Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 257 Roberts Question

I killed way more and bigger blacktail than you when I was in Kodiak.

You've left out something that can work to the detriment of someone looking to 6.5 Creedmoor data.

Ok? You're the last person ANYONE should go to for hunting/shooting/reloading advice. Prove me wrong.

Show me your biggest blacktail.

Let us pray,


Oh Lord, please do not let LBP see this demand.

I have had great luck with H4350 and 100 grain Hornady Interlock in my .257 Rbts

lol

The blacktail has never been a creature I have chosen or desired to hunt or harvest.

Kodiak blacktail venison is the best game meat I have ever had in my live. If you are willing to put in the work to get to where they are, they aren't particularly challenging. They are nowhere near as wary or skittish as whitetail.

The Savannah blacktail is a different animal completely. I see hundreds daily.

I run 414 out of my Roberts with 100 grain SGK. Good accuracy, but only loaded to around 2950 fps which is a little fast for that bullet IMO. Effective on deer, but more meat damage than I care for. Have had a couple of pigs get away from me with that load, but probably more due to shot placement than bullet performance I would imagine.

Either way, that’s a Hodgdon load and I see no reason to look for any more velocity for my purposes. I did shoot a mature 8 point this fall at 330 yards and that bullet was more than enough at that distance.

One thing I do find peculiar is that Hodgdon only lists a 1 grain difference when using 414 in the Roberts with a 100 grain bullet. While working up loads, I did note that my velocities were in par with their data, and I did start to see signs of pressure as I neared the book max. I am shooting a Kimber though, so I don’t have the added case capacity as stated by the OP.

My take: The standard Roberts data shows rather low pressures. By the time you use enough of an old school ball powder like H414 to make a starting load with decent ignition characteristics there's not much room left under the pressure ceiling.

I have been shooting a model 70 257 Roberts with 24 Inch barrel. I started out with IMR 4350 and 117gr Nosler Partitons, the load came with the used rifle. I checked the load and it was about 2825FPS, in my winchester model 70. So I moved on to RL22,and Norma MRP. Changed to 115gr Nosler Partitions at 2.840 OAL. Mostly winchester cases. I got about 3129FPS. MRP gave the best accuracy. Tryed RL23 because it was temperature stable 110gr Accubonds CCI 250 primers, Win cases and 2.840 OAL. got 3120 SD. of 7.8. RL26 gave 3130 FPS using the 115gr Nosler Partitions. 8.9SD. Actually I can get a little more using the RL26,s. My model 70 was made in 1951.

This is the perfect size blacktail!!!

Here's how I run my 22" bbl'd 257 SA Rob:

100 NBT / 2.820" OAL / RP Brass / Fed 210M / 44.5 gr H4350 / 3,060 fps

Not the fastest, but the most accurate in my rifle. Last group loaded above was .320"