257 roberts loads ?

[Frankr]

anyone have any 257 roberts loads ?
i tryed a win ww super case, cci br-2 primer...RL17 and a hornady 117 soft point boat tail..with not much luck.
was able to push it to 3,050 FPS with 46.5 grs RL17 out of a 22" barrel. but accuracy was not that good at this point, but new rifle. barrel was fouled, needs cleaned and copper removed,,only have like 24 rounds threw it..but does have some copper i can see..

 

[bheadboy]

mine never shot much below moa, but did its best with 100's and 4064/4350

Bob

 

[areaone]

Try 4350 or 4831, but you must be at max with that load you mintioned, more indicative of a 257 AI or a 25 06. Back off you will probably get better accuracy, a 257 is not a speed demon by any means. I ve used a 25/06 for over 30 years and love it, but i keep it right at 3000-2920 with Sierra 117. Also have a 257 AI, watch your cases with that RL 17 load you are using. Good Luck, that 257 is grand old cartridge, try it with 100 and 87 gr. very fexible round, but it is no bench round.

 

[ar15topgun]

I have a .257AI and it lies IMR4064 the best. Will shoot in the .3's with Hornady .87's.

 

[Preacher]

I use 100 grain Hornady hollow points with 44.0 grains of H-100V and the Russian LRM primers for a mild load for the girl to hunt deer with this fall, 99% of the time it will group well below the 1" mark at 100 yards.. plenty good enough for a new kid that passed her hunter safety course with a 99 .....
If her brothers had of field dressed their deer in the woods instead of in the barn she would have got 100 on it...

 

[Frankr]

thanks guys, i bought it as a light weight hunting rifle with a little less recoil...I chose it over the 243 for whitetails and coyote..little heavy''er ball better wind drift at long range(in factory rifles)(no 1-8 twist)..it a nice light quick rifle.little kimber 84M..but so much for the less recoil...thing roars... one guy said we was shooting a 75 gr at 3,500FPS..i said wow..this must be the most underloaded cartridge in history..I had no problem getting 3,000FPS with a 117 er...but im going to try a 115 berger..im thinking RL19 is going to be the powder with a rem LR rifle primer..all my big cartridges seem to be more accurate with rem primers for some reason.. i mean the cases i have will hold 50gr of powder with no problem and still get a bullet in them..46-49 gr seems to be a good case fill...my nosler book maxed 4350 at 40 grs..i put 40 gr in the cases and it filled it up like 3/4 cases..i dont think thats safe..

I seen some factory loads called +p that listed a 115gr at 2,950FPS.. but the little rifle roars at them velocity's..lol..

 

[CaptainMal]

Quite surprised at the velocity you are getting. You are making a 257 Roberts into a 25-06.

I own two, 257 roberts rifles. One is a 50's Mauser with 22" raised-solid barrel and super fancy. It shoots 100 grain Speer bullets @ 3030 fps with 41.5 gr. 4064. Used it for decades and it has worked well.

My new one is a Remington 700LA Mountain Rifle. Tiny, tiny 22" bbl but it really shoots well. Killed a very large 14pt. with it last season using 100 Nosler BT's using 45.0 grs. of IMR 4350 @ 2925fps.

Have extensive testing with Hunter powder, Reloader 19 and then back to IMR 4350 with 115 and 120gr. bullets . With 115 Berger VLD's 43.0 gr. IMR 4350 gave me 2836fps. Got about the same speed with 47.5 gr. Rel 19. Best groups used Sierra 120's but only to 2700fps and 42 gr. IMR 4350. Settled on 115 Nos. BT's @ 2845fps in front of 44.0 gr. IMR 4350.

No way would I push harder but I could. My criteria is decent velocity, no pressure signs and good accuracy with that first cold-clean shot right into the group.

Good luck with your decisions.

 

[Frankr]

OK I'm not trying to make it into a 25/06..if i wanted a 25/06 i would have bought one..lol...
My 25/06AI would push a 117 gr seria at 3,450FPS out of a 28" barrel..and shot in a hole..the guy i sold it to was very happy with it..I seen factory ammo that listed a 115 at 2,950FPS in 257 rob...so i felt that was good.

i do feel i was at the max but had no hard bolt lift, cases looked good. primers looked good..but i could tell i was at the max...46.5 gr RL17 chornyed three rounds...3,060,3,053,3052...
45.5 RL17 chronyed three rounds...2,984,2,975,2978..
but the accuracy was not that good yet..that was with a 117 hornady soft point boattail.

Thanks for the info..I'm going to tune on the rifle some,,then on the loads..but no a 115 Berger at 2,950 would satisfy me.

 

[H2OBUG]

I have had both the 257 BOB and the 257 AI I found the powders that worked good in the std round were a bit too fast for the AI version.. I shot 100 NBT in both the std and the AI with good results. In my Encore handguns I saw .625" groups with little load development. (note these were custom prem. blank barrels)
I had 3 total 1 AI and 2 std-- all were 10" twist

Varget worked best in the Std 257 for me and I found the slower Mag type powders worked better in the AI

 

[Frankr]

well see the problem im haveing is my cases will hold 50 grs. of powder...and still can seat a 117 bullet below the neck and im not compressing the powder...putting 40 grs of powder in the cases...the case is filled like 3/4 the way to the shoulder and that can not be safe to have that much of a air gap in there. what if im shooting down hill..lol..
no i want 85 to 90% cases fill with good accuracry and velocity..I shot 49 grs of RL22 and got 2,886..2,826..2830..
but poor accuracry.. OH i will get it shooting..how about the old imr 4831..biger sticks,,

 

[Frankr]

update: I have not been able to get this rifle to shoot as of yet..
I did not set out to do this just chrony load testing,tuning,pressure testing.
115 Berger VLD .030 off touching, 47Gr's RL17 this is what i got out of the little kimber 22" barrel.
3,137..3,115..3,105..3,113..3,104..3,093..3,124..3,112..3,118 FPS..A 42 FPS ES. out of nine rounds.
the accuracy has been like two in a hole or cutting and one 2-3" high or low..and it can be any of the three shots that goes high or low..I had a 4-12 Leupold on it and i remembered i had bumped it really hard and was wondering if i may have knocked something loose, so i now have my 40x Leupold on it.lol... and I'm going tomorrow or Saturday morning to see if it is a scope problem or a rifle problem..I really don't think it can be the load..several time it has cut or had two shots in a hole and lost one off and it cant be me that many times..i would give it me once in a while..but i don't know..but the velocity looks stable and the cases i have loaded at least 4 times and no loose primer pockets..so i don't know,,but this does seem to be a weird cartridge.

 

[TreestandHunter]

I use IMR 4350 and 117s in my Ruger

 

[Frankr]

NO GOOD ..same groups..it will not shoot..Im going to switch to IMR4350 and see if i can get it to shoot.
so i tryed, 117 hornady,115 berger, 85 BT..with the RL17, and i could not get it to shoot but was a interesting
look into the speed that powder produced.

 

[Hetta]

I use R19 for bullets heavier than 110 grains. My bob really likes H414 for the 110 grain accubonds. Shoots between .5 to MOA out of a Ruger Hawkeye, so it is not a BR rifle by any stretch. The 115 grain partitions are another great bullet in this caliber for deer.

 

[ar15topgun]

Try re-crowning the muzzle or check for the barrel touching somewhere. As stated before my model 70 win. featherweight favors IMR4064 over all others.

 

[Frankr]

I floated the barrel all the way to the action, the bedding seems good. its a very light rifle but i do expect it to cut bullet holes or three shots i could cover with a quarter has worked well in the past. I cleaned the barrel very well and I'm out of cleaning stuff..i need to make a order..I'm going to put some loads together with the good old trusty IMR4350 with a 100gr sierra BT's i have and if it wont shoot them fairly well I will send it back to kimber, its a stunning rifle, special edition select grade..AAA french walnut..just a beautiful rifle..i have had three kimbers now and this would be the first one that hasn't cut bullet holes right out of the box..but i was monkey'n with that RL17 and i never shot it before in anything..just what i have read about it and i said i would give it a try..