Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 257 Roberts deer bullet

After a bit of load work up I’ve found two loads that are consistently accurate(1” at 100 yards). For strictly deer hunting, would you go with a 100gr Sierra pro hunter at 3000fps, or a 90gr hornady gmx at 3200fps. Shots up to 400 yards aren’t uncommon where I hunt, but 300 and under is the norm. I know which way I’m leaning, but, I’d like to hear others thoughts.

I have killed lots of game with the 100 gr. Sierra.. But use it in my .25-06... Placed right it is deadly... Great coyote/whitetail load..

I like the GMX better because it will not go to pieces on you even if you hit bone.
The Sierra is somewhat "explosive" and if you hit only a rib, or go in between, I would bet that most times the Sierra will drop a deer a bit faster, but hit a shoulder blade or shoulder bone and the results can work against you. I have seen it from the 25-06 and also with a similar bullet in the 270 Winchester when I was a kid.
The GMX and the Barnes X are dependable and do the same thing if they hit light mussel, heavy muscle, light bones heavier bones, broadside, quartering or ranking. Some deer will drop a bit slower but you don't get erratic results. Most drop fast, but if they run a short ways you have a GOOD blood trail.

I prefer wounds that go clear through and exit about where I want them to. That is a reliable way to go, instead of sometimes wondering what happened, even when you shot well.

Since Hornady discontinued the 100 Interlock, the 100 Ballistic Tip will probably get 1st call in my 257 Roberts. I've been considering the 100 Pro Hunter Sierra for my M77 Ruger 250 Sav though. I figure the 2800 or so muzzle velocity won't be quite as stern a test as the higher speed cartridges. Got some 100 Hot Core Speers to try as well. Best thing though, I've still got 4 boxes of the Hornadys.

Certainly the GMX. There's been a hunter on my place that we finally had to ban from using a .243win with 100gr Gamekings due to inadequate penetration for blood trails. Deer and hogs were nearly always very tough to find after the shot. They may be dead, but 75yds into the briars with zero blood sucks, and it was happening all the time. Pretty much anytime a shoulder shot was involved. 100gr mono-bullets at 3,200-3,300 from .25 and .26 caliber rifles have told a very different story. Blood may not be gushing, but is generally present.

I loved the 100 Hot Cors in mine. Real thumpers I thought.

My last 2 .257s have shot very well with the 100 grain ballistic tip.

My favorite deer bullet, though, for the .257 is the 120 grain partition. +P brass from either Nosler or Winchester, Federal 215 primers, 43.0 grains of H414. This load has shot very well in 3 of the 5 .257s I've owned, better success rate than any other load. And it flat kills [bleep].

Tom

I shoot a 117 grain SST, i have had extremely good luck. Most were DRTs.

The 110 grain AB over 38.8 grains of H4895 has worked well in my Ruger 77 RSI.

110 Accubond

100 gr Sierra. I use both game kings and pro hunters in 25-06 in the 100 gr and have not had any penetration issues from 20-400 yards. It’s generally lights out quick with them. I don’t shoulder shoot-in the ribs and short trails if at all. No issues with blood trails either.

Monos have their place but I don’t think you own a 257 bob to shoot lengthwise through a deer. In my experience a fast expanding cup and core is where it’s at on whitetails.

Craig

My friend Steven L. (80 years old now) killed a whitetail yesterday in a blowing snowstorm. 257 Roberts, Ruger M77 Mk2, using the old Remington standard load. 117 gr Round Nose. 169 yards on the Laser Range finder.
Hit was in the front shoulder and exited the neck on the other side. Deer dropped before the recoil was over. I gutted it for him and we loaded it into his truck as the storm was getting worse and we had to drive home 70 miles at 25 MPH because it became a full-on blizzard for a while.
But we will have some winter meat for him and his wife, so we are happy with the results.

Yes, I didn’t buy a Roberts to drive a bullet completely through a deer from any angle. When I had a 25-06, I used 100gr Nosler ballistic tips from 40 to 400 yards and never had one not exit(about 15 deer worth). I wouldn’t think at Roberts velocity I would be vaporizing cup n core bullets on impact. However, I’ll those Sierra horror stories gave me a bit of doubt. Then again, I was told the same about the ballistic tips. On the other hand, I’m intrigued by the mono metals, as I’ve never shot a deer with them, and am curious about their performance.

Pick whichever is most accurate and aim accordingly!..Every .257" bullet made will kill deer when limitations are understood and applied properly..............!

I have been very impressed with 100 grain Nosler Partitions. The ballistic tip shoots tighter groups but the partition is a better hunting bullet IMO.

115 NBT and 100 TTSX are the two most accurate in my Roberts. Both kill stuff very well at 2,950 and 3,250 fps respectively.

The 100 NPT is the most accurate bullet in my .240 Wby. When they hot they hot... You never know when they're gonna lead the pack at the range. Even if not the most accurate, the Partition is always a good choice for great performance on game. The standard, as they say.

DF

My loads are +P with +P brass and the bullets couldn't touch the lands with a stick. The 110g AB bas the better long range ballistics.


100g TTSX, H4350, 3233fps
110g AccuBond, H4350, 3163fps

Both have been very effective and accurate.

For elk:
120g A-Frame, H4831SC, 2947fps

Also very accurate.

Barnes 100 TSX or TTSX
Nosler 100 Partition
Nosler 110 Accubond

Maybe Sierra has changed it's spots. I stopped using SIerra bullets on game quite a while ago. I shot a white tail doe in the shoulder with 165 grain Sierra 30-06. The bullet never got past the shoulder. People that use Sierra bullets must place them in the rib cage or perhaps Sierra has made their bullets more stout, I don't know. I find no reason to try them again. There's bullets out there that work.

Most accurate bullet in my 257 Roberts is a 115gr Nosler Partition.

Common occurrence with those bullets when fired at full throttle '06 levels or higher. I swear by them still, but learned 30 years ago to throttle them way down for close range woods work. This on the advise from a Sierra tech when I called and bugged them about it back in another lifetime. On the rare instances when I'm faced with a hunt in the wide open, I throttle them back up and hope I don't end up shooting one inside 100 yards. One thing is for certain, those little hand grenades are awesome killers at high vel/close range, and perhaps sometimes a quick death overrides less meat spoilage. Different philosophies for different pholks.

As for 100 grain .25's, if y'all ever stumble onto some old Norma 100's (the ones with "brassy" looking jackets), snatch them up. They were my all time favorite bullet in the .257 Roberts, both for accuracy and terminal performance. I know not whether they still make them.

Any limitations for the discontinued Hornady 87 gr SP @ 3258 fps?

Nice looking rifle there. I wouldn't use that bullet on deer.

That 87 grain Hornady worked at 250-3000 speeds. I thought it was a little stouter than the Sierra version.

Speer makes two 87 gr bullets still. Make sure to get the Hot Core version not the Varmint version.

I like the 100 TTSX at 3,250 over H-100V.

Same speed, more bullet and as accurate. Great WT killer and with better penetration.

DF

Used a plain old 100 gr BT on a buck this year that traveled maybe ten yards.

The nice thing about those .25's is that the bullet manufactures don't need to design a bullet for the likes of moose or bears that will be too strong for the deer hunting guys. Kind of like the .30-30 bullets only for the .25's because most guys with .a 25 something will be loading it into Roberts or .25-06's which have a pretty narrow working velocity range. I read a deer killing study once of 400+ deer kills comparing the distance traveled by deer shot with various caliber bullets. Not surprisingly those shot with the .25's traveled the least number of yards after the shot. Softer bullets kill deer faster than harder ones.

I've had good luck with the 80 grain Barnes TTSX at 3350fps in my 257 on deer, so I vote for the GMX. It can be argued that monos aren't necessary for deer, but that load has performed well for me and load development was easy. The third powder charge I tried yielded 1" groups and enough velocity.

I’ve had excellent results from that GMX on game as well as the 100 GR Interlock & ballistic tip. Not a big fan of Sierras over 2800 FPS.

I’d run the GMX personally.

Maybe OK at 3,360 fps, but an 80 TTSX out of my .240 Wby at 3,600 fps was not a good WT bullet. When you push low SD bullets, as in <.2,, at hypervelocity, you can get less than desirable terminal performance. This combo blew a huge, gaping hole in a WT chest wall, not that much internal damage. The deer ran over a 100 yds, had to be found in the woods after dark with flashlights. That's the last time I tried that. Accuracy was great, probably a good 'yote load...

DF

That's the SC study. I've posted it before.

Looks good for those of us who like the quarterbore. Except, there wasn't large enough cohort to statistically prove that to be the case. When the difference is small, it take a MUCH larger sampling number. Even with 400 kills, you may have an association, but you'll never prove causation.

The results on softer bullets killing faster than harder bullets shows enough difference to have merit. Especially if one is going to chest shoot WT's, that difference is probably valid. Shoulder shooting, shooting from odd angles, etc. where penetration may trump expansion, not as clear.

Interesting study. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html

DF

I know that it's off OP's question but I've had two DRT with Hornady 120 HP's in two shots.

Muskrat

Ahh. The 120 Hornady HP. Another great bullet that Hornady dropped.

The Hornady 100gr Interlock shoots very well in my Remmy 722 Roberts, and does a fine job on deer sized critters.

I am not sure why Hornady dropped these, possibly too boring in these times maybe. ?

I have many hundreds stocked up, more than I will ever shoot.

SMH better bullets than that.Great for wounding an animal,

I have 4 to 500 Hornady 100gr SPs here that have worked well over the years. Going to start working up a load with 100gr NPs to replace the Hornadys.

In my 25-06 I have had trouble finding any bullet that hasn't worked great on deer. Current load is the 117 Interlock but the 115 Ballistic tip is another favorite. I am mixed on Sierras but like the GMX, Barnes and Etips. I know the monos won't always provide the quickest kills but I have had so many DRTs with them I am not concerned about this anymore.

Whatever shoots best in your Bob is the ticket. I shoot heavier than 100 grain bullets in the 25s just to make it different from my 6mms but the 87-100 grain bullets are made to order for the Bob.

According to my hunting notes, my wife and I have used the following bullets from various .257 Roberts rifles (including one Ackley Improved) on big game, mostly deer but also plenty of antelope, quite a few feral pigs and goats, and one cow elk:

Barnes 100 XLC, TSX, and TTSX
Berger 115 Hunting VLD
Hornady 100 Spire Point and 117 boattail Spire Point
Nosler 100 Ballistic Tip, Partition and Solid Base; 115 Ballistic Tip and Partition, 120 Partition and Solid Base
Remington 120 Core-Lokt
Speer 100 Hot-Cor

With rare exceptions, they all worked fine, both expanding and penetrating well, and usually killing pretty darn quickly.

The penetration exceptions were a very early 115 Ballistic Tip that failed to penetrate a Montana whitetail doe's chest on a frontal shot, but later 115 B-Tips have all exited. A 117 Hornady Interlock boattail Spire point broke up on the shoulder joint of a mule deer doe, again failing to penetrate the chest cavity. Both deer were quickly killed by a second shot.

Had a 120 Nosler Solid Base fail to open up much (if at all) with a broadside rib shot on a big mule deer buck. It eventually killed him, but it took an hour of searching before finding the buck, having traveled over 200 yards before fallingThe only blood was a single drop about the size of a match-head where the buck was shot.

Have had a few bullets fail to kill pretty quickly even though they obviously expanded well, judging from the interior damage. But that happens occasionally in hunting. Those animals didn't go over 100 yards. The most consistently quick-killing bullet has been the 115 Berger.

If I had to pick one bullet to use in the .257 Roberts for the rest of my life it might be the 115 Nosler Partition. It has always shot under an inch in several rifles, penetrated well, and killed quickly.

The Swift 100gn Scirocco is a good tough little bullet in the Roberts. It doesn't seem to get a lot of air time though for some reason. Price maybe?

110 Accubond is a great quarter bore killer.

IMHO - Use the 115 Nosler Partition and you'll not be looking for another!

ive killed tons of deer with the 100 Nosler ballistic tip out to 200 yards.

My choice between those 2 at those ranges would be the Sierra. I have never used the GMX but I use Barnes TTSX and I don’t like them qhen impact velocity is below about 2500 fps on a deer.

We shot a couple does this season with a 100 SGK out of my .257 Rbts AI. Both deer died with one shot so I wouldn't say they aren't effective. However, neither exited and one on a small deer hit in the shoulder had a pretty big entrance wound. It did make it into the rib cage, destroyed the heart, and part of the core exited the rib cage and lodged in the offside shoulder. The big entrance and lack of exiting on a small deer makes me a little nervous if I were to hit a shoulder on a bigger animal. I don't mind bullets that come apart on deer sized game but I would definitely prefer something just a little tougher to insure that the bullet gets to the vitals. I would use them again but would pretty much stick to broadside rib shots.

I have a Bob AI and load a Combined Technologies 115 Grain Ballistic's Tip. Asolutely deadly on whitetail deer. If you want to shoot 100 grains get a .243. I never shoot at the shoulder with a .257 anythng or a 6mm-.243. Put it in the ribs. They're a lot thinner than a shoulder. You'll do better right behind the shoulder. The hearts right there. The heart's up front in a hog. When shooting my Bob AI or .243 at hogs I shoot for the neck. A hog has a huge neck, you can hardly miss it.

Yep. They tend to be accurate and preform very well on game.

I picked up a bunch of factory ammo in +P 120 gr. Partitions. Anyone have experience with these on white tails.

Thanks,

Dean

Kudu,
I Love the 120 Partitions as well as the 115's. Started reloading for the 25-06 back in the 80's with the old Sierra 117 BTHP's at about 2950 with amazing results on Michigan whitetails. In the 90's switched to 115 Nos BT's at about 3100 fps. Good results with them til a close shot on a heavy 9 point at about 50yds. Neighbors found him a couple of days later with a big chunk blown out of the shoulder.

Switched to the 120 Partitions for a while before settling on the 115's. My current rig is a Steyr that shoots the partitions better than most haters would believe. I have a target at home with a 10 shot group @ 200 yards you can cover with a quarter. I've used the 115's and 120's to take a pretty fair number of white tails from 25 out to nearly 300 yds, a couple of Fallow deer and 1 Red Stag (cull on an exotic ranch). So far, when I do my job I haven't needed a follow up shot. The stag is what really impressed me. 95yd shot quartering away. The Partition entered behind the near shoulder, busted the offside shoulder and lodged in the hide. Stag went 4 or 5 steps and just fell over.

So as long as your rifle shoots the partitions well, center the crosshairs, smooth squeeze on the trigger and enjoy your back straps.

I would go with the GMX. I've used the 90 gr. X bullet in my Model 70 FWT in 257 Roberts with great success. I've only had one animal take more than a step after being hit with it. I will use the GMX when I run out of the X bullet. The x bullet has gone out of production and the 80 grain fodder doesn't shoot well in my rifle.

Please confirm the bullet that you started with. Don’t recall Sierra making a 117 BTHP. A 117 BTSP and a 120 BTHP , yes.

117 Pro-Hunter, SGK or Interlock. All three have worked great for me loaded over 43.0 gr. of H4350. I get 2,800 fps from a 20" bbl.

Hmm, could be. That was thirty years ago. Once I found a load that would put the Partitions into nice little 1/2" groups I never saw the need to use anything else in that rifle.

Regarding the Partitions, what is the real difference between the 115 gr and 120 gr Partitions other than 5 grains in terms of performance? Happy Trails

I haven't found much difference between the 2. Both my 25's shoot the 115's and 120's equally accurate. I get maybe an extra 30-40 fps out of the 115's, so not enough to matter. I've taken several deer with each with great results. For a while, the 120's were hard to find in my local shops so I got kinda hooked on the 115's.

Also, for a while I was all about speed and back in the late 90's Nosler had a load for the 115's using RL-22 that listed at nearly 3200. This would put my 25-06 up near Weatherby speed so I had to try it. Accuracy was still pretty good for hunting, I think around an inch or so at 100. The problem was on warm days I would occasionally get pressure signs so I switched back to IMR 4350 which is the same load I'm still using. Pretty sure that may be why the load isn't listed anymore. Funny thing is that I haven't taken a deer yet that told me he could notice the bullet being slower.

2012 257 Roberts Ackley rimmed 115 gr Nos Bal Tip killed 4 deer out to 400 yards 3050 fps

2016 25-06 115 gr nos bal tip, 51.5 gr IMR-4451, 3.25" 3185 fps
QL predicts 3045 fps 58 kpsi using H4350 = 4.6% error
killed one deer

in my 25 caliber rifles i use either 100 gr. Nosler Partition or 100 gr. Swift A-Frame both just fine on bigger whitetails

Surprised no one has mentioned the 80ttsx. It's like bolt of lightning on deer at 3500fps.

I've actually had good luck with the Hornady's 117 gr SSTs, and 117 gr BTSP Interlocks on game. Both are good killers on WT and hogs. Since Sierra discontinued the 100 gr Pro Hunters I've been playing with Nosler 100 gr ballistic tips and 100 gr Hot Cors for grins.