Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 Roberts versus the 243

Shot a few deer with both and a couple of pigs with the Roberts. None took a step after the shot. I conclude both are remarkably effective and the Roberts does not suffer from the gay. That's the only difference I've noticed.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Roberts barrels last longer. A lot longer.

Wha't your best load with that bullet?

DF

So now the 243 is "gay" as well. First I had to get rid of the 270 and now the 243 has to go. What's next, the 308?

At least I have a 280 and 257R for back-up.

It's spreading...

DF

I'd probably go for the 257 for the heavier bullets available. But, If I didn't hand-load, the 243 is much more available, and that's an advantage/

My wife hunted with a .257 for about 35 years, shot many deer and pronghorn. Almost al DRT. We always used the 100 grain Hornady bullet loaded up to about 2900 FPS in a Remington 722. None of the deer and pronghorns ever complained about how we should have used something else.

Six of one a half dozen of the other. A 6mm with bullets up to 120 grains is pretty impressive at long ranges more so than the Roberts. Both are great and the 257 has the nostalgia thing and the 6mm Rem. has the gun looney thing going for it. I went 6AI and 25-06 but still have a hankering for the Roberts. Can't justify it but who cares they are all good?

It was an older load from Hodgdon's 25th Edition. 44gr of IMR 4831, R-P case, CCI 200, and 120NPT at 2.81". Shot around MOA or a little better.

If the .308 catches the gay, I may have to switch teams. NAW.

I never could see a difference in my 243, 6mm and Roberts on deer. Pretty much all deer shot with these 3 cartridges were DRT or made very few steps after being hit. Never lost one yet anddount any have traveled over 50 yards.

99% of these were killed with a Sierra GK, 100 grain in the 243s, 85 Sierra SP Varminter in the 6mm and the 90 grain Gameking HP in the 25. Several shot with the 243s and 6mm over 300 and a buck/doe pair across a quarter section with the 243 and 100 grain GK combo, doe ran maybe 20 yards and the buck was DRT from a high shoulder shot.

To be honest I cannot tell the difference between these 3 and my 22-250 shooting 60 grain Partitions, wicked little bastard it is. Deer are a pretty small critter, big ones around here may go 200# or a little more, not exactly a large animal.

The heavier .257, 115-120 grain bullets would no doubt be better assurance for penetration on larger game if angling shots were taken. I bet with exact same broadside shot placements the 24 calibers would work the same.

I like my Roberts on a longer action for 3" COAL.

If I was building a 6mm, it would be a 6CM with 7.5 or 8 twist, a really "un-gay" round, for sure.

The new long ogive bullets are amazing.

DF

Totally unscientific but over lots of years listening to deer hunting guys, I've heard more horror stories of lack of blood trails and the ones that got away with guys using the .243's than the Roberts. It might stem from the fact that lots more varmint bullets are mistakenly being used for deer from a .243 than the heavier factory loaded offerings for the Roberts. On another forum I asked the question what cartridge killed deer out of proportion to what the ballistics charts said that they should and the .257 Roberts and the .44 Magnum tied for the most effective. That 493 deer shot in the Cedar Knoll Club, South Carolina study seem to confirm that. 48 .243 caliber shot deer traveled an average of 40 yards after being shot. 36 .257 caliber shot deer traveled an average of 14 yards after being shot.

My other gun is a 77/44. It isn't gay either.

I should have titled the thread .257 versus .243 and kept the initial question to why it seems people get better bullet performance out of the various midweight .257 bullets than they do from the heavyweight 243 offerings. I am new to the 257 world myself, have yet to shoot anything with one. The 6MM is a different story. I have used several 100 grain bullets that were not consistent in expansion and penetration. A standout in erratic performance was the early version of the Hornady BTSP. I have used the 85 gr. Partition a lot also and it is a consistently deep penetrating bullet that made small exit holes and unless bone was hit I could count on some travel from the animal shot. I liked the Sierra Prohunter 100 gr. bullet because a lot of the deer hit solidly in the chest dropped at the shot. The 100 gr. Nosler Solid base was the standout bullet before the Ballistic Tip came out. When I started using the 95 gr. Ballistic Tip it became my deer bullet for the 243 and 6MM, in fact presently I have only this bullet loaded for either cartridge. It doesn't always exit but it produces quickly dead deer. I consider the 6MM's marginal for feral hogs as I have had to go looking for for them far too many times after making solid chest hits. In fact I like the 85 grain Partition better than the Ballistic Tips for the hogs and I only shoot for CNS, spine, head and neck generally. For deer there may not be a big difference in performance between the 257 and the 243, Hopefully 15-20% more bullet weight at similar velocities will make the 257 noticeably more effective on feral hogs. Having a tough time getting out in the field this year, that need to change soon.

12% more area--to be picky.

13% to be even pickier

How about a 6.5/284 with 140 gr Berger at 3100 fps.

So what does a 280 do the 270 wont do.

Never mind. Just kidding the op.

You know whats gay? mm. I got 22, 243, 270, 300, and 7.5 (used to be 8 on a good date). Mm came from Europe.

You measure it in mm- thats gay. Jmho.