I'm finally ready to start my .257 roberts project, and as there has been some interest in this topic I thought I would post the details of my progress.

The goal is to put together an economical medium weight sporter in .257 Roberts. I'm not looking for benchrest accuracy or stunning display quality looks but rather a gun that can be counted on to deliver hunting grade accuracy in a durable and rugged platform.

I have chosen to use a gun that I bought specifically as a donor rifle. It is a sporterized VZ 24 action that has had the charger hump removed, drilled and tapped, new bolt handle installed and argentine bottom metal installed. It is in an older Fajen walnut stock and the original 8x57 military barrel has been recontoured and shortened to a sporter profile. I purchased this gun from a pawn shop for $200 including a tasco World class scope which I sold on ebay for $50. I also have promised the takeoff barrel to another member for $25 so I have a total of $125 in the donor.



If you plan to do this as economically as possible is advisable to search out a donor that has a lot of the work already done, but any of the commercial guns like an interarms mark x will also get you to the same stage and you can probably recoup a little more money from the takeoff barrel than I got.



I chose an Adams and Bennet f14 chrome molly barrel for the project. I ordered it from http://www.midwayusa.com/ on Thursday of last week and it was on my doorstep on Satuday. $93 total including shipping and a 3 day delivery is pretty impressive service.

The barrel has a bigger shank than the existing barrel so a little stock inletting will be in order but should be no big deal.





Out of curiosity I inserted a factory .257 roberts in the short chambered barrel and with it pushed in against the shoulder of the case it protruded from tha Barrel .19". That is probably useless information, but I thought some of you guys that plan to hand ream the finished chamber might want to know.



I'm going to ship the gun tomorrow to: http://www.skaggsgunsmithing.com/
I've never used Mark before, but he advertises on ebay and has a ton of positive feedback. I also talked to him on the phone, and he said all of the stuff I like to hear from a guy that is a hunter and understands where I'm trying to go with this project.

The total for squaring the action, installing the barrel, finish reaming the chamber and recrowning the barrel is $55 and $35 will cover the shipping and insurance to and from. Mark suggested the recrown as the barrel comes with a rather strange crown that is basically flat with the outer edges rounded off.



If you add all that up it comes to $308. The remaining steps will be to inlet the barrel channel to fit, bed the recoil lug area (this will be interesting as I've never done it before), install a low swing safety and cold blue the barrel with Oxpho blue. I might also recontour the military trigger guard a little.

I'm pretty excited to finally have my .257 bob under construction.

Weagle

Here's an outfit that is pretty resonable on bluing if you're interested. Particularly if you do the polishing and send them the stuff to be blued disassembled. I did have them do the polishing on one gun, and it was better than most factory polishs.
Bluing

I'm very interested in this project....I'm wanting another 257 Roberts.

Pedestal1....how deep in East Texas are you? (we hunt between Livingston and Woodville....border the Indian reservation)

looks good, weagle. nice pics, as always.

Nice lookin project... I want One <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

HBB

Stan V
Not to far. I live near Trinity, hunt on a lease just outside of Groveton.

Lookin' good there weagle. Your project is almost exactly the one I've been mulling over for about a year ... except based on a spare M48A I've had sitting around. Thanks for posting & maybe that's enough to get me moving on my Bob project.

'tikka, get to work. you've got no excuse, you here? (hee)

Quit yer proddin' there fish ... don't you have an axe to grind ... a Gransfors Bruks, that is <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Once huntin' season is finished that Bob project will work its way back to the front of my bench ... patience <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Progress and Change report:

Packed the rifle and shipped it priority mail on Nov 3rd to Skaggs gunsmithing. I got a call on Nov 8th from Mr Skaggs to inform me that my rifle was done and being shipped, and I received the rifle back yesterday, Nov 15th. That's an 8 business day turnaround back to my door!! Wow!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I am not a machinist or a gunsmith so I have no way to do critical measurements, but the work looks excellent. The crown has been recut to a target style, and the barrel has an excellent looking ".257 roberts" stamped on it.



I have decided to install the action in an interarms mark x stock that I had on hand. I made this decision for a couple of reasons: First, I'm anxiuos to get this gun shooting so I can use it this deer season and the barreled action is almost an exact drop in fit for the interarms stock. Second, I don't have a low swing safety on hand, but I do have a bold trigger with the side safety that will work perfect with the interarms stock. And lastly, this is going to be a working gun, and the painted interarms stock fits that bill nicely while giving me time to work on some checkering on the walnut stock. Here's the painted stock with the action sitting in it prior to final fitting.



The barrel channel was almost perfect, but it did have one contact area that needed some relief. It was easily sanded out with a wooden dowl wrapped in sandpaper.



The bolt handle doesn't match the cutout in the interarms stock, so I will fill it in completly with epoxy, recut it and repaint it.



This project is coming together quickly.

Weagle

8 day turnaround--Good Grief, that's practically drive -thru barrel service. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I really like what your're doing with the project. You should be up a shooting soon and ready to go whack a critter.

Good Luck,
HBB

keep 'em coming, weagle. much trouble to seat the guard tight enough for proper function?

I made up a VERY similar rifle in 1976. M98 action, reworked bolt handle, Douglas .25/06 barrel, [bleep] classic stock,Buehler safety, and a Canjar single-set trigger.

I did the stock myself, except bedding. The gunsmith did the rest; barrel blue safety,trigger installation.

This gun was a champion! I took it to work every day(ranch)
and it was the best rifle that I ever had. It was stolen in 1985.
Bob

Weagle,

Thanks for putting the pictures and your plan up to view. It is good for folks to see that not all rifle projects need to be big bucks customizations (although I hope you shoot big bucks!).

jim

Update: I'm glead I decided to use the painted wooden stock because I can modify it without fear of messing it up. Any screw-ups are easy to fix with a little filler and fresh paint. I decided the stock would look better if it was a few inches shorter so I broke out the miter box and bobbed her off. I also opened the bolt handle cut out up so I could fill it in and recut it. You can see the piece I cut off in the picture.





I used a 2 part epoxy to fill in the bolt handle cut out. I just use tape to build a dam and filled it in. I then reshaped it with a file and sandpaper.





I think the barrel looks pretty cool in the white. Heres the gun almost complete. I installed a side safety bold trigger and the bolt handle cut out is now correct.




I have the scope and bases ready to go, so all I need to do is bed the action and blue the barrel and she'll be ready to hit the range and then the woods. I'm debating putting a red camo pattern on that would match the red recoil pad.

Weagle

The project is lookin good. I like the red camo pattern idea. It should look great.


Good Shooting,
HBB

Nice job!!!

Update: Got a little more done this evening. I blued the barrel with oxpho blue. It really took well. I've only applied it twice and it is as dark as I usually get with 4 or 5 applications. I basically just rub it on with steel wool, wait a couple of minutes and polish it off with a paper towel. I then let it sit over night covered with kroil and reapply till it looks like I want. I also applied a little camo to see if I liked the color..

Tell me what you think of the brick red and if you think I should use black or tan also or just do a 2 color scheme?

Thanks,
Weagle

I think it would look better with some black in the stock along with the red..

You could try it and if you don't like it just repaint....

Very cool prodject.. Looking forward to seeing a critter or two taken with it....

Paul

Sharp project.

I painted up an old Rem 788 years ago. I used one of the little paint kits that you can find at Walmart in the model toy section. It comes with four or five different colors thats used to paint military planes & tanks. Then I just sprayed a coat of clear finish over it for protection.

I kind of figured you would paint it blue and orange <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

black and tan with the green. buff with 000 steel wool to knock off some shine. top coat(s) of matte polyurethane? buff again?
nice job, nice pics - again.

Hadn't thought of that. The .257 War Eagle!
Sounds good.

Weagle

Green and red with tan for effect. You could spray over the top with "clear epoxy traction spray" for some extra grip.

Gret looking project! BMT

Weagle...Do your larger camo spots with Black and Tan(not brown) Then do smaller spots with Red-just enough to accentuate your red recoil pad.Maybe not over a eight or ten spots on the whole rifle.

Lookin' mighty good. Can't wait to see how she shoots.

Now just quit it Weagle!! You just keep on postin' those pictures & updates and won't let the thread fall below the first page ... how am I supposed to procrastinate my Bob project?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> After all, now is the middle of deer season ... I've got too much work piling up at the office ... I'm in the process of finally finishing off the family room ... and ...

Seriously, thanks again for sharing the progress of your build. It's lookin' good so far & although I was hesitant about the color at first, I think that the final green/red/black camo pattern will look pretty good.

257 war eagle ... now that's cool.

Update: Got the action bedded and she's pretty much ready to go. I'll add a couple more colors to the camo pattern, but here's the final config. I mounted and older Japanese Bushnell Banner that has served me well for years on several rifles. It's mounted on weaver 2 piece bases with steel weaver rings. It weighs 8lbs 11oz as you see it in the pic. Now I hope it shoots!!

Weagle

I had a chance to sight her in today. I only had one box of shells, but after a couple shots to adjust the scope I shot 3 - 3 shot groups. They were all hovering around 1 1/2". I think I'm going to be very happy with the way this thing shoots. I had time to get to the woods for a short while but didn't get to try the 120gr nosler partitions on any deer or yotes. It was still a great evening, and I couldn't be happier with how this project turned out.

Good Shooting,
Weagle

The project is looking great. Good luck on making meat with it soon <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Good Shooting,
HBB

Congrats on a nice job. Looks like you'll be very happy together.

skippy.

This is an old thread, but I finally finished the paint job so I though I'd post a Pic.

I ended up shooting one deer with the rifle during deer season. I have several handloads that are shooting groups around an inch so I'm real happy with the rifle. I'm sure I can get it shooting tighter with a little load development. It is exactly what I wanted and a real sweetheart to shoot.

Good shooting,
Weagle

Very Nice!



Mike

that WILL do ...
rats, you've started my mauser heart to humming again.
i smell a re-barrel coming for my sporterized m-96 ...

Very Nice!

Weagle, Weagle, War Damn Eagle!

stinkin' aubs are about to outnumber the alaska boys around here ...

Very, Very Nice. I like the business-like paint job and the fact that you did mostly yerself.

BMT

You should be proud. Nice job.

Thanks for the all the nice feedback.

And

War Damn Eagle!

Weagle