257 Long Throat question

[Bitman]

I have a mid 70's tang safety, M77, in 257 Roberts.
I'm trying to work up some loads for this rifle.
With the Nosler 110 grain Accubond, I have an OAL of 3.210" to the lands.
With the Nosler 115 grain Partition, it's 3.175" to the lands.
This seems like a long ways to the lands. I bought the rifle used.
Are Rugers throats this long? or do I have major throat erosion?
Anyone else finding this length to the lands?
Thanks, Dave

 

[Chief 101]

I have one that must have been made with the same reamer. I will shoot 75gr Hornadies like an open choked 12 gauge shotgun. I have shot 120gr slugs with a huge amount of H4831, loaded out near the lands, very consistently under MOA. I still haven't experimented with a lot of different projectiles or OAL's but I know it will shoot the heavy bullets. BTW, OAL is similar to 25/06. I thought to have it rechambered to that cartridge, and maybe someday I will.
Chief aka Maxx Load

 

[picketpin]

Think of it as being throated for the old long round nosed 117 grain bullets. Nothing unusual about yours as far as Rugers go.

The good thing is that being built on the long action you CAN load for the long throat.

How far off of the lands are your OAL loads? THe ogive is a bit different between the two bullets. Am I reading this correctly that the length you list is seated out to touch the lands???

We own at twelve 77s in 257 Roberts among the family. As it's on the long action there is no need to worry about the SAAMI spec of 2.75 OAL.

We finally took them ALLL to the smith and had them throated to an over all loaded length with Noslers 110/115 and 120s to 3.00 with the bullet ..035 off the lands. Nearly all sout MOA or less.

What they don't do is shoot 75s or other light varmint loads as well. A 75 grain Sierra will fall out of the case before getting near the lands.

If you want/need to shoot light bullets you could alwaays have the barrel turned back at least one thread but at some point you start running into issues with the long/heavy bullets.

If you are going to hunt then the long action of the Ruger 77 allows you to take advantage of the full volume of the case and get heavies close enough to the lands for acceptable accuracy.

Ross

 

[Silent Sam]

+1.

This has been much misunderstood "issue" often the subject of hot debate for many years, especially when chambered in short actions. The 257 preceded the 308 which kind of standardized a short action. The 257 is basically the 7mm Mauser necked down which falls between the 30-06 and 308 lengths. A lot of 7mm Mausers have long throats also. Why the 117gr RN became the "standard" 25 caliber bullet is a bit of a mystery but the bullets of the time weren't what they are today. You may be able to get it to shoot. Tweak your OAL with your bullet seated around one caliber deep and ignore the jump to the lands and you may find a sweet spot. Worth a try before spending money on gunsmithing. At least you get the use of full case capacity.

 

[picketpin]

It really isn't an issue with somethng like the Ruger, built on a long action and throated long. At least the Ruger gives you enough room in the magazine box to load the heavier bullets out far enough for decent accuracy.

The only time you run into major issues with 77s or #1s is when you try and get the best accuracy out of light bullets, mostly varmint bullets around 75 grans. They are so short that you don't have a lot of grip on the bullet to get anywhere close to the lands and predicated on throat and the ogive of the bullet it may just fall out of the vase before getting close enough to the lands for decent accuracy.

I have a custom #1 "V" with a Shilen tube. The rifle was built as a pure varmint platform and designed to seat 75 grain Sierra HPs at the SAAMI spec of a max OAL of 2.75 and place the bullet seated one caliber length down the neck and have the bullet end up .035 off the lands. It is on of the most accurate#1s I own and often gives my PPC and BR #1s a run for their money and has shot as low as the .3s from time to tie if I do my part.

Where a guy can run into serious problems is 257 Roberts built on the short action with a magazine box that will only accomodate the OAL of
2.75 but are throated long. They make it impossible to get a load cartridge to come out any where near the lands so accuracy suffers. It's even worse with a long bullet that ends up shoved way back in the case to make the 2.75 length, using u a bunch of case capacity and still having to make a 1/2 jump to the lands. Brownings and Winchester Feather weights are really bad about this.

I bought a Featherweight when they first came out and found the ideal length for accuray. THEN found out that it wouldn't fit in the magazine!! I ended up with the bullets set so far back that it's never shot really well. Kind of sad in a rifle that "should" shoot.

A 250-3000 works much better on a short action than the 257 Roberts, if they don't keep the throating short.

Yes a guy could alway open up either a 77 or #1 to 25-06 but then you run into the overbore issues regarding light bullets.

If you can get your set up with hunting bullets there really is no need to punch it to 25-06

Hope you can get it worked up/out. The 257 Roberts is a superb cartridge and one of my personal favorites.

Ross