thndrchiken

I am considering buying a Remington, 700 in 257 Roberts. Please tell me of your experiences with this cartridge. I would be hunting mostly PA whitetail and groundhog's. Any input greatly appreciated. Thanks.

seattlesetters

A good huntin' buddy of mine uses a .257 Roberts to hunt blacktails in Western Washington, muleys in Central Washington and whitetails in Eastern Washington. He's had great luck on all three (about 12 deer total) out to 300 yards.

He has also shot a couple of antelope with it (one at 350 yards), and the only elk he has ever killed he dropped with one shot from it, at 175 yards, shooting the 120gr Nosler Partition handloaded to 2900fps. The bullet broke the front shoulder, clipped the heart and lungs and lodged against the off shoulder, stopping there before exiting. The 5pt bull went about 40 yards and piled up. <img src=icon_smile_dead.gif border=0 align=middle>

I have shot the round in several different rifles and can attest that it is very accurate and the recoil is so mild you can shoot it all day. And I am one of the most recoil-sensitive individuals you could ever imagine. I hope this helps.

Good Dogwork and Good Hunting

Edited by - seattlesetters on 11/16/2002 18:58:04

N3YWV

My cousin bought one awhile back, he likes it alot. My dad built one and he is always talking about it. Apperently its a good shooting cartrige. I guess the advantage over the .243 , is that it can shoot the heavier 117 and 120gr bullets, but on the low side they only offer down to 75gr bullets, with the .243 you can load from 55gr bullet to a 107gr kinda like .270 & .280 .... same thing just different.. buy it youll like it<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY,IN THE WOODS...

seattlesetters

Just a little something about the .257 Roberts and the .243 Win being the &quot;same thing&quot;: To date, I have seen about 90 head of big game shot during my hunting career. I've seen seven animals lost. Of those seven, five (all deer) were lost after being hit with what appeared to be a lethal shot from a .243 Win. With this experience, I could never bring myself to shoot this caliber at a big game animal.

I've seen four animals shot with the .257 Roberts, and all died quickly and humanely. One was a 5pt elk. <img src=icon_smile_dead.gif border=0 align=middle>

Good Dogwork and Good Hunting

Edited by - seattlesetters on 11/16/2002 23:28:24

N3YWV

I dont think I would blame a cartrige for what could have been bad bullet choice, bad shooting and bad tracking.. I`ve seen wounded animals get away but I never told the hunter &quot; you might as well throw that 7mag in the brush and go get a 300mag&quot;

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY,IN THE WOODS...

seattlesetters

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I dont think I would blame a cartrige for what could have been bad bullet choice, bad shooting and bad tracking.. I`ve seen wounded animals get away but I never told the hunter &quot; you might as well throw that 7mag in the brush and go get a 300mag&quot;

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY,IN THE WOODS...
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

I agree with what you say, but the deer I saw lost to the .243 would have died in their tracks if the hits they took would have been from a 7mm mag.

Good Dogwork and Good Hunting

MR300WM

I would like to say that maybe it would have died in its tracks and maybe not. Last year during deer season one friend shot a buck with his 270 &quot;150 gr bullets&quot; and the deer ran off. As I really enjoy tracking I went to help recover this deer. There was a super blood trail as at times we had blood on both sides of his track. We tracked what seemed forever but finally lost all signs of blood. We think the deer went onto a neighbors farm that we are not allowed on. We know this deer had a fatal wound and that the bullet passed thru but he didn't die in its track. My point being is that at any given time even a mortally wounded animal can just keep on going no matter what it was hit with. As for myself I would not use a 243 for deer but if you want to thats fine by me.

thndrchiken

Thanks for all input, I guess I'll buy it. Who knows it may even become my favorite deer rifle. It has some stiff competition from my swede though.

Jason N

If it's any consolation, I've taken plenty of whitetails with my 257. The cartridge is accurate and very loadable. If you'll be handloading I'll offer a recipe that gives sub-MOA results in my Browning with 20&quot; barrel....

39.5gr of Reloder 19
100gr Sierra Gameking SPBT
CCI primers

.270Shooter

Never had a .257 Roberts, but Jack O'Conner loved the caliber. Flat shooting, light recoil. Buy it! The kind of rifle that makes better shooters of us all.