Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 Roberts barrel length question

i bought a HVA action with a 25", very slender Bartlien barrel. it shoots fine.

i don't plan on converting to a 25-06, but maybe i'll turn it into a 257AI

i was wondering if i am getting any benefit to the extra length.

ked

About 25-30 feet per second per inch of barrel. Or that's the average, anyway.

If you AI the chamber and shorten the barrel 2-3 inches, you'll get about the same velocity as you're getting now, assuming you handload to the same pressure.

The AI rounds may or may not feed as well from the magazine. Depends on the action.

The rifle loony way would be to change SOMETHING, because obviously the rifle isn't all it can be, because somewhere out there is a "perfecter" rifle, as Larry the Cable Guy might put it.

I'd leave it alone, you get plenty enough velocity, as is, to shoot deer, antelope, anything you want, with the right bullets.

All you gotta do is get within a comfortable shooting distance for yourself.

I guess you could whack a couple inches off the end of the pipe, if you HAD to do something. I'd leave it alone and shoot the heck out of it.

It sounds like a nice rifle.

Agreed!!!

I have a 20" bbl Rem M7MS. I get 2850 out of 117gr. pills and 3k out of 100gr. pills.

It's proven to be more than enough for any deer or hog I've pointed it at.

Assuming it would still balance right, I'd chop about 4" off the thing, but that's me.

257 R 22 inch is about perfect

That's what both of mine are. 22"

Yep we hunt out of blinds up here and trying to position a 24" or longer tube just right w/o making noise and calling attention to oneself is pretty near impossible.

On the other hand I have a 24" .257 AI that I LOVE when not in the confines of a blind.

JB nailed the perfect "up the middle" solution, but my experience w/ AIs in Mauser actions has been that at the very least they'll need some polishing of the ramp to feed worth a darn.

Honestly there isn't a deer out there that'll notice a 100 fps loss in velocity anyway.

I've gone to 20" barrels for in blind use.

I'd look at balance if cutting back the current barrel. I had a 22" Roberts and that length seemed to make good sense. 120gr Partitions at 2,800fps worked nicely on deer.

Well, my custom .257 AI has a 23-inch barrel--just wanted something a little more different...

I have a Rem M-722 in 257 Robts re-barreled with a 25" Shilen barrel. It came out a bit heavy for a walking rifle, at a couple of ounces over 9 lbs scoped. (My ideal weight and balance for deer rifles is a M-70 FWT). However, it is an excellent stand rifle, in my opinion, and very accurate.

The balance is very good, for a rifle of its weight, so I have no intention of changing it. It is a bit lighter, by 6 ounces, than my Mark-V Weatherby in 257 Wby. with a 26" barrel, and balances better.

If you like the way yours balances and handles I would leave it alone, at least long enough to be real sure of what you want.

From my custom Pre 64 the #2 24" Krieger barrel balances the rifle perfectly and the 115 BT's Is shoot with either IMR 4831 at 2840 or IMR 4350 at 2965 fps. Either load has worked very well on our Utah mulie does. I'm staying more with the 2965 fps load because the ballistics match up to the Leopold B&C reticle.

Alan

When I was young I thought being different was cool.
So I decided to have a custom rifle built with a full length stock. It is a 19 inch barreled 25-06. The muzzle blast is pretty wicked according to some guys riding in a Blazer when we were shooting prairie dogs from the vehicle.
The deer I have shot with it so far have died just fine.
whelennut

I have a Ruger ultralight in 257 Roberts. It has a 20 inch barrel. With a near max charge of 4350 and a Nosler 115 grain Partition, its on game performance is impressive. More often than not the deer never move after impact. I don't know what my velocity is, nor does it matter to me. It WORKS!

i think i'll leave it as is.

thanks for y'alls advice

keith

Keith my 250 Sav AI had a 25 inch Shilen barrel.

I cut 4 inches from it and dropped 95-100fps average with 117g bullets.

As it is a medium weight barrel the rifle now balances much better offhand. I am very happy with the compromise.

This.

I had a 257 AI with a 26" 10" twist lilja barrel and with 120 gr bullets is got 3150 fps! Very flat shooting rig