Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rebore a .243 Win Model 70 Featherweight to 257 Roberts?

I have never had any real custom rifle work done, but I would like have a 257 Roberts on a Winchester CRF action someday. Money is a limiting factor. Would reborring the barrel on a .243 Win Model 70 be the most reasonable route to get the rifle I want? Would rebarreling be cheaper or yield a better result?

I know their are some arguements against doing the 257 Roberts on the short action, but won't a 3.005" round fit in the short action Win Model 70? I know a 2.800" length round will.
If I had to limit my Robert to 2.800" OAL have I really lost very much?

I want a light recoiling rifle that is still very reliable on deer. If the short action just won't work then I guess the Roberts will be out. The 25-06 more than I think is really really needed. The 25 Souper is interesting, but I fear the cost of getting a wildcat built will put it beyond my reach.

Thanks,
Mark in GA

The .257 Roberts works fine in the Remington Model 7 Mannlicher and the Browning Micro Medallion short actions.
Don't assume you will be shooting long 120-gr bullets. A 100-gr TSX might be the ticket.

But it won't cost any more to ream out a .25-308 than to ream out a .257 Roberts, if the smith already has the tooling. A big smith will have a .25 Souper reamer.

Call McGowen barrels. You could sent him your barrelled action and have him put on a new one.

PS: I am considering doing the same thing to a .243 M-70 Compact that I can pick up for $300.00.

Is it chromoly or stainless?

I don't believe it's possible to go from .244" to .257" in a rebore so you'd need to go from a 22-250 to 257 Rbt's.

I'd do the Bob in the SA M70.

Cliff LaBounty will not rebore the M70 stainless because of inconsistant hardness through the barrel length. Chromoly is no problem. Dan Pedersen at Cut Rifle (from memory I believe that's the name) will do stainless or chromoly.

Mark,
Brad is right, I don't think anyone will rebore from a 243 to a 257. You'll have to start with a 22-250 (no big deal really).

Dan Pedersen does fantastic work. I can highly recommend him. Dan will charge you $265.00 to go from a 22-250 to a 257 Roberts.

If you choose to save for a new barrel, Dan will also exactly copy the factory contour so it will drop back into your stock. He can do all the work, including finishing and it will be outstanding.

BTW, a short action Winchester will work fantastic for the 257 Roberts.

You can rebore the barrel of a .243 to .257, but you can't recut the chamber, as the .243's shoulder is wider than the same section of the .257's chamber.

You can, however, rebore and keep the same chamber to make a .25 Souper (as suggested here already), or get it rechambered to .257 Roberts Ackley Improved, which will clean up the .243 chamber.

There is no significant downside to the .257 Roberts in a 2.8" magazine--as long as the throat is cut correctly for bullets seated to that depth. In terms of velocity, you'd gain about 5% in powder space by seating the bullets out to 3"--which due to the ballistic rule that any extra powder-space gains 1/4 of that in velocity--will net you about 38 fps in a 3000-fps load. This is how much velocity is lost in the first 12-13 yards after a typical 100-grain .25 spitzer leaves the muzzle.

I have fooled around with LOTS of .257's, with bullets seated to make the OAL 2.8 to 3.2. The only factor that seemed to contribute significantly to velocity was barrel length, not bullet seating depth.

The .257 Ackley will get you about 100 fps over the standard version (due to the same 1/4 rule), everything else being equal. This translates into how much velocity the bullet will lose in about 33 yards, or 1-2" of flatter trajectory at 400 yards. For this vast difference in performance you get the privilege of fire-forming brass.

The .25 Souper has almost identical powder capacity as the .257--actually a grain or two less. It performs no better or worse in a 2.8 inch magazine. If you ever sell the rifle you'd get significantly more for a .257 (and the same applies to a .257 Ackley). On the other hand, the rebore job would cost less than a new barrel.

MD

Check out www.ershawbarrels.com. They do inexpensive, not cheap, work. I have a couple Bobs with their barrels that shoot quite well.

I second the E.R. Shaw idea. Good stuff.

MD

I've got a different problem . Want a Roberts, but shoot left handed. I know a bolt face can be opened up , but can one be reduced? Win is making a short action left hand featherweight in the wsm cartridges. I know the bolt face is bigger but can it be reduced?

baddwuf--
Speaking as one lefty to another, your proposition is more complicated and likely more expensive. The Winchester action is made to shoot the WSM cases, so the feed rails would likely be too wide for good feeding of standard diameter cases. The conversion of one of the Model 70 featherweights would probably be either a money pit or unsatisfying. An alternative would be the MRC action, if CRF is your goal. Otherwise Remington or Savage would be among the likely choices.

A cheaper route to a left hand .257 Roberts would be to just buy an M-22 from Cooper in LH, for $1,200.

Winchester Custom Shop makes the Model 70 in left hand .257 Roberts from the custom shop for $2,710. I can probably get one for a lot less.

Get a lefty Savage 110 used, rebarrel from Midway or E.R.Shaw, stock it as you like when you get the extra bucks, and have at it.

A Cooper for 1200? is that a single shot? Saw the Win customs in the catalog, that's what I'd like to achieve, without spending 2700, not too keen on Savage, what about Ruger's M77 in 25-06, long action though , I think the barrel could be set back to 257 Roberts?

The Cooper M-22 lightweight bolt action sells for about $1250.00. The MVT varmint sells for about $1,850.00.

You could buy a LH Ruger 77, pull off the barrel, and probably find a take off Ruger .257 barrel cheap that you could pop right back on there. I have NIB Ruger 77 LH .30-06 that I'll sell cheap.

Ruger is also selling a limited edition .257 No. 1-A in stainless steel and nice walnut. They run about $800-875 in stores.

Ditto on the Ruger #1 idea. The Bob is a sweet little cartridge which just makes the #1 all that much classier. With a 26" barrel (#1B) you'd be able to wring the maximum umph the Bob has to offer. Can you tell I have underlying issues about not owning one yet? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
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Baddwuf,
You're profile doesn't show where you life (or anything come to think of it), but if you've got access to a Sportsmans Warehouse, there are usually several guns for Lefties in various makes, models and colors-----sometimes on sale since you're a rare customer. You might try that route.
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Go for the Ruger #1 in .257 Rob. I am very happy with mine.

I'm from Pa, never heard of Sportsmans warehouse. Ruger doesn't show a No. 1 in 257 Roberts in their new catalog, I like the no 1 in in the light sporter model but don't want stainless. Those Cooper's look sweet and light too, but I think they are all single shots.

Why doesn't USRAC just make a run of CRF Featherweights in .257 Roberts? I'll commit right now and buy one!


Good hunting,

Leon

USRAC management doesn't make a .257 Featherweight for the same reason Ruger doesn't make it in a No. 1-A in blue - out of touch with the shooting world.

Especially lefties,

they think all we want to shoot are 270's and 30-06's!