.257 Roberts Ackley Imp???

Nickj1980

Nickj1980

New member
Hey guys--questions for ya...

I want to get my Ruger M77mkII rebarreled and I'm thinking about the .257 Rob. Ack. Imp. or just .257 Roberts.

What are the pros and cons of each?

I do reload, but I've never dealt with fire-formed brass before--what do I need to know about that?

Nick
 
FF'ing brass is no big deal, although I've read alot of info on the www that blows it way out of proportion. Load up the parent cartridge and then shoot it. In my experience's FF loads shoot just as accurately as the loads with formed brass when you work up load. I have no qualms about hunting w/FF loads either.
 
Reloading dies will cost twice as much for thw AI. If you want it go for it!! I really want a 243AI. It will happen sooner than later! Lee
 
The .257 AI is a dandy upgrade. With a 24" barrel, it will do what a 25-06 will do, with the same length barrel, around 3350 fps. That was tested with 100 gr. bullets and others may vary, but its a sweet cartridge. My coyote load is a 75 gr. V-Max, @3550 fps, and it stops them cold, (knock on wood, so far,) with minimal damage.
 
Quote:
Hey guys--questions for ya...

I want to get my Ruger M77mkII rebarreled and I'm thinking about the .257 Rob. Ack. Imp. or just .257 Roberts.

What are the pros and cons of each?

I do reload, but I've never dealt with fire-formed brass before--what do I need to know about that?

Nick



The 257 Roberts was originally offered (commercially) in the Remington 722 short action, and to accomplish that, the bullets were seated pretty deep, and the loads were pretty "light in the loafers".

The Roberts cartridge, whether straight or Ackley, begs for a long action.

If you make one up in a short action, it will be disappointing.


.
 
i second brdeanos comments, the 257 ai is perhaps the most benificial rebarrel of all the ackley rounds i take and fireform brass while shooting parent cartridge rounds at critters then i have ff brass for loading Ai loads if you like lee dies you can find some of them for around 25-30 bucks a set
 
If it is a long action, and you are getting it rebarreled, I would just go with a 25-06 if you want a 25 cal.

The 25-06 will do everything the 257 AI does, plus more. You won't need to fireform, plus you can buy ammo for it if you ever need it.

If it already was chambered in 257 and you wanted to rechamber the same barrel, then I might do it just to have something a little different
 
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The rifle is chambered in .22-250 now, so it is a short action--what problems am I going to run into with it?



The bullets will have to be seated deep into the case because the magazine box it too short. The loss of space in the case will cost you ~150 fps.

The action rails will have the be reground or the cases won't feed well.

Many guys that put a 257 AI in a short action, wind up disappointed and loading it as a single shot.

By the time you add up the cost of the action work and the extra price on custom dies, you are in pretty deep.

.
 
150 FPS won't make much of a difference for my purposes, but feeding problems would.

I guess I'll have to look into some other options...

What I want is a flat shooting custom deer rifle .25 caliber or bigger (less than .30 cal) that will work in a short action. I like the idea of something off-beat that not everyone has, but that's not a stipulation.

Throw some ideas at me here!
 
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I like the idea of something off-beat that not everyone has

Yeah,I'm with ya brotha /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

I have a Ruger M77 chambered in the standard 257 Robert's,I've never experianced feeding problem's "nor" an ability to seat bullet's to or near the land's.

I dunno ?? Yet i trust Catshooter & his opinion.
 
Quote:
Quote:
I like the idea of something off-beat that not everyone has

Yeah,I'm with ya brotha /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

I have a Ruger M77 chambered in the standard 257 Robert's,I've never experianced feeding problem's "nor" an ability to seat bullet's to or near the land's.

I dunno ?? Yet i trust Catshooter & his opinion.



The standard 257 feeds like a greased pig into a sewer main.

But blow that case out and sharpen the shoulder and many rifles will give you feeding fits.

Some of the most "unsexy" cartridges are the most reliable in the field. You never hear of cartridges like the 300 H&H, 25-06, 270, having feeding problems.

The fat, cylindrical cartridges are bad, and the shorter they are, the more bad they feed... the WSSMs are the very worst for feeding reliablilty.


.
 
Don't over look the 250 savage. You can get 3000 fps with a 100 grain bullet. You can jump that up with the AI version but will get feeding problems.
 
.250 Savage sounds interesting, and so does the .25-308 but I'll have to chew on it... I'm not completly ready to give up the .257 Roberts idea.

Thanks for the info guys!
 
a 257 ai through a ruger will work just fine with a controlled round feed it shouldnt be an issue and the feed rails do not have to be altered (at least the one I had didnt) I have had many ackley improved and other straight cases with steep shoulder in ruger actions and have not had a problem. I have seen some trouble in some of the push feed guns but they were fairly easily solved. However if you want a round that will equal the 25-06 the 25-284 has about the same powder capacity and will work from a short action. Catshooter is however right you should use a long action with the roberts so why not just use a standard 25-06.
 
So is the factory Ruger in 257 Rob. a short or long action? Are the feeding problems only with the AI?

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why not just use a standard 25-06



The action I'm building on is a short action.

I need to do something with it because the current .22-250 barrel is falling apart on me but I've got too much $$ in the stock and trigger to get rid of it. Besides I just like the rifle. It would just be more useful to me in a deer/antelope/sheep caliber.

Really entertaining the .250 Savage idea right now though--if the gunsmith thinks I'll have trouble with the .257 Rob. I'll go with the .250 Sav.
 
the 257 will work in that action as long as you maintain overall lengths as recomended by hodgdon. The AI version should feed ok through that controlled round feed action as long as your smith knows what hes doing.
 


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