.257 Roberts for Sale? I'm looking.

[hotajax]

If you have, please PM me. Thanks.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Rifles? Brass? Bullets? All of the above?

 

[hotajax]

Yes, a rifle chambered in 257. No interest in any Rugers, but I'll take a look at other well-known brands.
Thanks for checking.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I would advise a rebarrel on the action of your choice, Savage would probably be easiest and cheapest. Remington 700 would be good as well. My .257 is a Howa 1500 (same thing as Weatherby Vanguard) .30'06 that was rebarrelled by E.R. Shaw with a stainless 24" 1:10 magnum sporter profile tube. It will put five 117 grain Sierra Pro Hunters into the same hole at 100 yards and the total cost was still less than any used .257 rifle I could find. My lone gripe is that E.R. Shaw uses a rather short throat and many of the high BCE bullets have to be seated deeper than the crimp groove. I don't use strong loads so powder capacity isn't affected, and this is not an issue with the Sierra Pro Hunter.

I'm sure you already know this, but most factory ammo for this cartridge is pricey and watered down. Many of these loads use a blunt lever action style bullet to fit in a short action magazine, which of course isn't necessary if you start with a standard length action. Remington brass is reasonably priced and what I use.

 

[hotajax]

Ferg: Thanks for that info. You're the second guy who suggested a rebuild as the way to go.
Like you, I prefer to use Sierra bullets as well. I know we're talking 257, but I reload for 243 and get amazing groups with Sierra flat base bullets.

I have a few questions.
1. Is 257 best suited on a long action?
2. Which model Savage are you referring to? I know nothing about the later models. Can you suggest a Savage model?
Again, thanks for the info. Jake

 

[hotajax]

I would advise a rebarrel on the action of your choice, Savage would probably be easiest and cheapest. Remington 700 would be good as well. My .257 is a Howa 1500 (same thing as Weatherby Vanguard) .30'06 that was rebarrelled by E.R. Shaw with a stainless 24" 1:10 magnum sporter profile tube. It will put five 117 grain Sierra Pro Hunters into the same hole at 100 yards and the total cost was still less than any used .257 rifle I could find. My lone gripe is that E.R. Shaw uses a rather short throat and many of the high BCE bullets have to be seated deeper than the crimp groove. I don't use strong loads so powder capacity isn't affected, and this is not an issue with the Sierra Pro Hunter.

I'm sure you already know this, but most factory ammo for this cartridge is pricey and watered down. Many of these loads use a blunt lever action style bullet to fit in a short action magazine, which of course isn't necessary if you start with a standard length action. Remington brass is reasonably priced and what I use.

Also, where are you getting Remington brass? I'm having a hard time finding any brand of brass for my 7 x 57, which is supposed to be the parent for a 257 cartridge.

 

[FergusonTO35]

The Mauser cartridges and their offspring are kind of in the middle where either a short or long action will work depending on what bullet and seating depth you use. I already owned the Howa .30'06 so it made sense to use that as the starting point. If you use a short .308 length action you may find your bullet selection limited. Most .25 caliber rifle bullets today are long and skinny since the .25'06 is the most common quarterbore in use today. To take advantage of these, and there are some fantastic bullets out there, you need enough magazine and throat length to accommodate them. I would advise a long action with a .25'06 throat length in the barrel.

The Savage 110 or Axis series will do just fine, both use the same barrels. I see no reason why a Savage .30'06 magazine would not feed the .257 but I don't have any way to know 100%, my Savages are .22's and .308's. Once in a great while I get a nosedive feed in the fixed magazine of my Howa due to the shorter cartridge OAL but not often enough to bother me.

My local gun shop was able to order bags of Remington .257 brass a few years ago no problem. Remington has been in flux for the past few years so maybe they aren't making it right now. You may want to check GunBroker for used brass.

 

[FergusonTO35]

One more suggestion. Back in the 2000's Savage advertised on their website that for a flat fee they would chamber a 110 in any SAAMI cartridge as long as it would function in the action. Maybe they still offer this service, couldn't hurt to ask. A local pawn shop has a couple of old school wood stock/blind magazine .30'06 and .270 110's in stock right now. I bet a new barrel is all you would need with one of those. This shop will usually bargain with you and they might ship to your FFL. Give 'em a call, Dan's Discount Pawn of Winchester, KY: 859-737-2274.

 

[hotajax]

One more suggestion. Back in the 2000's Savage advertised on their website that for a flat fee they would chamber a 110 in any SAAMI cartridge as long as it would function in the action. Maybe they still offer this service, couldn't hurt to ask. A local pawn shop has a couple of old school wood stock/blind magazine .30'06 and .270 110's in stock right now. I bet a new barrel is all you would need with one of those. This shop will usually bargain with you and they might ship to your FFL. Give 'em a call, Dan's Discount Pawn of Winchester, KY: 859-737-2274.

yep, that's what I'm looking for. Thanks for the info