Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77 in 257 Roberts

100 gr Accubonds??

I wish they made a 100!

According to MD, they didn’t offer the 100AB because it performed just like the 100 BTip

They do make 100 gr partitions though...

Laffin...I'll have to check the box tomorrow. Must be 105 or 110? Nonetheless, they shoot a LOT better than the Hornady ammo.

Well I shot it some more with the somewhat warm Pendleton 110 gr. Accubond ammo. First it copper fouled pretty badly, second it averaged 2.6 inches for 5 3 shot groups! The bullet in this ammo is seated deeply, COAL is 2.755 and the case neck is barely past the ogive! My dies and bullets came today and since we have company I didn't want to go full reloader on em, I just pulled the bullets from 6 of the Pendleton loads, poured the powder out and replaced it with 38.0 grains of H380 and seated a 117 grain Hornady SPBT to a COAL of 2.970. This is just off the rifling by .010. With two scope adjustments the total group size is 1.45 for 6 shots! Now oddly the primers protrude out of the cases .017 but the cases are only 2.220 long. Fired cases from the warmly loaded factory Pendleton ammo are spot on 2.230, they have the headstamp JBA, wonder who makes em? Tomorrow I will load a series with the fired factory cases to see if it gets any better but I am now happy with the way it shoots. Interestingly the Hornady bullet seemed to wipe away the copper fouling the Accubond left in the barrel.

Ruger has always made the Model 77 at the Pinetree Castings production operation in Newport, NH.

Ruger's administrative operation is in Southport, CT, but all of their firearms are actually made in either Newport, NH, or Prescott, AZ.

The lady who you spoke to seems to be illinformed.

I have owned a couple of Ruger 77s that the Ruger CSRs told me that didn't exist or I wasn't authorized to own.

Now that it shoots with adequate accuracy I won't have it rebarreled which is why I called Ruger in the first place, only to find they won't do it. She could have been wrong though as she was wrong on everything else!

The JBA brass was a product of Rick Jamison, JBA stands for Jamison Brass and Ammunition. One of the 40 fired split at the shoulder and was used as a seating dummy. Otherwise the brass looks pretty good.

If you ever need accurate information about Ruger long guns, you call Rody's in Newport, NH, between 6 and 9pm and asked for Bill or Henry. There isn't anything that either Bill or Henry don't know about Ruger long guns and if by chance there was, they would know who to ask. 603-863-3356.

However it is crappy brass! Some of it developed small neck splits at the junction of the neck and shoulder on the second firing. I did find evidence of excessive headspace also in the rifle. Crap again!

"I did find evidence of excessive headspace also in the rifle. Crap again!"

Seems to be a common occurance in the tangers. My tanger M77 in .35 Whelen will have complete head separations with Remington factory ammo. I took some 30-06 brass, converted to .35W, then opened the necks to .375". The readjusted the sizing die to create a false shoulder and fire formed the brass. Gun works just fine that way.
I have three rifles chambered to the Whelen so each has it's own custom adjusted resizing die. No more case head separations.
Paul B.

Took the rifle down to the nearest gunsmith that had a headspace gauge and turns out the headspace is fine, problem turns out to be the JBA brass is undersize! Short from head to shoulder by .012. Good and bad as I am now looking for some good brass again.

I have had good luck necking down Prvi Partisan 7x57 cases from Graf & Sons. I adjust my FLS so the resized cases are tight in the chamber due to false shoulder then anneal them after the first or second firing.

Bob brass is harder & harder for me to find! I do have a hubdredNosler cases and it’s excellent stuff.

Sounds like a nice rifle; I love this cartridge!!

Midway has Nosler brass available

When will Hornady sell empty brass for the Roberts?

I don't know if they still have it. I will check for you if you want me to. I will pick it up and ship it to you if you want. Either that our buy very expensive Nosler brass which was readily available last time I checked.

Kudo's for Grafs! I called them about the crappy brass that came with the Pendleton ammo and how hot it was loaded and they are replacing the Pendleton stuff with Hornady Superformance at no charge to me! Maybe my 257 Roberts brass problems are over for a bit.

This left me with ten pieces of Federal +P brass to play with. I loaded the 117 Hornady spire points, the 117 gr. Sierra BTSP and the 120 gr. Sierra BTHP. I can say this when you reach the pressure level the rifle doesn't like groups really get bigger! This at no visible pressure signs. At any rate the load I have settled on gives 3 shot groups of an inch or very slightly over. 38.5 grains of WC852 under the 117 gr. Sierra BTSP Gameking is it for now. The federal brass is tough stuff As I did load workups for three bullets and then fired ten of what I settled on for each bullet. I'd say the ten pieces of brass were loaded 6 times each at least. Thanks for the offer Paul but the ten pieces I have will get me through opening weekend of deer season here in Texas and the Hornady Superperformance stuff will be here before the Oklahoma gun deer season opens.

My Hornady "Superperformance" ammo arrived today, while exhibiting no pressure issues it spewed bullets into 8 inches for 3 shots!