I am a big fan of the .25 cal cartridges. Although, I tend towards the 25-06 over the .257 Roberts for the bump in speed.
But, I think the OP makes a good point that, as nice as the .257 Roberts is, it is not the best "utility" round for those living in the West. That doesn't mean the .257 Roberts doesn't perform well in its respective niche, which it does quite well. But being good in a niche application, is not the same as being a good utility round. Meaning, if you like utility cartridges, the .257 Roberts doesn't make much sense. If you like low recoil and nostalgia and only shoot whitetails/antelope/etc. at moderate ranges, the .257 Roberts makes a lot of sense.
I would also say, that since we can easily and cheaply buy meat at the grocery store, hunting is about fun, and if a person likes a certain round for other than performance reasons (nostalgia, tradition, history, got a good deal, etc.), then they should by all means hunt with it and enjoy themselves.
(As an aside, taking dangerous game off the table, the best utility round is the 7mm-08. This is particularly true with modern monolithic bullets, which don't wastefully shed (i.e., any weight lost is in the form of sharp shards that continue to damage) close to half their weight shortly after impact.)
JMHO
Shinbone, I never considered the Western/Eastern application that you suggest. It is worth noting that Ned Roberts lived in New Hampshire & Townsend Whelen spent lots of time in Vermont and for most species outside of Moose that live here, the .257 Rob was/is nearly perfect - especially given the groundhog population if the time.
I spent a bunch of years hunting whitetails in Virginia. Small deer, close shots. I did not own a .257 Roberts during that time, but it would have been an ideal choice for that hunting situation. Now that I live in Colorado, while I think the .257 Roberts is a cool little round and would be fun to shoot, it would be far from a top choice for most hunting around here. And, that is confirmed when you see which cartridges the local retailers devote the most shelf space to.
