Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .257 Roberts for a southpaw on the cheap...

... or to be more accurate, for a cheap southpaw. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Have been intrigued with the .257 Roberts in a short action, and now that I�ve seen what a 7X57 can do I�m getting really intrigued with it. For a right hander factory rifles so chambered are scarce but do exist, but for a lefty they are completely non-existent (not counting the high priced SS Ruger 1A).

I currently have three short action left hand Model 700�s with the proper bolt face, but I�m not touching the .308 and 7mm-08, and am very reluctant to change the .243. Besides, any thing I did to rebarrel a Model 700 would cost several hundred dollars at least.

Anyhow, was trying to be creative last night, expand my horizons and all that, and was looking at Savage rifles on gunbroker.com. Even with shipping and FFL fee I could get into a left hand Model 11 for about $400 � could probably order one locally for even cheaper.

Then I got on Midway�s site and typed in �Savage barrel� and lo and behold, there are 2 Adams and Bennett barrels, Savage factory contour, in .257 Roberts � already chambered and ready to go, for the grand total of 89 bucks. As many here have stated, all you need is a barrel nut wrench and a headspace gauge to change out barrels.

So � knowing full well that Savage is not the DGR choice of professionals and Adams and Bennett are not the top trophy holders in the Bench Rest Hall of Fame, I�m still thinking one could get a fully functional, MOA or less capable, .257 Roberts for about the price of a new barrel on my .243, AND keep the 243 as well.

Sound like a plan?

Sound like a plan to me.

Besides all Savages look prettier at closing time. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

GB

thats what I did to get me a 1 in 8 twist 22-250 to shoot 70 gr bullets and it is extremly accurate. you won't be dissapointed (I hope) Hubert//

$210 for a Pac-Nor match grade barrel
$250 to chamber & install the barrel to the action you supply whcih they true and lap.

So now your at $489 to shoot an A&B barreled Savage .... or ~$460 to shoot a pac-nor barreled, trued M700??? ... sounds pretty simple to me (granted you lose the .243 ... but ... is that a bad thing?)

PacNor was selling prechambered drop in Savage barrels themselves, so you might get the best of both worlds. Buy a used Savage on one of the auction sites and get a pre-fitted PacNor for it.

I have a Savage 11F set up with 3 A&B barrels, 22-250/257/260, and it shoots OK groups. For my personal use, I'd much rather have a Remington 700 based rifle than a Savage 11/110/111 based rifle, but I'd go into it expecting it to cost more and perform at least marginally better.

Jeff

Good replies all. Thanks for the tips about savageparts.com and the pre-chambered Pac-Nor barrels, I'll be looking into them.

Mostly what I want is a rifle that I can use to play with various calibers not offered to us lefties, and do so without spending an arm and a leg for each different caliber.

"For my personal use, I'd much rather have a Remington 700 based rifle than a Savage 11/110/111 based rifle, but I'd go into it expecting it to cost more and perform at least marginally better."

Me too, at least so far. Currently have 6 Model 700's - two with Pac-Nor barrels and 3 Model 70's - one with a P-N barrel. Had two other Model 70's with P-N barrels as well.

I've gone the Pac-Nor route 6 times now and they do indeed shoot, but it takes 12 weeks to get a caliber change, actually longer if I just buy a barrel and have a local smith do it, you've lost the previous caliber, just several reasons why I want to try something different.

The Savage platform seems to have pros and cons:
- Functioning is spotty and can be rough. So is the functioning of the last three Model 700's I bought. I have good reliable hunting rifles, I only need one that goes bang and offers good accuracy.
- Ugly. Hey, an ugly girl gave me..., well, none of your business, but ugly ain't as bad as it's cracked up to be. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Pros: The new Accu-trigger seems to be the real deal for a great trigger. My Model 700 triggers can be real spotty, at least the ones on the last three I've bought. Would have to spend $200 for a Jewell or at least $80-90 for another trigger - remember I'm left handed, left handed triggers don't grow on every page of everybody's mail order web site.
- Easy caliber change - I can change a Savage barrel myself. Or if not up to it, a local smith can do it in 15 minutes.
- The difference between a .4" rifle and a .7" rifle is .3" (duh <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ), but the cost difference can amount to a couple hundred dollars. I mentioned the Adams and Bennet barrels just as a fer instance. Mule Deer reports that ER Shaw makes decent low cost barrels these days, IIRC Sharpshooter Supply offers them, or if I want to spend more, I can get a ready made Pac-Nor.

I'm more interested in a rifle that can shoot consistent 1" to 3/4" groups than spending a whole bunch more money and gambling that it will shave 1/4" off that. And I do mean gamble - I like Pac-Nor, they are great people, but of the 6 barrels I've had 2 were really just so-so. My box stock Ruger #1 7X57 and two out of the box Model 700's bought on closeout can outshoot two of those $400 rebarreling jobs, $520 each if you count re-bluing and shipping, and the difference between the really good P-N barrels and the other rifles just mentioned is maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch in the aggregate.

Most of my shooting these days is done off my hind legs and I just cannot make use of a 1/2" overall difference. Or, if I really really really need that 1/2" advantage, well hey, I've already got several rifles like that sitting in the closet. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

$150 or so for a decent barrel, 20 minutes of my time with a borrowed headspace gauge and I'm set to play with a .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .260 Remington, .25 Souper, whatever my little heart desires. Guess I could go the Encore or NEF route for multiple calibers, but a bare bolt action, pillar bedded, with a great trigger and a permanently mounted scope just fits in with what I'm looking for.

In keeping with the good results for low dollar outlay, I used to spend 175 bucks for the finest Redding competition dies but have found that I can use a $29.95 Redding FL die set and $16 Lee collet die to get groups just as teeny tiny as with the expensive dies.

If anybody has any other links or tips about who makes decent barrels for reasonable cost please let me know.

Thanks.

How about ER Shaw? Dad just had an 1909 done in 6.5-284, fluted chrome moly # 1 1/2, bead blasted and blued for $375. Cheaper without flutes, perhaps $80 or so.

He has a 788 done in a .260 and I've got a 338-06 and they shoot very well. Turnaround is about 14 weeks right now.

Jim- Sharp Shooter Supply (SSS) uses Douglas barrels and Savage Factory varmint contour is standard (it will cost extra to have it turned to a sporter contour) . Pac-Nor will sell you a pre-fit barrel for a Savage for around $340. Rumour has it that Lothar Walther is jumping on this bandwagon also, though I didn't find mention of it on their website last I looked. If I recall correctly, SSS's Trigger is ambidextrous (call Fred to double check) and is an excellent trigger.

I have heard decent reports regarding the Bell & Carlson Duramax stocks, though everyone agrees the SSS stocks are light years better. These same stocks are actually made by Kevin Rayhill under his Stockade Gunstocks banner and sold through Lock, Stock and Barrel, and by Brownells. Kevin is also a "known" Savage smith.

I advise you to spend some serious time researching the forums and articles on www.savageshooters.com You can also access the SSS site there. Plus, Fred monitors the tech forum frequently.

I have a Savage M10 that I am finally getting around to rebarreling. It is going to wind up a 6mm BR, someday. Still need dies/brass/bullets- the list goes on.

Good Luck-

CAL9

You can alway's make a switch barrel out of a remington as well! you'd need to have a smith do the initial instalation but after that you could do it yourself.
Just a thought. it might not be as easy as a savage but it can still be done.
YMMV
Paul

My switch barrel Savage 11 has the accu-trigger and I find it just OK, but certainly nothing special. A good trigger job by a 'smith who knows what he/she is doing would be as good and probably better.

Jeff

More info to think about, thanks some more. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Not looking to make a real "switch barrel" rifle, as in Saturday it's a .257 and Sunday it's a 6mm, but more along the lines of working with a caliber for 6 months to a year, then when it's time to move on it doesn't take too much money to trade barrels.

I used to go to gun shows and buy a new or used rifle, work with it for a while. work up loads and so forth, then sell it and buy something else. The main problem with that is the lack of calibers I want to work with in left handed rifles.

Moving barrels around on a Remington is okay but the big bugaboo there is that you need a pinned recoil lug, otherwise you can never quite get it back in the exact same place - you have to rebed it. That means more money going to a smith and time waiting for him to get it done. If I was good at that stuff I could do it all myself, but I learned long ago that I'm a driver, not a mechanic. Actually a very darn good driver, and a really, really lousy mechanic. I can do the firearm equivalent of changing the oil, but trying much more and I'll screw up a perfectly good rifle in nothing flat.

Remington triggers are about the nicest factory trigger I've found, just have been disappointed with the latest examples. My tack driving .308 has a crisp 3 pound trigger, but set it any lighter and it slam fires. Yet if I cock the bolt, put the safety on and then off, it's a consistent 1 1/2 pound trigger. Does this every time. Nice when bench testing to have a 1 1/2 pound trigger available <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />, but something's going on in there that shouldn't be going on.

I realize Savage is not the perfect answer, but with a ready made free floated, pillar bedded rifle with a good trigger and an easy to switch barrel, it has the best combination of answers so far.

Of course, the other possibility is just to buy right hand rifles in the caliber I want. There's a right hand 7mm-08 Model 70 Featherweight on the shelf at Sportsmans Warehouse that is driving me nuts, I want it so bad... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Decisions, decisions - but thanks for the suggestions and keep-em coming, it's
giving me more stuff to think about.

You could also get a Ruger 77 lefty for $400 to $450 and rebarrel it, maybe even with a .257 M77RS barrel with the sights, which is a bit slimmer than the new slick barrels.

Lefties are limited. Savages are ugly. But...like you said- you could get in the race on the cheap. Too hard to do if you're a LH shooter.
I've owned several savages. Cant seem to keep them. I wanted a LH SS pencil barrel, plastic stocked coyote rifle, and bought the Savage- 10 shots from cold clean to hot will cut 1" @ 100. Year in, year out. Dont handlload for it, and not bad considering the absurd 9 twist it came it.
GO FOR IT!

Hey Jim, I saw that you're selling your 7-08 PN barrel and the 308 factory one as well. Did you decide to turn that 700 action into a 257? I've got a Ruger Ultralight in one and love it, but as a righty, I've got more choices.
OTOH, I've thought about the Savage route as well, mostly just for something to do, which appears to be your goal, rather than a die-hard hunting rig.
For an inexpensive 257 barrel, I'd try Shaw in a mountain rifle contour, if they'll do it. Blued and installed is still only about 200 bucks. One thing I learned about ER Shaw is that their lightweight contour isn't that light, and they leave a 3 inch shank. This pushed my little Brown stocked 7X57 98 up to just shy of 8 pounds scoped, when I was hoping for 7.5. But, it's a good barrel and smoother than most factory barrels I own.
Regardless, good luck with it, you'll find the 257 doesn't give up much to the 25-06, at least in my mind. It's a lot of fun and having a 257, I just cant justify owning a 243, especially when I can easily load a 100 TSX or Partition at 3100 fps.