Loading for my .257 Roberts

[FergusonTO35]

Hey guys. I have a Howa 1500 that has been rebarreled by E.R.Shaw to .257 Roberts with a 24" magnum contour barrel with 1:10 twist. It is topped with a Weaver V10 scope in Leupold mounts. I'm planning to make this my main deer rifle and hopefully print tiny groups with it too. I'm planning to use heavier bullets of 110-120 grains at modest velocity, 2600 fps or so. I know deer will drop to it no problem and accuracy should be better than the usual hot rod loads alot of folks like to feed their .257's.

I wonder what might be the best powder for this purpose? I bought a can of IMR XBR 8208 and loaded up ten rounds with 34 grains under a 117 grain Hornady BTSP. According to Hodgdon's data this should give me the 2600 fps I'm looking for and maybe a bit more. 8208 is a somewhat fast burning powder loved by benchrest shooters in .308 so I figure it ought to work well in Mr. Bob. It also uses smaller charges than most common medium rifle powders which helps to save money and hard to replace powder. Does this sound like a feasible plan? Any other advice from the Roberts fans out there?

 

[Rick Taylor]

Sounds like a good idea to me. If your rifle likes it then go with it. I use slightly slower stuff with mine, IMR4064 , R22 with 120gr speers but I think your plan is sound. Might just try it myself. Good luck!

 

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks alot. What kind of rifle do you have? I considered getting a new or used 77 but I already had the Howa and I could order the heavy barrel I actually wanted for it. With the scope it weighs around 8-3/4 pounds, which I think is perfect. The heavy barrel also keeps the rifle very stable offhand. For now the rifle still wears the factory Tupperware stock painted OD green. Hope to shoot it Saturday!

 

[Rick Taylor]

Mine is a ruger #1B and a good shooter too! With powder being hard to find I hope your plan works for you. Another that should do about the same thing would be either imr or hodgden 4895.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I love 4895 but it has vanished here. The faster rifle powders are somewhat available and use smaller charges so I've been working with those.

 

[CLAYPOOL]

SIERRA 120 HPBT'S, 35.5 OF Imr 4064. it tightened a little 36.0 its a mild load that groups very good in my Rugar. I do have my bullets Moly coated as I LIKE that and my time is my own. WOULD some one check the Sierras manual for us. I can't find mine, and my load ledger is out of reach in my piled up reloading room. LOL 8)

 

[CLAYPOOL]

This reload has been very good for me.. And yes other rifles will shoot other loads better. I couldn't get that rifle to shoot near any thing else that good. That was with the regular brass and Remington large rifle primers. The last time I checked I had 3 touching @ 50 yards. That showed me that it was still in zero and not to waste loaded ammo and barrel.

 

[Mobuck]

For the use you described, H414 comes to mind.
I use only 100 grain bullets in my 257 since that's what I have lots of and it likes them. What I've found is choosing a bullet and then forcing your rifle to shoot it is counterproductive. I intend to look at some other bullets this summer since I found the Speer(?-came in an unmarked box of 500) 100 grain BTSP is just a little "tough" for the 257 velocities. In actual use, it's tough enough for 25/06 on deer at longer (over 200 yards) ranges and seems to not expand as well as I'd like in the 257. At this point, my 257 is my "meat gun" normally used on does later in the season so less meat damage is a plus but the lack of expansion has resulted in some difficult follow ups and the bullets seem to veer off course once inside the animal rather than punching straight ahead.

 

[FergusonTO35]

The current plan is to use the Hornady 117 grain BTSP since its always available, if it shoots well enough for hunting of course. The Sierra Pro Hunter 117 also looks good, just not available right now. I hunt in the dense woods of Central KY and a heavy for caliber, relatively slow bullet is usually the way to go. Most of your shots will be no more than 60-70 yards and may be at a less than optimal angle so you need a bullet that's going to hold together and penetrate. I figure the Hornady BTSP, which is considered to be a .25-06 bullet, ought to do really well at the more modest velocity I'm looking for. I may end up using a lighter bullet after all but right now I have to use what's available.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Ok, I put 30 rounds through it yesterday and it looks promising. Accuracy was easily minute of deer, with some rounds touching. The only problem I had is that my Weaver V10 scope needs about 1/2" more eye relief because the front part of the tube is somewhat short compared to most other scopes. I ordered some Leupold offset rings which should correct that.

I tried 34.0, 34.5, and 35.0 grains of IMR 8208. 34.0 grains seemed to work the best, recoil suddenly became sharper at 35.0 and the groups opened up some so I'm not going to go past that. This powder is probably not ideal but I'm going to use it until I can get more IMR 4895. Hope to shoot it some more next week.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Ok, a new wrinkle. The first box of shells I loaded were done with the Lee neck sizing die, and many of them were kind of hard to chamber. I bought the full length sizing die and used it on the box I loaded last night. Apparently my barrel has a pretty short throat or my brass is very long necked. I loaded up some rounds with the Hornady 117 grain BTSP and cycled them through the action to see if they chambered well. I found the bolt is hard to close and the rifling is engraving the ogive of the bullet pretty good. The bullets are seated and crimped on the cannelure as they are supposed to be.

I suppose tonight I will measure and trim my cases to be certain that's not the problem. If that's not it I guess I'll see about seating the bullets a bit shorter. The powder charge is actually below starting so pressure shouldn't be a concern. If the barrel has a short throat I wonder if that is something that may resolve itself as more rounds are fired.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Last night I tried seating the bullets shorter. They are now not showing rifling marks on the bullets but the rounds are still equally hard to close the bolt on. So, I'm thinking my brass has a problem (too long, thick necks), my chamber is tight, or I have a headspace problem. I took a brand new Remington case, resized it, and tried it in the rifle. The new empty case chambers perfectly and the bolt closes on it easily. Any ideas out there?

 

[admin100]

was your first brass plus P? i had a similar problem with plus p brass in a Hawkeye

 

[FergusonTO35]

Hmm, I think it was. The new Remington brass is not marked +P. I've read that +P brass is kind of thick. I suppose I should load up some of the new Remington brass and see what happens!

 

[FergusonTO35]

Ok, looks like some of the first batch of brass was +P. I pulled the bullets and powder, resized them again, and trimmed with the Lee tool. Then I loaded one round, and tried it in the rifle. This time the bolt closed fairly easily, although it still feels tighter than most rifles I've tried. This is the first time I've ever had brass that wouldn't chamber easily from being too long, I suppose that the rifle just has a really tight chamber, hopefully that will be good for accuracy. We shall see.

 

[admin100]

Ferg, what was the rifle before the rebarrel?? what was the reason for the rebarrel?? Just curious, let me know how you make out at the range. Paul

 

[FergusonTO35]

The rifle was originally chambered in .30'06, very good cartridge that I have just never had any interest in. I've always wanted a Roberts with a long action and barrel that is longer and heavier than typical so this was the easiest and cheapest way to accomplish that. I should be able to shoot it again tomorrow so I'll keep you posted.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Today I went back to my alma mater and on the way home discovered a new store in Richmond that sells only reloading stuff. It was surprisingly well stocked and prices were on par with the others, they had everything except the faster pistol powders. Got me some IMR 4064 and Hodgdon 4350, hope to try 'em out soon!

 

[FergusonTO35]

Took the rifle out again this afternoon, this time using IMR 4064 powder. Don't remember the charge but it was around the starting load. Accuracy was pretty good, several shots were touching at 70 yards. Next up I'm going to try the H4350 which seems to be the most used powder in this cartridge.