Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles There it is, a 115-grain from the .257 Bob at 3000+ fps

The Bob kills deer and antelope and coyotes and woodchucks just fine...which is why I like it.....what it does on grizzlies and elk I could care less about...I got other rifles for that stuff and they are not 6.5x55's

If you in fact see some Hawkeyes in bob, I'd be interested to hear some feed back from you especially if you can handle one of the Ultra Lights. I have not seen one, but I'm very interested in this rifle.

Wow, with an elephant gun 6.5 in your hands, what do you need these for, especially for "North America"?

JB, IIRC, wasn't the original .257R loaded to 2400 +/- fps? Then - oh, around 1980 or so the loads were tweaked (and in the books) to show 2800+/-??

I've never seen the need to run the Roberts much over 2800.. Lyman's #48 shows the max with 117s to be just a hair over 2700.. I load mine to 2850 and it's a very comfy and accurate round.

Nosler's #6 shows a 115 grain pill at just over 3000 with a 95% powder load. I think that's my most up to date manual..

I believe the original factory "deer" load was very similar to the one Remington still offers, a 117-grain roundnose at 2650 fps.

This bullet was used for a couple of reasons: Apparently it was believed at the time that round-nosed bullets gave the best accuracy, plus the old notion of "brush busting." A RN 117 was also the heaviest bullet that would stabilize in a .250 Savage with a 1-14 twist.

Most hunters came to identify .25 caliber with a 117 RN so much that when Weatherby brought out commercial .250 Wby. Magnum ammo the heavy-bullet load was (you guessed it) and round-nose 117! This was still offered until a few years ago, I believe.

Is that what makes the 6.5 Swede "kill" better?

Lay down the Gun Notes, we have made some progress. Most folks aren't trapesing in the woods with 300 grainers in their 338's, either.

Variety is the spice of life.

The point no one is admitting to is the fact that the Swede is a more capable cartridge for critters bigger than deer and such because of the HEAVIER [higher BC and SD] bullets available.

Like I said before, flip a coin between the two if you hunt deer type critters and you'll never know the difference. It's when things get bigger that the 'Bob is hampered compared to the bullets available for the Swede or any 6.5 for that matter. I remember reading about a 480lb North Carolina black bear killed by Clay Harvey with a mild mannered Swede and 160gr Hornady RN bullets. Those 2400fps pills went for stem to stern with little fuss and killed that bear with ease. That's why bigger bullets can be useful.

I wouldn't sell a 'Bob to get a Swede, and I wouldn't sell a Swede to get a 'Bob. But if you're buying one or the other for the first time, there are differences to consider.

And I wouldn't cite Clay Harvey as a reference.

I can hear the John Lovitz character now: "Yeah, 480 pounds, that's the ticket."

Good point!

I have owned a .257 Roberts for over 20 years. It is a fine cartridge and I have enjoyed it very much.

Why did I get a .257 Roberts? Because I wanted one. For my purposes, a .243 would probably work just as well, but I wanted something different.

I just recently had an action re-barreled to 6.5x55. Will it do anything (for me, as I ain't got no moose's, grisley bar's or oliphants here) that the .257 Roberts won't? No. It's just that I wanted one.

Point is, get what you want, and don't pay attention to all the gack, because for most of us the gack don't matter. Just look at the title of this post. What will a .257 115gr @ 3,000fps accomplish that a .257 115gr @ 2,800fps won't?

dmsbandit,

Somebody already mentioned that using Clay Harvey as a source of information might be iffy, but I have some experience with the 160 from "the mild-mannered Swede." If old Clay did indeed shoot lengthwise through a 480-pound bear with that bullet, then the bear was just as full of hot air as, well, some gun writing.

From my experience with the 6.5x55, I would much rather shoot a 120-grain Barnes TSX at a big bear of any species than the 160 Hornady. This isn't to say that the 160 Hornady isn't a decent bullet. It is--but it usually doesn't penetrate all that deeply.

I can't speak to the angle of the shots, but the bear pictures with a Melvin Forbes 6.5x55 was enormous. 3 Shots from all different angles [according to the write-up] and the Blackie died in a hurry.

Hint: Most things that die in a hurry aren't needing shots 2 and 3 and more bullet weight isn't going to fix such things. YMMV.

Scott,
You should have listed that in the ad for it. Guaranteed elephant killer...

How and the hell did the 6.5 get brought up in the first place--what am I missing?

On the other hand- The .300 weatherby is no doubt, more of a better cartridge in general then the 6.5, is that random enough??

FMP

I always heard that when shooting things that can bite, eat or claw you, you shoot until they stop moving.

Don't believe everything you read, even if it's accompanied by a photo of a dead animal.