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Joined: Feb 2003
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2003
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For where I normally hunt and what I normally hunt, the Roberts is plenty. I can easily get 3000-3100 fps with a 100 grain bullet, and 2900+ with a 115 Partition. I know you can get more velocity with the 06 or Bee, but for my uses that is just more noise and shorter barrel life. Looking back, I've probably killed more deer with the Savage than the Roberts and didn't notice any limitations at the time.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 21,690
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 21,690 |
I really like the lesser noise from the Roberts. I guess I could load a .25-06 down and achieve the same thing though.
"The number one problem with America is, a whole lot of people need shot, and nobody is shooting them."
-Master Chief Hershel Davis
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 12,651
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 12,651 |
Lots of reasons the .257 Roberts igets so little love from the masses and the gun makers.
In no particular order:
1. .243 Win
2. The 7x57 parent cartridge is a mid-length cartridge. Although some makers use short actions for the Roberts, to take full advantage of the cartridge you need a mid or long action.
3. In a long action the .25-06 does everything a Roberts will do and then some.
4. Low SAAMI pressure when compared to other cartridges, even with SAAMI +P data.
5. It probably would have fared better if it was a .257 Remington or .257 Win. due to better marketing support.
My tang safety Ruger .257 Roberts is my avorite rifle by a wide margin. It loved the following loads:
75g V-Max
100g TTSX
110g AccuBond
120g A-Frame
My Ruger has a long throat and I seat the longer bullets out well past a length where they will fit in an M700 short-action magazine.
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
A good .30-06 is a 99% solution.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,735
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22,735 |
Once a cartridge looses its appeal, its hard to get a resurgence going again. People move on to the next latest, greatest and tend not to look back. Obviously a strong appeal here for the nostalgic rifles and cartridges, but we are in a minority.
My home is the "sanctuary residence" for my firearms.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 18,854
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 18,854 |
Lots of reasons the .257 Roberts igets so little love from the masses and the gun makers.
In no particular order:
1. .243 Win
2. The 7x57 parent cartridge is a mid-length cartridge. Although some makers use short actions for the Roberts, to take full advantage of the cartridge you need a mid or long action.
3. In a long action the .25-06 does everything a Roberts will do and then some.
4. Low SAAMI pressure when compared to other cartridges, even with SAAMI +P data.
5. It probably would have fared better if it was a .257 Remington or .257 Win. due to better marketing support.
My tang safety Ruger .257 Roberts is my avorite rifle by a wide margin. It loved the following loads:
75g V-Max
100g TTSX
110g AccuBond
120g A-Frame
My Ruger has a long throat and I seat the longer bullets out well past a length where they will fit in an M700 short-action magazine. I had a 1982 700 Classic, which is a long-action 257 Rbts. It's not at all necessary for this cartridge, and in a long action and a 24" sporter contour barrel, the Classic model is a hog relative to the chambering. The Rbts really shines in a short-action rifle. 2.825" is plenty of length and with some powders will give the same velocity as a round loaded out to 3+". I'll concede most of your other points, but that doesn't make the Roberts inferior. Browning BLR, Remington 760 pump, Remington 722 and 700, Winchester 70, Ruger 77 and Hawkeye, NULA, Kimber, etc. etc. etc. all can't be wrong. Watch in the classifieds or search and see how fast a Kimber Montana in 257 Rbts sells. I have one and wouldn't take for mine. I loaded up some 75 Gr. VMAX's and my first 3-shot 100-yard group after 1 sighter went into .24" (or maybe it was .29"...don't care to look it up) and I stopped there and went and killed a ton of prairie dogs with it. I've yet to shoot a deer with it, but the 100 TSX is just waiting for the call.
Sent from my Dingleberry Handheld Wireless
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 975
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 975 |
257 Roberts is an excellent deer and antelope cartridge. But its fading fast into the list of "has been" hunting cartridges along with 6mm Remington and others. Unfair but true.
Gunwriters have whined about the Roberts compared to 25-06. But I've never agreed with their assumptions and fallacies.
Sherwood
Last edited by Sherwood; 12/25/11. Reason: spelling fixed
FIRE UP THE GRILL - is NOT catch and release!
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,185
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,185 |
A couple of my theories are the average guy buys what they hear about and they hear about the .243, 25-06, 270, etc, etc.
Action length has been mentioned, but It's easier for Rem, Win, etc to bang about a bunch of the same action and fit them in accordance to needs.
Most people I know who gun a Bob are avid hand loaders who are in the "know" as to it's potential.
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900 |
With so many seemingly so fond of the .257 Roberts, why have so few of them been sold? The 25's (including the Roberts)got a bum rap years ago,hijacked by gunwriters and gun companies looking for new cartridges towrite about and sell  ....the 243 was bought by the masses, and the 25's remained the province of the cognescenti (the smart guys  Today the 6mm's are used by target shooters and LR artists...the 25's are still used by the other guys but there are fewer of them..... This may be revisionist history but we are all entitled to our own interpretations. 
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,467
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,467 |
In a long action the .25-06 does everything a Roberts will do and then some. Not really. It burns around 25% more powder for a gain of a mere 7% in velocity for any given bullet as used in the .257 Roberts.
I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum. I do tend to fit in well wherever I go in person. The campfire is the most outside exposure I get. No TV, no newspaper.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 13,401
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 13,401 |
Here is my theory or thoughts on the subject and question. It (the 257R) requires the same action length as a 25/06 or a 257 Weatherby, but is considerably weaker than either so is thusly inferior. I know it has a following, but I don't know why anyone would build one today with the other two rounds avaialble. In a short action, where the 257R could be made to work, although a tough 'shoehorn' kinda deal, the 25/284 beats it up badly. Short action 25 cal build = 25/284 and a medium action 25 cal build = 257WBY in my world. Mark, Merry Christmas - glad you are still here with us after your heart attack! I had the 700 Classic 257 Roberts and it was a hog for that round. Didn't kick much though! IMO you don't need to build one as Kimber has put the best package together for the Bob. 100 grain TSX can still be seated with the first relief groove at the end of the case, so it's not "shoehorned" in... Someone here once wrote that there's about 100 yards of difference in velocity between the Bob, 25-06, and the 257 Roy. What the Bob does at the muzzle with a 100 grainer, the 25-06 does at 100 yards. And what the 25-06 does at the muzzle, the Roy does at 100 yards. Good way of justifying the need for all three!
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”
ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 13,401
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Posts: 13,401 |
PS. Plus the Classic Select grade has panache - see my avatar....
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”
ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4,586
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4,586 |
Have a few, Kimber Select Classic and a Rem CDL limited Ed. Both great shooters and kill as dead as my 06's ,270's and 300 mags. If the manafactures didn't come up with a new whizz bang super caliber they would go out of business. Therefore cartridges such as the Bob get pushed to the back burner. Jmo
Never take life to seriously, after all ,no one gets out of it alive.
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 27,500
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 27,500 |
Here is my theory or thoughts on the subject and question. It (the 257R) requires the same action length as a 25/06 or a 257 Weatherby, but is considerably weaker than either so is thusly inferior. I know it has a following, but I don't know why anyone would build one today with the other two rounds avaialble. In a short action, where the 257R could be made to work, although a tough 'shoehorn' kinda deal, the 25/284 beats it up badly. Short action 25 cal build = 25/284 and a medium action 25 cal build = 257WBY in my world. Mark, Merry Christmas - glad you are still here with us after your heart attack! I had the 700 Classic 257 Roberts and it was a hog for that round. Didn't kick much though! IMO you don't need to build one as Kimber has put the best package together for the Bob. 100 grain TSX can still be seated with the first relief groove at the end of the case, so it's not "shoehorned" in... Someone here once wrote that there's about 100 yards of difference in velocity between the Bob, 25-06, and the 257 Roy. What the Bob does at the muzzle with a 100 grainer, the 25-06 does at 100 yards. And what the 25-06 does at the muzzle, the Roy does at 100 yards. Good way of justifying the need for all three! Thank you for the well wishes, and I like how you think as well! Why only choose ONE? I think the writer pegged it pretty well as to what one does that the others do not. Works for me. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
LOVE God, LOVE your family, LOVE your country, LIKE guns and sports.
About 2016 team "R" candidates "We definitely need a crew with a sack of balls the size of hot water bottles, bloviated estrogen leaking feel-gooders need not apply." Gunner 500
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 509
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Posts: 509 |
The 257 Roberts tends to be a favorite among the loonies and those who have class which is why it is popular here.  But the the average "Joe Hunter" who wipes off the dust the day before deer season and hunts a day or to, it hold little popularity. ddj That nails it.. ps, I've got a Hawkeye Roberts and I love it...
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,963
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 9,963 |
Ruger brings back the 257 Roberts quite often. I wouldnt
mind having an older tang safety version.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,257
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,257 |
Personally, I'm one that thinks the Rob is at its best with a 3" magazine.
That's the problem with old Rob... he's a tweener.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 29,616
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 29,616 |
IMHO it's a very vocal few that love the 257. Not that it's a bad round at all but for the masses it's nothing special and it does nothing, and not even as much or as good, as a 7/08 or 308 in a short action or a 270 in a long action.
Dewd I think you're on the wrong forum... The Bob not doing anything special or "as much as" a 7-08 or 308? Thems fightin' words! I'm a 7x57 man so no -08 and an '06 man so no 308 or "30-06 UNimproved (aka 270 WCF)", but I LOVE me some 257 Bob!! Like the old gubermint rounds, you just can't have too many...
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 13,401
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2006
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Personally, I'm one that thinks the Rob is at its best with a 3" magazine.
That's the problem with old Rob... he's a tweener. Heck, with a couple 7-08's in the safe, my Bobs are superfluous. Maybe I should just sell them and go on a hunt...
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”
ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,342
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,342 |
Was trialing loads in a 257 on Thursday that Gary Stiles built on a 98 action. Was delivered just a couple of weeks ago. Mighty nice rifle in a caliber that has been getting the job done for some decades.
I would happily hunt most anything with a 115gr Partition out of a Roberts.
Imagine your grave on a windy winter night. You've been dead for 70 years.
It's been 50 since a visitor last paused at your tombstone.....
Now explain why you're in a pissy mood today.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 592
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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The only reason to buy a Bob these days is sentimentality. They don't fit most actions well, and the .260 Rem is all over the .257 ballistically. Just compare your reloading guide for the Bob and .260. Ballistic coefficients are generally identical, powder charges the same at 35 - 40 gr, but the .260 is giving you an extra 100 to 150 fps. Now i am probably as big an advocate of the x57 cartridges as anyone here, but there is no way in the world i would go a Bob anymore - it just doesn't make sense. The .260 is also a cartridge of very high intrinsic accuracy and currently holds a bunch of trophies and records.
The .260 is as sexy as a fridge, but it is simply the better cartridge. It is truly one of the best cartridges of the last 50 years.
If your dad doesn't have a beard, you've got two mums
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