Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Was the 257 Roberts the premier deer round at one time ?

The Roberts is something that should be wrapped in wood and blued steel... a nostalgic round for a nostalgic platform. Something to enjoy on a glorious fall day.

For hard duty I’ll take something less sentimental and more practical. Pass the 6.5 CM in stainless and fiberglass

I have used my M77 in .257 Roberts for everything from ground squirrels to elk. Premier? As in top performer? Maybe, but it's never been the top selling cartridge.

The .257 Roberts suffered from the low pressure rating and slow twist barrels. It has every bit of potential of many mid size cartridges. Loaded to modern pressures in modern rifles it is a stellar choice for an all around gun. Jack O' was the reason I bought mine. He's famous for the .270, but when I was young I did a lot of reading of Outdoor Life and Rifleman and his comments on it's usefulness sealed the deal. I had a .30-30 and as it was my only gun I used it for everything. I had an intimate understanding of making due. When I ran across articles on the Roberts and read how well it worked as both varmint and big game cartridge I was sure I needed to get one. Layne Simpson wrote an article that focused on choices for a do-all limited rifle battery and it struck a chord with me. His conclusion was that a two rifle battery consisting of a .257 Roberts and a .338 Win Mag would cover everything and not leave one short of performance. When I joined the Navy one of my first real purchases was a matching pair of Ruger M77's one in .257 Roberts & one in .338WM. That was a long time ago and I still have both and still use both religiously.

My Roberts has proven itself harvesting fur, filling the freezer, and putting an end to many pests. It has been used by family members to take many first deer, been in many family hunts, and used for truck loads of coyotes. Ned Roberts' darling would have made the introduction of the .243 & 6mm Rem non-existent had it been introduced with the same fanfare as bigger companies or anything being introduced today by Hornady. Hornady has successfully introduced "new" cartridges that duplicate existing flops and they're suddenly the bee's knees. Marketing was the reason the Roberts wasn't more popular. Those that know what it is capable of understand.

I've never heard about factory built rifles in 257 Roberts having slow ROT barrels. Which ones had slow ROT barrels and what was that slow ROT?

I'm not sure who, but I believe Remingtons' early vision of the Roberts was using an 87gr bullet, much like the .250-3000. It was rated for old conversion rifles as far as pressures go which didn't help either. In fact, Winchester recognized this folly and made sure the .243 was hyped as more of a medium big game cartridge.

Back in the early 1980's I bought all of the 257 Roberts Winchester/Olin factory ammo that the Outdoor Recreation Center at Fort Riely, KS, had for a couple of dollars per box. That white box ammo had 87, 100, and 117 grain bullets. I bought that ammo to feed a Ruger 77R that I bought from Pat's Pawn & Gun in Ogden, KS, but decided that I needed to reload 75 grain Sierra for shooting coyotes and 90 grain Sierra for shooting deer, so I've had most of that ammo packed away for nearly 40 years.

I'd love to see your armory brother!