257 Roberts Ammo
The 257 Roberts Ammo is one of those quarter bore cartridges that isn’t as popular as it should be. Surprisingly, many hunters today do not know the 257 Roberts Ammo. This is because Remington Arms introduced it in 1930. However, the design has been available since the 1920s. It was designed by Ned Roberts, who is an American hunter and a ballistician. He found out the 257 Robert Ammo worked perfectly with a 7x57mm Mauser Case.
Although Remington wanted to introduce it as the 25 Roberts Ammo, Captain E.C. Crossman advised against it because the 25 Roberts was already in production. In addition, the chambers of both cartridges differ extensively, which is why Remington renamed it to 257 Roberts Ammo.
The 257 Roberts Ammo is an excellent dual hunting cartridge that you can use for varmints. It sends a 75-grain bullet out at a muzzle velocity of 3,400 feet per second. It is also quite popular today as a medium-powered hunting cartridge. This is because it strikes an impressive balance between a flat trajectory and low recoil.
During testing, the 257 Roberts ammo sent out a 117-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2,650 fps while also packing a 1,824-foot-pound punch. When tested at 500 yards, the muzzle velocity remained at 1,199 fps and 373 ft-lbs of energy. As a result, the 257 Roberts Ammo is highly recommended by the manufacturer for hunting big games like deer.
The accuracy, effectiveness, and power it offers downrange recoils moderate to mild on the shooter’s shoulder. It is ideal if you want more bullet frontal mass from your cartridge but without a high recoil.
First experimented with by Wildcatter’s, the 7mm08 is based simply on the .308 Winchester case necked down to 7mm. The original wildcat was utilized by both hunters and target shooters, gaining greater attention in the target shooting arena. Based on popularity, Remington officially adopted the cartridge in 1980 without any changes to the wildcat name or design.
The 7mm08 is often promoted as having a flatter trajectory than the parent .308 while producing less recoil. Unfortunately it is easy to take the above comment out of context. Like the 7mm08, the .308 can be loaded with a range of high BC projectiles which produce desirable trajectories and both are exceptionally useful cartridges. The .308 is somewhat more flexible where a heavy bullet is needed or wanted for use on large animals. With 140 grain hunting bullets the 7mm08 is flatter shooting than the .308 loaded with 150 grain hunting bullets, showing an advantage as a lighter medium game hunting cartridge when utilizing factory loaded ammunition.
One of the greatest traps regarding the 7mm08 has been a range of lightweight rifle designs that produce often intolerable recoil, recoil similar to that of a standard weight .300 Magnum. A large number of hunters are currently ‘enduring’ the recoil of the 7mm08 without knowing that what they are experiencing is unnecessary.
Generally speaking, most current factory 140 grain 7mm08 loads achieve 2800-2840fps from 22” barrels. Killing performance tends to duplicate the 6.5x55. At close ranges, wounding on medium game is broad and kills are very fast. At ranges beyond 150 yards, as velocity falls below 2600fps, kills can be delayed. On tough animals, kills may be so slow as to allow animals to escape great distances.