.257 Roberts. The perfect deer rifle?

My buddies mom shoots a .257 Roberts (stock cut down to fit her < 5 ft frame) as well as anyone I have ever seen shoot. Shot a monster elk a few years ago with a great shot. It wasn't a bang-flop, but she had plenty of tracking support, and it was sure dead when we got it.
 
Yeah, .257 robts, 6.5x55, .260 rem - somewhere in there seems to me to be the best balance of killing efficiency, recoil, trajectory, etc., for whitetails. I'd probably changed my tune if I was up in Minn or Canada where they get BIG. Then I'd probably be saying .270.
 
We have 2 different .257's at deer camp, and both are excellent. Only gripe I hear from the two guys that own them is how expensive the ammo is, and how hard it is to find around here.( We don't have a very good selection around here)

I agree with Art about NO rifle is the PERFECT rifle. To me, the perfect rifle is my .308. I have pulled the trigger, on game, 46 times in a row without losing an animal (Knock on wood) so that makes it the most perfect rifle I own.:D
 
Regarding finding rounds, my buddy's mom (referenced in earlier post) has it made in a sad way. Her husband (buddy's dad) was a fanatic reloader. Would build a round specifically for each rifle in the hunting camp. Bench tested each round, tweaked them grain by grain, bullet by bullet, until he had the perfect round for that gun. He fought with lung cancer for the better part of 2 years and during that time built her enough ammo to shoot as much as she could ever want, so she would have it after he passed.

Kinda like he is with us on every hunt.

Rest of the crew has access to all his load notebooks, but they are on thier own to reload 'em.
 
Okay, I feel your ammo cost pain. I went to the local sporting goods store last Fri. to end the short action .257 debate once and for all. When I got there .257s were up $6 a box to 31.99!!!!!! I WILL get that number for Richard Brown of Shephard, MT for you folks...But I seem to have misplaced his card!

AS to the debate on wether the .257 will fit in a savage 99: I pulled a box of Fed Premium .257s off the shelf, as well as several boxes of .243 & .308.
.257s were 120gr while the others were 80, 100, & 150 grain. The .257 was actually SHORTER than about half of the .308 loads on the shelf and no longer than most of the .243s! Now since we all agree that 99s came in 243 and .308, why is the overall length of the .257 too great?

I think you may be confusing overall length with case length. The .257 DOES have a longer case than the .308 family, but it is loaded to the same overall length as the 51mm cases by seating it's bullets (too?) deeply.

If you do not believe this, go to your local ammo joint & try this comparison yourself.
 
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