen a 257 built on a short action, always the LA.

At the end of the day, the rifle weighs the same, 25-06 gets more mojo with the same bullets and recoil from both is not significant. I ask why the Bob?

Now if you're a Rifle Looney..............

b:I'm a loony I've had 25/06 as well;also several Roberts built on the long action so I could seat bullets to 3" OAL.Have "cooked" barrels in both calibers(from a Roberts that takes a LOT of rounds) .After having used both out west,and extensively on varmints here,I just found the Roberts more to my liking because I wanted a 22" barreled rifle,and 25/06 does best with 24".

My biggest pronghorn,a Wyoming buck that netted just below B&C,was killed at about 400 yards with a 257 Roberts,and 100 gr Partition.A 25/06 would not have done it more neatly.

Besides,I never reach for a 25 for any serious deer hunting(or anything else)when there's a 270 zeroed and ready to go. For me a 257 something to shoot a lot at the range, take out for varmints,coyotes,antelope on occaission; a fun rifle.The Roberts works ducky and I don't need or want the extra FPS,offered by the 25/06 or Weatherby.If I'm gonna burn that much powder,in a heavier rifle,I want more bore diameter and heavier bullets than 25's offer.

My first rifle given to me from my dad is a Ruger 257 Bobby.Killed my first 2 moose with it using 117gr Hornady Roundnose.I like it but would perfer a 25-06 I reckon.

I'd say split the difference and get the .257 Roberts Ackley.
Longer case life, Good velocity, very efficient. Put it in a 22" barrel with a little meat on it.

I had one done up in a 78 Sportsman Long action for my "Wyoming" rifle. Had Kimber detachable rings for a 6x Leupold to shoot 115 grain Partitions and a second 12Xleupold set up with detach rings sighted in with 75grain Sierra HP's for coyotes and PD. The 12x was a little too much for Coyotes, but just the ticket for PD.

Really, You can't go wrong with either one.

I had a 25-06 and have loaded for several others. I traded mine off for a Ruger 77 257 Roberts and had it AI'ed. I love it. I find 25-06's finicky to load. Maybe its just me, but normal loads would blow primers. You could fire 40 rounds with no apparent pressure signs and the next round would be fierce. Anybody else have the same problem with this round?

The big advantage of the .25-06 is that the factory ammo gets the ballistics that .257 Roberts lovers have to handload to obtain.

Of course, you can also get some extra zip out of the .25-06 by handloading. And so on...

I would suggest not just a .25-06 and a .257, but a .25-35 WCF, .250 Savage and and .257 Weatherby as well. Only then is a hunter a complete .25 hunter. (Some may notice that the .25 WSSM and .257 Ackley didn't make this list. They are OK, but they do nothing the others won't do, but if you like to make extra work for yourself--either in finding or making brass--then they might be of interest).

I have a .257 Roberts and a .25-06. real world it's 200 fps. My Roberts does 3150 with 100's and my -06 does 3350. My Bob runs a 22" barrel and the -06 a 24". Neither one is a disappointment accuracy of killing power wise for any reasonable shot from p dogs to big fat northern deer. The .25-06 burns about 6.5 grains more powder to get the extra 200 fps. I tend to run the 110 Accubond or 115 partition in the .25-06 as opposed to the 100 grain bullets in the Bob.

Though the 100 BT, .25-06 and antelope are a match made in heaven.

bob - you're right of course but I couldn't find a SS/Syn in Bob plus I do like the 25-06 as a serious deer round loaded with 100 or 115 boolets. Of course a big deer in TN is 150 lbs dressed. When I go north, a 7 mm gets the nod.

I do have several 7mm's sighted and ready to go but the 7.5 lb 25-06 gets the nod alot. I'm looking to put a 7 or two on diet this spring.

Pretty much decided awhile ago the 25-06 Rem will be my next rifle.Now build or buy?

I'm still waiting for a Marlin XL7 to arrive. Paid for, cheap. If it shoots as well as the XL7 in 270 does it'll be great. If the short 22" barrel limits it to 257 Rogers speeds that won't be such a bad thing, will it?
Can't seem to find low-buck 257 Rogers out there. The warm fuzzies keep the prices up, and that's good.

For years I used only my Husqvarna 7RM for everything around here (deer, elk, pronghorn, sheep, etc). One day I realized that the big 7 was overkill (I realize you can't kill 'em too dead, but it's more than is necessary) for everything but elk, moose, and maybe bear.

My factory Tikka T3 L/SS in .25-06 does 3312fps avg. with 100gr bullets, and it's got a 22" barrel. With 53gr of IMR4350, it gets the job done. Accurate, lightweight, it's all I used on 5 deer this year, and I'm shooting our big "northern deer." Out of the 100gr TSX, 100gr Sierra GK, and 110gr AB, I didn't have a single bullet fail to exit on my deer, including some pretty large-bodied bucks. Shots ranged from 90 yards to about 290 yards. I've practiced with the rifle all the way out to 655 yards, and where I hunt (one minute in THICK brush, the next in the open prairies) the .25-06 makes more sense due to the potential of some seriously long shots. All bullets left a serious path of destruction in the chest cavity of the deer, so I really don't see any need to move up in caliber or bullet weight. Heck, with 100gr TSX's, I even carried the .25-06 chasing bull elk this year.

I've used them all over the years. For a play type rifle where I can shoot more rounds and not worry so much about barrel heat, I love the standard Bob. In a short action. Or a P64, those are never a bad choice!

For a larger cased rifle, I am really liking the 25-284. 100 grain bullets at a very comfortable 3325 fps and 75 grainers at 3625 fps, it feeds great in my M700 short action, and it seems less fussy than a 25-06. This all comes down to mental gack, but it is a very nice round.

It's funny, a couple of you guys have mentioned that the .25-06 is finicky. My Tikka puts every load I've tried in it in 1" or less at 100 yards, with most loads going into ~0.5". Methinks it's the gun more than the cartridge that determines accuracy

Jordan, when I spoke of the 25-06 being fussy, where I found that is with lighter bullets and velocity. Not accuracy. With 100 grain bullets, good loads are usually easy to find. My last 25-06 loved H4350 with 75 and 100 grain bullets.

But with 75 grain bullets, specifically the 75 V-Max which I like for "blowed up" coyotes, I find the 25-06 to be fussier. When you get up into the 3600+ fps range, consistent velocities can be hard to come by. The 25-284 "seems" to be much more predicable and stable when doing this, according to my chronograph.

P.S. "Big northern deer?" In Calgary? HAH!!! Try the Peace Country some time. (kidding.)

BTW, Remington is offering the .257 Roberts in a limited edition, Stainless Steel CDL for 2009 for anyone that wants to go that route.

I've loaded for 2, 25-06's and both were finicky. My current rifle has been "blueprinted" and will still shoot a 2-2.5" group if it ain't happy. Feed it what it like though.............

I've got a buddy shooting 75gr Vmax's out of his Parker Hale .25-06, and he gets 0.75" groups at 100 yards consistently. It's a blast to shoot gophers with. If the accuracy is good, and the velocity high, then I don't care if there's a little bit more SD or ES than I'd like

BTW, FYI I don't actually hunt IN the city of Calgary. I live here, yes, but I hunt outside of the city limits; usually in southern Alberta, central Alberta, or else, yes, I've even been up in the Peace River area...
Actually, I mentioned the "big northern deer" because a lot of these guys talk about small southern deer requiring a normal deer cartridge like the .257R, or .243, but if you go up north, all of a sudden you need a .300 Mag. One of the bucks I shot this year would have gone ~290lbs on the hoof. That's a big deer by anyone's standards.

Sounds like you need an accurate rifle, not a different cartridge. You should try a Tikka or Savage j/k

Yup, as I said..."kidding".

Nice deer.

Don

Do you know any details on the 257 for 2009? Long action or short? 22" bbl?


ben

Wanna buy a 25-06?

Ben,

Here's the product description from Zanders (a Distributor).


REM 700 CDL SF LTD 257 ROBERTS 24 STNL

The SF stands for Stainless Fluted, and it seems that its coming with a 24" pipe. I have no idea on whether it's going short or long.

I guess you'll get the same weight in the rifle as a 22" barrel with the fluting; however if you want a shorter barrel I don't think you can just cut off 2" because the fluting normally starts about 2" from the muzzle. Looks like it'd be interesting.

I decided several years ago that if I needed more than my Bob could deliver I would just use my 270. So far on deer and antelope the Bob hasn't needed any help. I also use a good 25-20 and a couple 250 Savages so I'm well on my way to 25 cal. looneydom.

b: We need to fix you up with a lighter 7mm

My Ruger .257 roberts is my favorite rifle. with Winchester +P brass and laods it isn't far behind its bigger brother, the .25-06.

Just got some 100g TTSX to play with...

Shot a series of 25-06's for awhile figured it was overkill for deer. Went with a couple of 257 and tought it was more efficient and killed as well. Went down to a pair of bolt action 250's and thought it was about the perfect deer cartridge. Although the 250 is about maxed out with the 100 grain bullet it and the roberts seemed to get the job done just fine.

Original question included a why component.
For me the Bob had the nastalgia going for it. As well I had developed an awful flinch, and needed a quiet quarter inch gentleman to help me get back in the game. By accident I discovered a Ruger Bob on sale, and the decision was made over a coffee at Tim's with big brother The_Shootist. I fell in love with rifles again, and old Bob taught me trigger squeeze and follow through again. To date an honest .75" is my expectation from my old friend Bob. I have moved up again to 30-06 and 338 winmag without incident, but still love my Bob. I am not talking anti anything here, but have not found the Bob to be short on anything, including ease of loading, good speeds or accuracy. I love old cartridges, and the odder the better. For the rest of you Canuck's out there I have thought of taking the 303 brit and necking down to 22 or 25 calibre. Not because of any reason other than to use a rebarreled SMLE and it's original round wildcatted.

Randy the wacko

I can see why the Roberts is being re-introduced by manufacturers. Definitely has a following.

Re: finicky 25.06s

Article in latest Rifle Shooter on barrels may add light to this.

Most Roberts, when they were made, were limited to 100 gr. bullets at the time. The much later introduction of the 25.06 brought about the advent of 100 to 120 gr. bullets in .257 cal.

According to chart supplied by Shilen, ideal barrel twist rate for .257 cal. up to 100 gr. is 1:10. Indeed, the chart says up to 90 gr use 1:12 rate, up to 80 gr use 1:13, and up to 70 gr use 1:14.

From 100 gr. to 120 gr., the ideal rate is 1:9, which I suspect most 25.06s are rifled for.

IOW, the 25.06 perhaps is not as ideally suited to bullets lighter than 100 gr as is the Roberts, and judging from the chart, the lighter the bullet, the more problematic becomes accuracy in the 25.06.

Could account for disappointing results in handloading light bullets for the 25.06.

FWIW.

in my opinion the only advantage that the 25 calibers have over the .243 diameter calibers is that most of them are loaded faster than 243's and they can be loaded with heavier hunting bullets. Now if you load the 25's and 24's with hundred grain bullets you must load the 25 up faster than the .243 becuase the .243 has a better ballistic coefficient. Because of this I think that the 25-06 is a better round because it can be loaded faster than the bob which will offset the ballistic coefficent difference between the two calibers.

I loved 25-06s since i was a kid and have always been impressed with its performance but I picked up a 257 Roberts here a few years back that shoots like a full blown varmint rig and ive been sold on Bob ever since,I know a handfull of hunters here in the midwest that think the 257 Roberts is the best damn deer rifle they ever used.................

Most .25-06's are 1 in 10" twist from the factory, I couldn't find a 1 in 9" factory .25-06, there may be one but I don't know who makes it. I have a Vanguard 1 in 10" that shoots 75 and 85/87 grainers reasonably as well as 120's and 100's. My 1 in 10" .257 Roberts also shoots 75's and 100's just fine. I've also not found .25-06's to be "finicky" to reload not the Bob. Love my .25's.

Build a 25-06AI. It'll run the gammit from the Roberts to the Roy, depending what you feed it.

who is making rifles in .257 roberts?

Kimber and Remington both are coming out with 'em.

Ruger Hawkeye is available in 257 Bob, I have the model 77 Mark II and love it

Now that Kimber makes their 84M Montana in 257 Roberts, they made the 25 caliber choice VERY easy!

How long can the bullets be seated in the KimberBob?

I think I'm going to trademark that name...grin.

DJ

This sounds good in theory,but in the real world does not work out that way.I would call higher velocity AND heavier bullets an advantage.....Even the Roberts can be loaded faster with a 100 gr bullet than a 243 in the same barrel length,off-setting any advantage the slightly higher BC may provide to the 6mm.

Not sure, but will know in a few days when mine arrives! Thank you Santa! Someone here must know. A few here have one already.

If I could safely load 110gr Accubonds to SAAMI specs and get 3000 fps via the Kimber's 22" barrel, I would be very pleased! Pleased +P in fact!!

My Kimber 257 will take bullets seated to 2.820.

The 25-06 is more popular but I'm a traditionalist. my favorite round is the 6.5x55. I will do my part to revive the Bob by buying one of the new Kimbers.

I have three .250s, two Bobs, and two .25/06s. All have their places and uses, all are fun, and I may need another one or two.

DJ,
Without checking, I think my KimberBobs are similar to boatammo's - OAL up to 2.820 to 2.825.