Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game No experience with .257 Roberts.

Well stated and very true.

DF

How is the 257Roberts better than the 243?

Before you flame me ... FYI that I've owned a 257 for +15yrs and it continues to be my fave deer rifle even after a steady stream of other guns have come and gone.

The 243 has a few advantages that the 257 will not offer ...

- Fits better in a short action. I use a LA for my 257 to get a 3" OAL case length.
- Far better selection of rifles and action types in 243..
- Tons of ammo and loading kit and components to choose from.
- Better selection of bullets.
- Must be more that I can make up later.

Seems to still be quite a bit of love for the 257 Roberts. Wish there was more factory offerings in both rifles and ammo. I stopped rolling my own 10 years ago. I might have to buy all new reloading equip this winter and get back into it.

OP, you won't have any problems putting pigs to sleep.

DF, that’s a fine looking rifle. My old Ruger 77 tang safety is a real shooter and it has some sentimental value since it belonged to one of my goose hunting buddies who killed a dump truck load of deer with it loaded with 100 grain Interlocks over H380. I still have 400 of them that came with the rifle. Not likely to part with that rifle. Happy Trails

^^^^^This^^^^^

That center-neck is effective, yes. My father shoots for slightly below center-neck when bowhunting and gets really good blood trails. This is when he's deer hunting using expandables and doesn't trust a chest shot on a hog that happens by.


Here's a good 3D image from LoneStarBoars.







I will say that I've messed up before with a rifle zeroed for 225yds and missed the spine high when shooting a pig at 150 yards or so. Forgot about the mid-range rise in the heat of the moment and hit meat a little too high in the neck. The pig didn't go down. That spine is dang near the center of the neck on a hog while it seems to be higher in the neck on a deer.

Come up the front leg to the shoulder, 2/3rds up, there and forward to behind the ear will anchor them.

As you can see from the picture, that lines up with the spine, front shoulder to skull..

DF

Copied from the thread you reference because I'm too lazy to type it:
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Love my long-throated .257 Roberts with +P loads and brass.

3609fps with 75g V-MAX and H4895
3233fps with 100g TTSX and H4350
3163fps with 110g AB and H4350
2947fps with 120g A-Frame and H4831SC

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The 110g AB load is my standard load. The A-Frame is what I load when hunting elk/deer season.

A 165 Ballistic Tip from a 308 applied as described sure does ruin a pig's day.

I have owned and like both. My feeling is that for my use, primarily deer hunting, the 257 Roberts is better than the 243. If I were to use either as a combination varmint/deer cartridge and I did more varmint shooting than I did deer, I would feel just the opposite and say the 243 is slightly better. Yes, the 243 does fit better in a short action, absolutely. Yes, the 243 has more factory rifle choices. Yes, the 243 has more ammo choices. However, I don't mind a long action and as I said, I lean more toward deer hunting. Thus, I do feel the 257 Roberts gets the advantage here. It will also do in a pinch on larger game, though my experience personally is limited to deer. There is also just something to be said about owning a 257 Roberts.

If you were to build a custom rifle from scratch, with all of your preferred options, I'd always lean toward the 257 Roberts....Everyone owns a 243, but not everyone owns a good 257 Roberts.

I wanted something different than a 243 as well.

Roberts vs. .243..?.

Have had both, still have the Roberts.

SA vs LA not an issue for me. My Roberts is LA.

If I wanted a SA .24 cal, I'd probably get a 6 CM for the round and the twist.

My current .24 cal is a .240.

DF

as gun dealer yes i sell more 243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoors, 7mm 0-8 and the list goes on ,but i still like the old reliable 257 Roberts its just a grand old cartridge and i do wish gun manufactures did offer 257 Roberts much more in rifles. over the years i have been able to buy rifles in 257 Roberts and i do keep them to leave to my kids and grandkids. i have even been loading 257 ammo for their future hunting days i have now loaded 12 boxes of 20 ,purchased another 10 boxes too. i want them to enjoy a great old cartridge from past ,the rifles i have purchased all have wood stocks except one, i need a couple more 257 Roberts with wood stocks too ,i am always lookin.

Love the old classic 257 Roberts. Have a sweet, trim Dakota Model 10 chambered in the Bob.

Would love to see pictures of that one.

Those are really nice rifles, slick and trim.

Pure class.

DF

Twist kills older Roberts...

Twist is a limiting factor in a number of classic rounds, especially with the trend to heavier for caliber, higher B.C. bullets. I shoot 100's mostly in my Roberts and it stabilizes them, as well as 115's and 120's with std. twist.

I built an 8 twist .22-250, works great with heavies. But, EOM .22-250's are slow twist per SAAMI specs and are sorta locked in a time warp, as are a number of older rounds.

DF.

Dang I like that rifle!

> just built a new 257 Roberts with a 7 1/2 twist,#4 Brux barrel on a old very nice Remington 30 express rifle shoots real good 1/2 inch - 5 shot group 100 yards

Thanks, me too...

It went thru a series of scopes and this isn't the original stock.

I like this combo and don't foresee any changes.

The 24" Brux had some scuffs, so I polished it I have camo tape to cover it if needed.

This is my only 700 with a Walker trigger, the rest have Timney's. Ron Lampert did such a great job tweaking this old trigger, IMO, a replacement wouldn't be an upgrade. So the Lampert tweaked Walker trigger stays.

This rifle has very effectively killed WT's and hogs. I'm sure it will again.

DF