what is the preferred barel length on a 257 Roberts? does 22 inches optimize the velocity?

I went 22" for balance, and performance is just fine.

22" works for me.

I would say 22" is about perfect.

I prefer 24"

I have 22" on my Montana. Accuracy is certainly not an issue but have not checked MV yet.

donsm70

I went 22" with mine.

If the reasoning for 24" was velocity, might as well just go to 25/06 while you're at it.


.

Wouldn't care for it on a bolt gun but 26"-28" works well on single shot receivers. Adds a little speed too.

22" on mine seems to do fine. Remember a 257 s/b a light rifle imho or you might as well be toting a 338 mag.

Get the rifle that you like and pick the ammo later.

Mine is a M700 Classic, and they all had 24 in. tubes. I have been very happy with that length.

22 seems about the right length for a 257R

Depends. I like the barrel length to be balanced with the action length. I like a 22 inch barrel on a short action like a short 700 or Kimber Montana. I lean towards 24" on a long action like a Ruger 77 or Long 700. 26" seems good on a single shot, but so does 22".

the one Mickey is building for me is 22 in. we did my daughter's at 21, because it has a 12 1/2 inch pull and it looked and balanced better.

performance wise, can't imagine you'd see a difference between 21 and 24 that you would notice. if highest possible velocity were the object, there are lots of other .25 choices anyway.

Like Duckster mine was a model 700 Classic with a 24" barrel. Worked fine for me and I'm only 5'5" tall.

Jim

I think that the preferred barrel length depends largely upon what you're going to use it for and what sort of terrain you're going to use it in.

Tighter cover, shorter distances, shorter barrels.
Limited cover, longer distances, longer barrels.

Of course, the balance of the entire package is toward the top of the importance hierarchy, so I generally pick a barrel length and contour that balances the stock I'm using. For example, a 22" Mountain Rifle contour barrel is muzzle light with a LSS-MR laminated stock, but almost perfectly balanced with a Ti stock.

In general, aren't longer barrels usually faster?

Jeff

Jeff -

Longer = faster in general, yes, but if the difference is enough to push you to a longer barrel despite what that does to your gun's balance, you should go with a .25-'06 instead.

Tom

Mine is an old Rem. 722 restocked into and ADL stock. It sports a 24".

I agree that the best way to get more speed is to increase case capacity in sync with barrel length. The best way to get 25-06 speed out of a 257 Roberts is to get a 25-06 in the first place.

I get my 257 Roberts speed multiple ways, via the 25 Souper, 257 Roberts, 257AI, 25-284, and 25 WSSM. All can be run within a couple hundred FPS of each other at like pressures and equal bullet weights.

Jeff

I've toyed with the idea of .25 Souper -izing my Kimber Montana .308. Why? I dunno. The logical illogicality of gun-nut-itis I guess.

Part of the allure of the .257 R is the size of the rifle it can come in, imo. If you are going with a 24" barrel, it cost less and weighs the same to have it in 25-06. It's the 22" and 20" 257 R's that are so handy to shoot and carry.

Mine is a 22" tang safety Ruger, and I wouldn't change a thing about it. Great rifle and very effective.

I would add a 257 Roberts LT (long throat) to your list.

I think that Savage sells 25-06 rifles with 22" barrels.

Jeff

I prefer to shoot bullets in the 75 to 100 grain range in my short action 257 Roberts rifles, no need (and no added value) for me to own a long throated 257.

Jeff

It's pretty easy to get 2900+ with 117-120's out of a SA 257. IME the velocity increase you get from going to a LA is less than the SD of velocity of many loads.

both of the Ruger .257s I've owned were long action ('06 length, 3.34" mag length) rather than short action (.308 length, 2.82" mag length). For me, the combination of long action short barrel never felt quite right.

My last was a short 700 with the mag extended for a 2.97" max OAL by milling the action bottom to accept Wyatt's sheet metal. That gun had a 22.5" Lilja barrel on it. Worked well. Right now there's a different barrel on the action. Someday I may put it back together as a .257.

Tom

Perfect balance @ 24"

Alan

beautiful rifle...is that a Biesen stock?

26" on the dedicated chuck rifle, 23" on the custom 95 Mauser, 22" on the new (to me) Montana actioned rifle.

Nope!

Have owned a Remington 700 Classic, Remington 722 and Pre 64 Model 70....all had 24" factory tubes.

Theres a Model 70 257 Roberts and a Remington 760 in 257R in my
gun safe. One with a 22" barrel and the other with a 24"
barrel. At my age 65 and with 2 bad shoulder, I wish both were
lighter. I dont see that a 2" barrel length make much
difference. By the way if you us 6mm magazines in the 760
Remington you can load the bullets longer.