.257 Bobs: Is it Time To Bury Ol’ Bob?

Many people think that the.257 Roberts cartridge is a total Fudd. Anachronism, doomed to the brass pile. It’s a pity, too, as it has all the virtues that modern rifle shooters seek in a cartridge larger than.223 but lighter than.308. What should you know about the.257 Roberts cartridge? Does it deserve a modern reappraisal? Is it time to let Bob die? The Ruger Hawkeye’s caliber is.257 Roberts. In the 1920s, gunwriter and tinkerer Ned Roberts tried necking down a cartridge to shoot a smaller round. The goal was to reduce recoil while gaining a ballistic advantage by increasing velocity. The parent case is a 7x57mm Mauser. Roberts necked down the case to.25 (6.35mm), while changing the angle of the neck to 15 degrees to create a long neck, while keeping the original charge. Remington, which had originally called it.25 Roberts but later changed it to.257 Roberts after stumbling upon it, decided to make some changes and commercialize it. Remington increased the size of the projectile to 6.5mm, and named it after its inventor. Ned Roberts, (right). As a result, a projectile could gain between 200 and 400 feet per second, depending on the bullet, the powder charge, the barrel length, etc. Over.250-3000 Savage – the other popular cartridge in that caliber during this period. Remington wanted to create a caliber that would be equally effective at blasting woodchucks and prairie dogs, but also make an excellent medium-game hunting round. This combination of attributes was prized at the era. The.257 Roberts cartridge was first praised by Remington as a dual-purpose round. The.257 Roberts cartridges were loaded lighter than needed. The ammunition makers did not want to risk chamber pressure so they only loaded it to 51,000 psi, which is much lighter than the majority of rifle calibers used today. There’s a reason for it. A U.S. Springfield Armory Model 1903 that was rebarreled into.257 Roberts. Photo: Rockislandauction.com.Second, Remington elected to use a 117-grain round-nose soft point as the hunting load. The factory velocity for the 117 grain bullet was a disappointing 2,650 fps. This is the equivalent of the Savage.250-3000. This made it unpopular overseas and severely hindered its trajectory, limiting the useful range. Handloaders quickly realized that adding a little more powder and a more aerodynamic bullet would propel a projectile weighing 117 grains to 2,800 fps. A variety of bullets used to reload.257 Roberts.PO Ackley created an improved version, the aptly named “.257 Ackley Improvement” which is considered a perfect Goldilocks rifle round. The improved round was never popular because ammunition has always been scarce. Remington made matters worse by deciding to squeeze the cartridge in short-action rifles (7x57mm Mauser, which is halfway between.308 &.30-06), which hindered accuracy because there was less leade available for the heavier, longer bullets. Winchester’s.243 Winchester, released in 1955, was even worse. It did everything the.257 Roberts could do, and arguably better. And it cost less. Since then, the.257 Roberts is slowly dying. There are modern loads for it, but they are rarely purchased. Here’s a 1,000 yard trajectory table for Remington 117-grain soft-point load with a G1 BC.240. This will give you a good idea of the capabilities of the classic.257 Roberts. All tables were created using Shooter’s calculator with a 100 yard zero, a height-over-bore of 1.5 inches, a crosswind of 90 degrees at 10 mph, and no corrections to account for atmosphere. By contrast, here’s the trajectory table for Hornady’s American Whitetail.243 Winchester load using a soft point bullet weighing 100 grains and a G1 BC value of.405 : The.243 Winchester has a much smaller drop, is super This load of.243 is about the same in terms of recoil energy…there is no reason to think about ol’ Bob…unless you pick up a more modern load, as the modern.257 +P load is a completely different animal. This is the trajectory of Nosler’s AccuBond+P Trophy Grade 110-grain load with a G1 BC.418. With additional velocity and a high-BC bullet the.257 Roberts stays supersonic beyond 1,000 yards and has greater energy at 800 yards than the.357 Magnum has at the muzzle. As the ballistic tables show,.257 Roberts is underpowered, and it drops more than.243 Winchester. You could use it for varmints and hunting, but that’s not a good reason when you have.243 Winchester. In modern +P loads, however, the.257 Roberts can do everything.243 Winchester can. It can be used to kill medium game, varmints and pronghorns at impressive ranges. It can be used as a precision rifle cartridge with the right rifle, and the right load. The recoil is less than 11 foot pounds. The.257 Roberts cartridge is still a viable option when it comes down to performance. But what about availability? Yes, manufacturers still produce.257 Roberts but not in significant quantities. You’ll find that most ammo stores don’t have any in stock. Online retailers are no different. MidwayUSA, GrabAGun, and other sites only list a few loads, none of them are available at the time of this writing. AmmoSeek returned no results for in-stock ammo. It’s difficult to find factory.257 Roberts ammo. These days, it’s also difficult to find rifles chambered in.257 Roberts. Online retailers had no new-production rifles available, and only secondhand shops like GunBroker offered a few used options. The truth is, other cartridges are just as effective and have ammo that is readily available. Rebarreling a gun is a worthwhile investment if you shoot it enough. This cartridge is dying or dead, and there is no reason to revive it. There are other multi-purpose, light-recoiling rifle cartridges than.257 Roberts. For example, the.243 Winchester is a cheap, readily available cartridge that can be used in both bolt-action and semi-auto rifles. The same is true for 6mm Creedmoor 6.5mm Creedmoor.260 Remington. All of these cartridges are capable of taking down light to medium game at long distances, are great for varmints, and have won a variety of precision rifle competitions. The same goes for 7mm Remington. 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