.257 Roberts LOUD!!!

[Rsadams]

I have a 600 in 6mm Remington that's pretty loud itself... It's the short barrel in my opinion.... Shoots really well....

 

[Rsadams]

I Personally have no problem with this rifles accuracy, I shoots like a dream. But before i received the rifle i researched it and many of the comments were very negative. Not one to let some one else's comments deter me i got the rifle..... and love it. I checked the action screws, 65 lbs as per Kimber. stock was free floating with a little forend tip contact. I usually will remove that and load develop with a totally FF barrel ( if no good i can add some marine tex and replace the contact) I do generally like to seat my bullets .005-.010 off the rifling but when i "jammed" this one .040 off. I expected the worst But this rifle shot good right off the bat. BUT LOUD with the most accurate load tested. Barnes 80 gr TTSX and 47 gr of H380 and Fed Mag primers. Your previous comments enticed me to continue with further load development. SO.....I loaded H380 with a 100 gr bullet hopping more powder will burn in the barrel and reduce blast? I had poor luck with IMR4350 So i'm excluding at this time. i'm also trying RE19 with both the 80 and 100 grain bullet. I could not find load data for VVn135 If you have a personal recipe or could point me in the right direction I'll give it a whirl. I hope to get to the range soon and i'll give an up date.
Thanks for the help....and hearing related humor. But no joke..... When i was chronoing this beast the blast blew off the first sky screen.... 10 ft away.... no damage but WOW.

The problem with online reviews is they can be very accurate if you keep seeing the same problems.... Unfortunately some just plain old don't know how to work the products... The other problem is there's NOT alot of people posting good reviews if the product works as expected... That's a shame... I recently ordered a product and the reviews were not good at all... I figured people just didn't understand how it needed to be setup and even some of the reviews even explained what needed to be done to setup correctly... They came in and worked flawlessly if you know what a thing does , it's limits and how it is supposed to work... Sometimes you just have to take a chance... The good thing is most companies will return your money or replace the product with a simple call if there's an actual problem or explain what's going on so you can get it going...

Keep in mind not all people are created equal... When I was in the computer busness years ago I actually spent 30 minutes trying to explain to a customer that he had to plug the computer into a wall outlet to get it to turn on... He finally figured it out , plugged it in and bam it turns on , no problems... Now I get that not everyone is computer literate but plugging something into the wall outlet should be easy... The outlet has been part of the home for a very long time and alot of other things use them... After that nothing suprised me anymore...

 

[searcher]

You will typically get a louder report and more muzzle blast shooting the smaller bullets with "more" powder. I have a Ruger M77 Ultra-light in .257 Roberts and it has a super skinny and very short barrel (too lazy to drag from the back of the safe). I found great results with 100 grain Barnes TSX using either 43.2 of Hunter or 38.4 of H4350. Sub-MOA accuracy and small blast relative to many.

 

[ADKTIM]

I did get out to the range this week to try a few new recipes. Nosler 100gr BT with H380 shot MOA at 100yds. The Barnes 80gr TTSX with RE19 1 1/2"
I had some OLD lead tip BT's and tried them with RE19 1 3/4" The LOUD load still shot best. So in conclusion I'm sticking with the 80 grain TTSX and H380 powder.
Now i need to throw one more thing out to the crowd. Does any one have deer hunting experience with the Barnes 80gr TTSX? I have never used a pure copper bullet and nothing that light. I have had great success with the 100gr BT in both the 250 Sav. and 257 Roberts. I called Barnes, and the person assured me that i will be very impressed with the results as long as i keep the velocity above 1900 fps. He calculated my load would be good to 400 yds. Recovered bullets from the berm are impressive. average expansion 1/2" with ridicules weight retention. Like 98%
Let me know of your successes or failures.

 

[David Milisock]

It might be loud but you'll like the weight when jumping the hills. I always wear muffs, plugs alone allow too much bone conduction of sound to the ear.

That rifle's a fine tool and it's bite is worse than it's bark.

 

[yotehater]

I have a 25-05 with a 22” barrel. Talk about a lot of muzzle blast and loud!! A lot of powder down a short tube will be a lot louder.

I hear that, my Remmy 22" 700 Mountain Rifle in .25-06 is a flame throwing obnoxious beast. I love carrying it though. What did you say???

 

[Drop Port]

Had a 700 classic Roberts that I picked a book load to test, 4895 and 100NBT. First group went .3's second group the same only it was lethargic and no other load would shoot. Knowing it was capable and being hard headed I never gave up and it taught me a lot about hand loading. I even experimented with R-22 to no avail, then I stuck a Mag primer in it and it sucked in so tight I figured it was a lucky group. After It repeated with consistency I ran it over a crony and thought the crony was broken. I can tell you its bark reflected its bite.

 

[Clark]

According to my calculations and reasoning, almost all guns are the same amount of loud at high frequencies.
When the muzzle gas ball gets down to 1 atmosphere about ambient, the gas goes subsonic and a wave of 2A peak 0A trough propagates off the surface. Wavelengths longer than size of the gas ball are attenuated in a single zero roll off. This is why cannons have a deep boom to them. The gas ball size at time of sound propagation is a product of muzzle pressure [ chamber volume + bore volume].
Quickload can tell you the muzzle pressure. 257 Roberts is ~~ 10k psi muzzle pressure.
22 CB shorts with a 24 inch barrel is about 32 psi.
Probably more important to your ears is how sound is reflecting in the shooting situation. Snow absorbs sound, concrete reflects it. Concrete is hard and heavy, making it a poor impedance match with air.
Also important is if the stirrup in the ear is pulled back to desensitize.

 

[Flouncer]

Isn't the 257 based on the 7x57 Mauser ? As in the "57" is the case length in mm ? Isn't that a design flaw to put a long action cartridge in a short action ? The 308 is 51 mm ??

 

[std7mag]

Yes, the 257 Roberts is the 7X57 Mauser necked down.
I believe it was originally built on the intermediate length Mauser action, as there were many floating around after both world wars.

If you single feed, you can shoot the 57mm long cases in a short action, as i'm not sure it would fit in the magazine.
The real problem may be extraction if you don't fire the round.

As for loud, the original poster probably has never sat beside a short barrel 308, or a braked rifle. Braked 338LM, and 50 BMG, you more feel the muzzle report, than hear it.

 

[riverside jeep]

I did get out to the range this week to try a few new recipes. Nosler 100gr BT with H380 shot MOA at 100yds. The Barnes 80gr TTSX with RE19 1 1/2"
I had some OLD lead tip BT's and tried them with RE19 1 3/4" The LOUD load still shot best. So in conclusion I'm sticking with the 80 grain TTSX and H380 powder.
Now i need to throw one more thing out to the crowd. Does any one have deer hunting experience with the Barnes 80gr TTSX? I have never used a pure copper bullet and nothing that light. I have had great success with the 100gr BT in both the 250 Sav. and 257 Roberts. I called Barnes, and the person assured me that i will be very impressed with the results as long as i keep the velocity above 1900 fps. He calculated my load would be good to 400 yds. Recovered bullets from the berm are impressive. average expansion 1/2" with ridicules weight retention. Like 98%
Let me know of your successes or failures.

I love the Barnes 80 gn ttsx in my .257 Roberts, Mines in a Ruger Hawkeye and after a load development is shooting 5/8" groups at 3350 fps using H-4350. No need to worry how it works on deer as they will be dead with proper shot placement as with any caliber. Big problem now is Barnes bullets are nonexistent.

 

[shoot4fun]

Isn't the 257 based on the 7x57 Mauser ? As in the "57" is the case length in mm ? Isn't that a design flaw to put a long action cartridge in a short action ? The 308 is 51 mm ??

Ever held a 257 Roberts cartridge in hand? The "problem" in my mind is many of those 25 caliber bullets are long and slender and, though the SA can handle the 57mm length brass, bullets have to be stuffed into it pretty deep. That takes up usable powder space. Yes, the original loadings were rather anemic but the later +P denotations have more potential and deserve a longer action to reach that potential (at least in my opinion). While on the "shortcomings" (sarcasm) of the 257 Bob I would say, should I decide to build a rifle from scratch, my perfect bolt gun would be something like a Terminus Kratos Lite long action in a carbon fiber stock and a 24" barrel of a slightly faster twist than the (to quote those gun scribes) ubiquitous 1 in 10. Afterall, there has been a tremendous amount of upgrade to the .257 caliber bullet over he years.

 

[CaptainMal]

The 257 Roberts and the 6mm Rem are the same 7 X 57 Mauser case just necked differently. I have a 22" bbl Remington 700 mountain rifle in 257 and a 20" 6mm Rem in a Rem. 600. No real difference in volume from either.

Will agree that the teeny barrel on the Mountain Rifle is good for 3 MOA or less shots. Then barrel heat ends that target stuff as, even properly bedded, mine opens up when hot.

The "Bob" has been my favorite hunting cartridge since I got my first one back in the 1960's. Still have a real fancy Mauser in "Bob" that I just gave to my son. He liked shooting it so much it was time to part with it.

Even did in a super nice 8 pt. with this same 257 'Bob" at 540 yards. Great, great cartridge.

 

[std7mag]

Ever held a 257 Roberts cartridge in hand? The "problem" in my mind is many of those 25 caliber bullets are long and slender and, though the SA can handle the 57mm length brass, bullets have to be stuffed into it pretty deep. That takes up usable powder space. Yes, the original loadings were rather anemic but the later +P denotations have more potential and deserve a longer action to reach that potential (at least in my opinion). While on the "shortcomings" (sarcasm) of the 257 Bob I would say, should I decide to build a rifle from scratch, my perfect bolt gun would be something like a Terminus Kratos Lite long action in a carbon fiber stock and a 24" barrel of a slightly faster twist than the (to quote those gun scribes) ubiquitous 1 in 10. Afterall, there has been a tremendous amount of upgrade to the .257 caliber bullet over he years.

257 bullets slender? Yes.
Long? Not so much.
And we are talking about the traditional hunting bullets, not the custom twist requiring 131, or 135gr.
The COAL for a 100gr bullet in the Roberts isn't going to be that different than a 100 gr bullet in the 6mm Rem.
A 140gr bullet in the parent 7X57 Mauser is going to be a fair bit longer.

 

[shoot4fun]

257 bullets slender? Yes.
Long? Not so much.
And we are talking about the traditional hunting bullets, not the custom twist requiring 131, or 135gr.
The COAL for a 100gr bullet in the Roberts isn't going to be that different than a 100 gr bullet in the 6mm Rem.
A 140gr bullet in the parent 7X57 Mauser is going to be a fair bit longer.

Maybe I should go a little farther with my "long bullet" comment.
Over the last few years many bullet designs and trends have been for longer and heavier bullets with different types of ogive and length of bearing surface. The 25 calibers will likely never match up with lengths of 7mm bullets of today and that is not even, IMO, a fair assessment. The fact that 257 Roberts and 7x57 are the same case is as far as the comparison should go in this conversation.
I am a huge 7mm bullet fan. I've hunted with the 7MM08 almost exclusively for the last 30 years and have ultimate confidence in the cartridge and the bullets. I've also shot them in long range (out to 1,000) competitions with a good degree of success. The 7x57 (and forgive my historical ignorance) was introduced in the Mauser action and that, in reality, isn't a short action is it? It is certainly not as short as the 84M (Mauser pattern) in the OP's post. My 84M Hunter would not eject a live round.

 

[Adam in WI]

All I can say is, @ADKTIM I told you I'd kick myself for trading that little Kimber off lol

 

[ADKTIM]

Hi Adam,
Hope all's good with you. This fall, a friend saw the Kimber and decided he had to have one. The ammunition situation being what it is... commented on the fact that 257 Roberts Ammo. was impossible to locate,so he picked one up in 6.5 Creedmore. I did some load development for him. All i can say is if you like the 257 you will be blown away with the 6.5. Light bullets don't recoil that much more then 257 and almost any load we cooked up shot well. If you have the itch for another Kimber give the 6.5 a close look, PLUS reloading components and ammunition seem readily available, even in the midst of the ammo shortage. I'm in the process of purchasing a 250 Savage BBL from another forum member for the T/C Encore. The 250 savage is a true favorite of mine. I Have two in the 99 savage platform and even built a high powder, across the course rifle around it, and that was in the days before match grade bullets were available. If this stinking snow and 20 below zero stuff moves on i might even get a chance to see how that T/C... MGM combination shoots. If Kimber was ever chambered that light bolt gun in the 250 i might have to crank open the wallet on that offering. Best of luck all.

Regards, Tim

 

[Flouncer]

The 7x57 (and forgive my historical ignorance) was introduced in the Mauser action and that, in reality, isn't a short action is it? It is certainly not as short as the 84M (Mauser pattern) in the OP's post. My 84M Hunter would not eject a live round.

Yes ! That is what I was alluding to. The original small and large ring Mausers and the cartridges designed for them are more "long action" than "short action" I dont have my reference and all but they both are longer than the "short action" as used by later and mostly American Mfg. The basis, I think for the SA is the 7.62x51. And the basis for the Mausers is 7x57, 8x57 or 6.5 x 55. So using a cartridge deigned originally, or sourced from a "long action" in a short one is swimming upstream, running in sand, barking up the wrong tree. Or, running out of action length to function with longer bullets. All keyboard warrior comments. I have held all the cartridges except the Bob and have reloaded and fired them.

Looks like the weapon I am glad I didn't buy, the Montana Rifle Co in 6.5x55. They offered it in their short action with a 1:9 twist !@#@!

 

[shoot4fun]

Yes ! That is what I was alluding to. The original small and large ring Mausers and the cartridges designed for them are more "long action" than "short action" I dont have my reference and all but they both are longer than the "short action" as used by later and mostly American Mfg. The basis, I think for the SA is the 7.62x51. And the basis for the Mausers is 7x57, 8x57 or 6.5 x 55. So using a cartridge deigned originally, or sourced from a "long action" in a short one is swimming upstream, running in sand, barking up the wrong tree. Or, running out of action length to function with longer bullets. All keyboard warrior comments. I have held all the cartridges except the Bob and have reloaded and fired them.

Looks like the weapon I am glad I didn't buy, the Montana Rifle Co in 6.5x55. They offered it in their short action with a 1:9 twist !@#@!

I used to speak of, when the talk around the table at hunting camp was on cartridges, "308 based" cartridges. My good friend who had spent many years in Germany would spend the rest of the evening and a good bottle of whiskey telling me of all the cartridges spawned from the mighty 7x57 Mauser. But I do believe (and not of 7x57 linage) the 9.3x74R to be his favorite.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Maybe I should go a little farther with my "long bullet" comment.
Over the last few years many bullet designs and trends have been for longer and heavier bullets with different types of ogive and length of bearing surface. The 25 calibers will likely never match up with lengths of 7mm bullets of today and that is not even, IMO, a fair assessment. The fact that 257 Roberts and 7x57 are the same case is as far as the comparison should go in this conversation.
I am a huge 7mm bullet fan. I've hunted with the 7MM08 almost exclusively for the last 30 years and have ultimate confidence in the cartridge and the bullets. I've also shot them in long range (out to 1,000) competitions with a good degree of success. The 7x57 (and forgive my historical ignorance) was introduced in the Mauser action and that, in reality, isn't a short action is it? It is certainly not as short as the 84M (Mauser pattern) in the OP's post. My 84M Hunter would not eject a live round.

It's really more of an "intermediate" action, the Yugoslavian / Serbian M48 rifles have an action length specifically for the 8X57MMJS cartrige for example, but retain all the cock on open controlled round feed design features of the 98 Mauser action. This can make for difficulties trying to put one of those actions with 7 and 5/8" center to center action bolt dimensions into a 98 Mauser stock with 7 and 7/8" dimensions. But it's also problematic to try to fit that action into a common "short" action for cartridges based on the 308 Winchester with ?X51mm case dimensions.

The original 7X57mm action is a cock on open action that predates the 98 Mauser action. It's a bit of a different beast.

This page at Hoosier has one of the best general compare & contrast summaries on various Mauser bolt actions that I've found.

Hoosier Gun Works : Online Catalog : Mauser Cross Reference

Hoosier Gun Works, Dealing in gun parts, 100000 gun parts, 2000 gun stocks, 1000 magazines, 500 barrels. Enfield and Mauser. Military and comercial.

www.hoosiergunworks.com