Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Considering a .257 Roberts for Deer

I often wondered what all the hype over the .257 Roberts was about. I hunted with a guy that had a .257 Roberts and I kind of thought where in the heck did that caliber come from. I never did see him shoot any deer with it so I had no clue on how it performed. What makes it so special and what does it do that a 25.06 will not do? My brother in-law has a 25.06 and I have seen what it will do on whitetails. Most of my deer rifles start at 7MM-08, 30.06, 7MAG. and go up to the .300 WIN. MAG. Lately I have been thinking about a smaller caliber such as a .260 or some type of .25 caliber in a lightweight rig. Carrying some of those big guns around in the mountains does take a toll. I am not getting any younger and one of these days I will get to the point where I would like a lighter recoiling rifle. Would the .260 be a better round than the Bob for deer?

I've never hunted with the .257 Roberts and for some reason, the opportunity to fire one always escaped me till last year. The round is a joy to shoot. I'm thinking of the late Larry Koller who used a .250 Savage to fill his tag each year. He never once complained that he needed more horse power. Yes, the headstamp doesn't say magnum but the deer don't know that.

Does Hornady still make the 117 Grain Round Nose InterLock in 257 Diameter? I'd like to try these in my Bob but everywhere I look is out of stock.

Dave

The .257 Robts is a joy to shoot. Not too big, not too little. Just right for many applications. Practice on varmints builds confidence. The old generation of writers liked it a lot giving it a "cool" factor. New bullets and rifles have made it an even better choice than ever. I only have three of them.

I think my dad is primarily loading 100 grain Hornady spitzers in his .257 Roberts (and both .250 Savages for that matter). The deer don't like when he shoots at them, and the couple of antelope as well.

I've shot one whitetail doe with my .257. 100 grain TSX. Was walking out of the house to drive up into the pasture when we see a couple does standing across the creek, 120 yards or so. Leaned against the truck, shot one. She ran maybe 40 yards with a jellied heart and lungs.

The only problem I have now is figuring out how to sneak a Kimber Classic Select in and a Ruger #1. Then the question is what do I do with my existing Ruger 77.

around this house myself,wife and kids have used both the 257 and 260 on a lot of deer and honestly if the 257 is too small or deer is too far for it the 260(as much as i do like the round) aint enough of a step up to make much diff.

i can find the round nose but i cant seem to find the btsp 117 pm sent on where to get some rn 117's

The BTSP will do the job just as well as the RN--if it's put in the right place.

BIGR: The cartridge came from Ned Roberts,who developed it by necking down the 7x57 case,and used it to shoot woodchucks back here in New England. Remington introduced it as a commercial cartridge in 1934,and it was one of the cartridges for which the pre 64 M70 was chambered when the rifle came out in 1937. IIRC the Winchester M54 was also so chambered.

The "hype" is because it works....

Back then it filled the same niche filled today by other cartridges like the 243 Winchester.etc, ie a general purpose deer/varmint cartridge that recoils lightly,generates relatively high velocity,yet with enough bullet weight to do a thorough job on deer sized game.

A ore 64 M70 in 257 Roberts was the second centerfire rifle that I ever owned,and I used it extensively to shoot piles of woodchucks, crows and fox here in NE.I hunter deer some with the cartridge but the rifle was a bit heavy..this led to other rifles that were lighter....in the early days of my western hunting I frequently took mine and have shot a good many pronghorn and some mule deer with it..

Mostly I have used 100-120 gr bullets on deer sized stuff driven between 3100-3200 fps;120's at 2900 as well, and 75-87 gr at 3300-3400.

I've had that pre 64 M70,a couple of PF M70's, Rugers,custom on Mausers and M70's, Remington MR's and Kimber Montana's and Select Grade.Long actionor short , they all worked well.I think the Kimber and the Rem MR are the slickest factory rifles chambered for 257 Roberts to come down the pike.

I have used the 25/06 as well;it beats the Roberts by 150-200 fps, but generally comes in somewhat longer, heavier rifles,and for the uses to which I put a 25 caliber, the Roberts burns less powder,gets the above velocities in a 22" barrel, is less noisy,and kills as well, near as I can tell..

It's trajectory with 100-120 gr bullets is about the same as that of a 270 or 280 with 130-150 gr bullets.I have used it on pronghorn out to about 400 yards and would not hesitate to use it again under similar circumstances.

The rifles I have had were all twisted 1-10,but if I were to focus on heavier bullets I would not, today, hesitate to use a custom barrel twisted 1-9.

The cartridge got beat up by the 6mm's when the 243 and 6mmRem were introduced,without good cause.I have had more than one Western rancher tell me the Roberts is more gun on an antelope flat than a 243,but I think this was more a function of early 243 bullets behaving erratically than anything else.

That said, the Roberts is a sentimental favorite for me, and my own #1 choice in the venue of 24's and 25's.Were I building strictly a target/varmint rifle I would lean to the 6mm's but as a general purpose deer/antelope cartridge, I like the Roberts the best.

Great post, Bob.

Bought my girlfriend a Kimber Select in 257 Rob. She's taken quite a few whitetail with it using 115gr. NP's. The BOB is great deer medicine and my GF would sooner get rid of me than let go of that Kimber.

BW: Thank you. I love the Roberts....they named it after me!

.257 does the same thing at "normal" deer hunting range with less recoil than 25-06. Have considered buying one for my daughter numerous times.
I have hunted and killed deer with all three (.257,25-06 & .260).
I think all qualify as "perfect" deer rounds.
Of the three, .260 in a model 7 is what I carry now.

stumpy

Over the years I had problems with Hornady 117 grain RN bullets opening up. At closer ranges in soft areas (Lung) they just poke holes. I still have one .257 and recently sold a Ruger Ultra-Lite at auction and it went for with in $20 of what I paid for it new over 20 years ago, and it was "hunting" scratched up. I believe it has a certain following, but there is nothing spectacular about the .257 Roberts.

Hard to blame the cartridge for the bullet, at least in my experience.

I've run Hornady and Remington 117 grain RNs in my 1949 vintage Winchester 94 carbine and have never had a problem with them not expanding, even at s-l-o-w-e-r 25/35 speeds.

JEff

Bob pretty well covered all the bases on the 257. I have hunted with the cartridge since the 1970's with a variety of different rifles and to answer MCT3's question, if one is putting a new barrel on utilizing this cartridge, a 1-9 twist is the way to go. Mine with that twist shoot all weights from the 75 grain Vmax on up very well. The past few seasons I have gotten to like the 110 Accubond's performance in the quarterbores and in a 1-9 twist barrel it really shoots well. I have not tried the 115 grain Barnes bullets yet with the quicker twist, but from what I have seen with other longer bullets, it should be the clear ticket. However, if I had a 1-10 twist barrel that was shooting the bullets that I want to use, I would leave things well enough alone.

Its one of the best. I feel confident in using it up to 300 yds on the small South Carolina whitetail.Nosler 117 gr Partition pushed hard sounds good to me.

Consider it PERFECT for deer. Mine gives me the warm/fuzzies every time I shoot it.

That's another thing I like about the Roberts. The 100gr Hornady is perfect for that chambering, so easy on the pocketbook with good results.


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