Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .257 Roberts with a Floyd Butler Barrel

I picked up a Belgian FN Actioned Mauser with a Monte Carlo Styled Stock and a FR Butler Barrel in .257 Roberts cal.I'm trying to find out if this rifle is a custom Floyd Butler Build or just a nice Mauser Sporter that has a Floyd Butler barrel on it. It's in very nice condition I have no idea of the build date or any other information about it gonna try and add some pics

Nice looking rifle, and excellent caliber

Thank You

Anybody have a good recipe for the .257 Roberts they would share I have 100 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip .257 Spitzer bullets IMR 4350 and a little bit of Varget Powder and Winchester large Rifle Primers I will be Predator Hunting and Target shooting.

In addition to the IMR 4350 you should try IMR 4064, I would for get the Varget.

H or IMR4350 works well with the 100gr bullets. I'm also partial to RL19.

Made some test loads for what I believe to be a Floyd Butler built 257 Roberts here are the results

Try 100 gr. TTSX over max dose of H100V. My Roberts pushes those bullets at 3,250 fps, and as gunner500 says, that load is a "little buzz saw".

H100V isn't the most temp stable, but is the performance champ in the .257R.

That load is a deer/hog killer, works very well.

DF

The first thing I try in .257 for 100 grain bullets is 47-48 grains of H4831.

Tom

H100V will out run H-4831, around 200 fps with 100's.

Not as temp stable as the Autralian, Extreme powder, but a real niche performer in the Roberts.

I don't hunt real cold climates, H100V does what it needs to do.

If you like TTSX, E-Tips, etc., speed helps.

DF

I know it pushes bullets fast but it didn't give sh*t for accuracy in the 2 .257s I tried it in. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just expect a bit better than 4 MOA which is about all it would do in my rifles.

Tom

While that's his name the finish is not certain:



Floyd Butler of Poultney Vermont was one of our finest men and smiths ever.

That looks like his name stamp.

Floyd's stock work frequently had a curl carved near the front of the cheek piece and a shadow traced under it.

Worked surprisingly well in my Roberts, wasn't expecting sub half inch.

Here's a link, but after Photobucket's caper, pictures are blacked out.

So, here's one from Imgur, which BTW, is a much better and easier to use photo host.

www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10163944/6

My Roberts is on a LA, so the COAL you see won't work in a SA.

DF

OP's FN should have plenty of room for a longer .257R round.

DF

Just curious, did Mr. Butler actually make his own barrels, or does the barrel stamp indicate he put the rifle together?

DF

I burnt a pound of the stuff trying to get 115 grain bullets close to 3,000fps. I shot some decent groups, but not consistently. I went back to my original load at 2,800 fps, choosing accuracy over speed.

I will be making the next batch longer I needed to start somewhere so I went with Noslers medium load and OAL I'm going to stick with the IMR 4350 powder and bump it up in increments but I dont know if I even want to mess with that group I'm getting so I may just leave it where it is for the 100gr just extend the bullet a little. I have to buy some 75 or 80gr bullets and figure out a load for them because you can't go higher then 80gr for Predator Hunting in New Jersey any suggestions. As far as Floyd Butler barrels I don't know if he made his own from what I have found out he was a well respected Gunsmith and known for building Costum rifles and a well known Violin maker and Stock Maker. The fit of my rifle to this stock is amazing and there is no manufacturers name or markings on this stock anywhere so I guess I'll never Know

I think the Roberts, although in SA rifles, is one of those rounds that works well in a 3" action.

The LA, 3.4" box works well if you can get'em to feed. My M-700 LA feeds the Roberts round as slick as any bolt gun I own, no matter where the rounds are placed in the mag. Ron Lampert, the smith who put it together, was a master at his craft. So, how much of that slick feeding is Ron, how much by chance, who knows. Just very pleased how it works. The 24" Brux barrel, I'm sure, contributes to the performance...

DF

Work up to 45 grains of 4350.

"Just curious, did Mr. Butler actually make his own barrels, or does the barrel stamp indicate he put the rifle together?

DF"

Floyd bought rifled barrels and did the gun smith work. He told me the barrels came from Buhmiller.