257 Roberts Youth Load

[Dimefox]

I have a 257 Roberts for my 8 yo son. Looking to work up a reduced recoil load for whitetails to start him out.

I have some H4895 that I was thinking about using, following Hodgdon's recommendations on going as low as 60% of the max charge.

My main concern is bullet performance at lower velocities. Ideally I'd run Partitions or Accubonds, but they don't exist, same with Swift. Based on what's available, I'm thinking 100 gr ballistic tips. Playing around with GRT, if I use 30 gr of H4895 I'll get a hair under 2500 fps at the muzzle and about 2260 out to 100 yards (probably be the max range I let him shoot) and 5lbs of recoil. Does that sound like an acceptable velocity range for the NBT? Any other bullets worth looking at? Maybe Hornady Interloks but have never shot them.

Normally I lean towards mono's, but I'm obviously concerned about velocity and expansion with those.

 

[SeabeeKen]

I used interlocks for many years before going to monos and never had an issue. They killed countless deer for me in 243, 270, and 257. Barnes will expand down to 1800 fps. I think an 80 gr TTSX would be the ticket since you like the monos. I have also killed many deer with them and 75 gr Hammers

 

[Tommie]

At low velocity the old cup and core bullets are the ticket.

 

[Preacher]

You'll be fine that slow with the 100 gr BT, they can make a mess at full throttle..
85's are another good choice at your speeds..

 

[searcher]

I think an 80 gr TTSX would be the ticket since

Great choice. Velocity will be high enough to expand nicely and good penetration-for-weight. These will run faster than 100grn. and will, as a result, improve trajectory at short-to-medium range. lower recoil than the 100's too.

 

[jfk69]

The Blasting Tips or Hornady Interlocks will work awesome at those velocities. That will be a dandy little load for him.

I use the 115 gr BT’s in my .257 Ackley, and my late father’s Bob loved the 117 Hornady Interlock. No whitetails walked away from either load.

 

[Dimefox]

Appreciate the input thus far.

I was seriously considering the 80 gr TTSX. I know that they should expand down to 1800 fps, but couldn't find any real world results on animals with people running a reduced recoil load with them. Only thing I could find was people pushing them near max, often out of 257 Wby.

Not a fan of the BT at higher velocity, too much damage. But at these milder loads figured it would be ok.

Not a ton of info that I could find with results on game with reduced recoils loads out of the Bob, with any bullet really. First time loading a reduced recoil load...I want to make sure I do my job and set him up with the right bullet for the load. Last thing I want is him to make a great shot and have poor terminal performance because I didn't do my homework.

 

[searcher]

Appreciate the input thus far.

I was seriously considering the 80 gr TTSX. I know that they should expand down to 1800 fps, but couldn't find any real world results on animals with people running a reduced recoil load with them. Only thing I could find was people pushing them near max, often out of 257 Wby.

Not a fan of the BT at higher velocity, too much damage. But at these milder loads figured it would be ok.

Not a ton of info that I could find with results on game with reduced recoils loads out of the Bob, with any bullet really. First time loading a reduced recoil load...I want to make sure I do my job and set him up with the right bullet for the load. Last thing I want is him to make a great shot and have poor terminal performance because I didn't do my homework.

I honestly don't think you would need reduced loads using this lighter bullet. The benefit of the lighter bullet is speed and lack of need for the reduced load. You can be assured that bullet will stay together.

 

[Zero333]

I've used the H-4895 for reduced loads and I really like it.
It burns very cleanly, and is very accurate... Here is a pic from years ago shot with a factory Savage 243win mod-11.



======================================

I also tried a reduced load with H-4350 and the same 75 gr V-max bullets... Here is a pic of the5-shot group...

 

[MQ1]

At those speeds I’d consider the Speer 100gr varmint bullet or the 87gr TNT as well. I like mono bullets, but without speed they may not open up like you want, but either Speer in the boiler room and he’ll be a happy hunter.

MQ1

 

[STOMP442]

I would go for the 100gr Sierra Game King.

 

[choprzrul]

The 95gr Hammer HHT will have the needed terminal performance down to 1700 fps. Not just 'open', but rather effective terminal performance.

 

[choprzrul]

Hodgdon's load data for H4895 in the ballpark of that 95gr HHT:



It appears that you can load that Bob way down in velocity. 23-24gr minimum.

From QuickLoad, it looks like 30gr of H4895 should give you right at 2400 fps....which equates to 5.4 lbs of recoil in an 8 pound rifle. A 2400 fps load should be good to 300 yards easily, which will allow for keeping the same load for a few years while your son grows up and can handle longer distances.

 

[Dimefox]

Plugging Barnes load data into GRT for the 80 gr TTSX, at starting loads recoil is nearly double (9 lb) compared to the watered down H4985/NBT (4-5 lb..can't remember exactly). Granted, it's only 9 lb of recoil energy, but I don't want to spook him.

Barnes has factory reduced recoil loads for the 243 w/ 80 gr TTSX; muzzle velocity is 2810. By proxy, I assume I can load down the Bob to a similar muzzle velocity and be ok with that bullet. Recoil energy is 6 lb.

I'm probably starting to split hairs too much and over analyzing all of this, but that's what I do best.

I'll have to look at the Hammer bullets..for some reason I always forget about them.

 

[leakeyjohn]

One question to figure out is your son recoil sensitive or not. As one who is on the not side of the recoil scale it does make a difference especially when starting out.

 

[STOMP442]

Could always throw a brake on the rifle too. Shoot the bullet you want at the speed you want while keeping the recoil to a minimum.

 

[Dimefox]

Unfortunately the muzzle isn't threaded, I don't really want to pay to have that done right now.

Emailed Barnes for the heck of it. This is the meat and potatoes of what they said:
The 80 gr TTSX would absolutely be the ticket for deer and especially for low recoil. An impact velocity of 1900 fps will get you about 1.7x expansion of the bullet’s original diameter. If 2x expansion is desired then add approximately 100-200 fps.

Might give the TTSX a whirl to start out.

 

[MrK.]

When my son was about 10 I bought him a Ruger 77 in .308 Win. I got 200 Sierra 125 grain bullets. I forget the load data that I used but I loaded a very mild charge at about 2200 fps about like a .300 BLK. We shot and shot that load. Standing, sitting, prone etc. When it came for a hunt I just swapped the light loads for full power.... he never noticed. But as an aside, I had that gun in my truck and was able to do an impromptu hunt and easily killed a small buck with those light loads.