Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Why so few guns in .257 Roberts?

To me the name .257 Roberts justs sounds cool.

I agree exactly. If Remington had chosen to make the 700 short action series with a 3" box, then a number of cartridges may have found quite a fan club, especially in something like the MR platform (6mm, Bob, original 284, 6.5 and 350 mags). All are at least slightly hamstrung by that missing .2" in OAL with today's great BC bullets.

That and the 243 does it all, faster, with lighter recoil, in a short box. Nobody but loonies are clamoring for a Bob when the 243 is sitting right there to be had.

If you honestly believe that bullshit about the .260 -- better known as the 6.5-08 or .263 Express -- being "one of the best cartridges of the last 50 years," then you're likely impressed by the wonders of fast-drying house paint, instant coffee, and steel belted radials. The .260 offers nothing advantageous over the previously established 7mm-08. No appreciable difference in recoil, accuracy, energy, etc. The best thing about a .260 is serving as a donor rifle for something else. Like a .257 Roberts or .250-3000 Savage.

I have heard this dissing of the Bob many times before. It's too bad people can't come with new material.

I have never owned a .260 (my 6.5 is a 6.5x.284), but i have owned a 7mm-08 (and .308). I would put the 7mm-08 in the "most useful cartridges" list, also. Both .260 and 7mm-08 can launch bullets of BCs around the .50 mark to 2800-2900 fps, and deliver sufficient energy to drop a deer reliably as far out as i'd care to shoot. Whilst keeping recoil below the 15 foot pound mark. By that definition, they are the top of the heap for an all-round deer cartridge at normal hunting ranges and beyond. But you can't compare the 7mm to the .257. You can compare the .260 to the Bob, and with current bullets it is a very one sided fight - the .260 Rem convincingly beats the Bob. The Bob struggles to get a .45 BC bullet much past 2700, whilst burning the same amount of powder as the .260.

The plain old .260 is also currently the US 1000y title holder, and in the hands of a girl, no less!

I happen to have owned five different Rob's... I'm hardly a newcomer to the round. I've had 2 LA Rob's, 2 SA Rob's and a Mauser 98 Rob... the Mauser 7x57-sized magazine is ideal for it.

If I ever have another, it'll be a SA Win 70 with the magazine spacer removed and fixed ejector shortened.

The old cartridge is among four or five of my all-time favorite rounds... I'm just not in denial about what it is.

And hey Ingwe, if you're out there, it's the best use of the 7x57 case

How many factory rifles currently chamber the 260 Rem?

Ignorant and meaningless comparison.

Couldn't give a f*ck less. That's not my litmus for buying a rifle.

If your arguments against the .257 Roberts are that it can't do what the f*cking .260 Remington can do and your "argument" in favor of the .260 Remington is some chick holds an accuracy record while -- or in your vernacular, "whilst" -- using the .260, then you never had much of a discussion point in the first place.

I have had 2 custom 'best grade' rifles built and they were in 257 Robts and 7x57 Mauser. They may not be the latest fad cartridge but they get the job done. Back in the early 50's when I was in gunsmith school the 257 was VERY popular. It's versatility and use have not diminished thru the years. When you get right down to it why have a 30-06? It doesn't do ANY ONE thing outstanding that cannot be done better by other calibers. The same can be said for many calibers. The name of the cartridge game seems to be Marketing and has been for many years.

Slightly more than in .257 Bob.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the .257 cal, it is just that it is very clear there are much better bullet options available in 6.5mm. There are probably some very good custom makers for .257, and at that point the Bob might start to be competitive. It is also interesting to not that the 6.5x57 is very popular in Europe - same case but using the better 6.5mm bullets. It is probably the most sensible option, but i'm not aware of it having ever caught on in the US.

I bought this just because.
No time to argue it's time to go shootin.
Kept wife -- Bought Gun:

Nice.

it would much more popular if your wives had gotten you guys a VZ33 action for Christmas...

If yuoo reread my post you will see that what I wrote was �to take full advantage of the cartridge you need a mid or long action�. That is not to say a short action won�t work, just that you can do things with a long action that you cannot with a short action. Nor does how fast a Kimber shorty in Roberts sell have any bearing on that fact.

COL for my heavier .257 Roberts loads is such that they will not fit in a Rem M700 short action magazine � not by quite a ways. Even the longest bullets do not extend into the case past the neck.

The Ruger M77, BTW, is a long action. Don�t know about all the others.

You won't find a .260 as sexy as that Model 70 Roberts.

I'm a ballistics and better performance fan as much as anyone. But I'd rather hunt with that Model 70 .257 than just about any factory .260 Rem.

In spades.

Because it wasn't all that long ago that the only factory ammo readily available was the round nose, Remington Corelokt. Bad bullets make bad impressions.

I�ll stand by what I said. The .25-06 can easily be downloaded to .257 Roberts performance but the .257 Roberts cannot match the .25-06 top end loads.

Using Nosler�s fastest loads from their web site for the .257 Roberts (2750fps) and .25-06 (3007fps) with a 120g Partition, the .25-06 adds 100 yards to what the Roberts can do in terms of retained velocity. If using data from Nosler�s Reloading Guide #6 (2810fps for the Bob, 3175fps for the .25-06), the .25-06 adds 150 yards to what the Roberts can do. Both Nosler resources stated 24� barrels for both cartridges. Handloaders can cut the difference by using or exceeding SAAMI +P pressures for the Roberts but they still cannot match the .25-06 velocities. Case capacity wins in the end.

As to the amount of powder burned, the .25-06 can match .257 Roberts velocities with far less than 25% more powder and the top end loads, like those listed above for the 120g Partition, provide 9-13% higher velocities respectively. Frankly, if I wanted to take advantage of the extra velocity and range a .25-06 could provide (for Nosler�s web and #6 loads mentioned above, 257fps and 365fps respectively), burning extra powder would be a price I would willingly pay. Neither is really suited to high volume varminting as far as I�m concerned so cost of the extra powder wouldn�t amount to much anyway. For the high volume stuff centerfire .22 is far more economical in terms of powder consumption.

My Ruger M77 .257 Roberts is my favorite rifle but I don�t try to fool myself that it can do what a .25-06 can do - because it can�t.

I like the .257. In fact, I have a .250 Savage, a .257 Roberts and a .25-06 Remington. All in short action, single-shot 40XB Rangemasters!

I didn't read all the posts but didn't read anyone else post that the .257 Rob. was handed it's doom the day it was born. The reason is the 44k cup pressure made the max load a wimp. It also came out with a very heavy rifle at first. It is a very goood round for deer and antelope, maybe the best. Noone cans say it's not enough or too big.