257

[Hard rock]

Like everyone else, check the fitting issues with barrel to stock. I have four older Ruger 77's, and only one had stock fitting issues. I had all the triggers worked on and that made a huge improvement. My 7MM trigger was terrible and strung bullets vertically until the trigger pull was adjusted. My favorite deer load for my 257 Roberts is H 4831, 44 gr. pushing a 117 Sierra BT. I've taken well over four hundred deer with that load combination and no complaints.

Wow 10 deer a yr for 40 yrs?what State do you live inWe can only take 5 deer a yr here in Tx that would take me 80 yrs too accomplish that

 

[GLTaylor]

Some of us do some depredation hunting. 26 last year here. Just saying.

 

[Hard rock]

Some of us do some depredation hunting. 26 last year here. Just saying.

That sounds logical had my head spinning

 

[rob257]

I am California so non lead. Last bullet tried was .257 100 gr Barnes ttsx and it did not work. Going to try the hammer hunter 92 gr

 

[nealm66]

I'm not going to be surprised to see some tight groups with the hammers but may still have to check at distance for fine tuning

 

[GLTaylor]

Shot a group at 400 today to verify a load with 123gr Absolutes. Finally got this rifle ready. Hammers shoot!

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

For the record I am a big fan of the ruger 77, I currently own four, with four other being in the family, and another 9 being within my hunting group, three of my four wear factory barrels all shoot 3/4 of a inch or better, only one a 220 swift still wears the factory stock, and only one wears a synthetic stock and is the one that wears a custom barrel which is chambered in a improved 338 lapua, the other chambers in this line up are a 6MM rem and a 338 Winchester, none of these rifles weigh over 8 lbs 3 oz, all work to these rifles were performed by me, if a smith knows what he's doing the triggers will safely hold at 32 oz or a touch lighter, I know what it takes to tweak a 77, knowing your load history would really help in getting you headed in the right direction, Unfortunately there is not one magical load the works well in every rifle, rifles can be as different as people when it comes to What it likes or shots well in this case, knowing the targeted velocity would help as well, 3000fps would be a fair target, unfortunately there are well over 2 dozen powders that will help you do that in today's world if you could find all the powders you'd still need to take out a small loan to fund such a project, there was a time I used to try and keep a pound of everything on hand but 20 years ago that was a little easier to pull off, your rifle could very well be the most accurate rifle in the world or at least accurate enough with the right powder, 3200 fps or bettet is possible with some powders although perhaps not with a 20 inch tube, if you are using medium slow powders say a 4350 or RE 19, go to opposit ends try a faster powder along with a much slower powder say RE 22 or 7828, I've never tried RE 25 but found it worked exceptionally well in the 25 WSSM, the case capacity of the two rounds is near identical, another thing most reloading manuels tend to keep the pressures down on the Roberts Case I'm guessing because of the Remington pumps and auto loaders, The newer hornady manuals seem fairly honest, try different primers if you have them, I have a 2506 that shots its best groups with 56 grs ofRE 22 and a CCI 200 primer, I tried 11 different primers in that rifle, with that powder my money would have Been on a magnum primer, free floated barrels usally produce the best accuracy if we are talking custom match grade barrels, ruger barrels ain't that, I like that ultra light contour for a hunting rifle that is to be carried more than shot, that barrel is gonna need some help, if the pressure point at the end of the forearm has not been removed I like to use a shim made from plastic playing cards, about 3/8 to 7/16 wide will do the trick, make sure the guard screw holes in the stock have plenty of clearance and not touching the stock, make sure the forward action screw is not bottoming out on the barrel shank, tighten forward guard screw good and snug, I have always gone by what feels right but a torque wrench is a popular tool, the two trigger guard screws should just barely be tight enough to hold the guard in place, when dealing with a problem rifle I have found the rifle to very capable of fine accuracy until the rear guard screws have been tightened this is a sure sign of poor bedding, unfortunately I've known Smith's that have bedded the problem into the gun, so just squirting some bedding compound in the barrel or action won't fix what's wrong unless you identify the problem and address that problem properly, and last try not to settle on a particular bullet or weight, instance I had a Browning safari grade in 222 magnum that i rebarreled, these rifles like the ruger had whip thin barrels, this gun would not consistently put 5 shots under a inch it was close 1.00 to 1.187 my standard is 4, 5 shot groups averaged out, on what I decided was to be my last trip to the range with that rifle I was Gonna have to learn to live with what I got or rebarrel it, I had been shooting 55 gr bullets with the nosler ballistic tips proving to be the most promising, that morning I found I didn't have enough 55 gr to load the 20 rounds, so I loaded 15 finishing the last 5 cases with a 50 gr nosler, at the range I found the first 3 groups holding true to the expected inch or so, the last group fired with the 50 gr printed a nice cluster of a 1/2, further testing proved this load to be what I had been looking for, I had spent nearly a year and close to one thousand rounds fired trying to get the 55 gr to print sub inch, I ended up with a sub 6/10 gun, before that day I would have said bet that whichever bullet the gun liked it would pretty much shoot all weights equally well, so hopefully there will be something to learn here and the journey will be more enjoyable than frustrating, good luck in this quest

 

[rob257]

It is free floated. I would like 3200 with the 92 gr hammer. Going to work with h4895 first. Have about 15 different powders. Slow to fast. Even superformance and hunter. After trying to make sure stock is right. I was using Sami length of about 2.8. Sounds like they have lots free bore so if I get it right I may be at 3.0 or a touch over

lots of good stuff here to try. Thanks

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

I really feel that your barrel will need to be bedded, I would use several layer of shims to get upward pressure on the forend, I would suggest you load enough rounds to shoot several groups and shoot one group with the barrel as is, then shot a group with upward pressure with the trigger guard just held in place, then a third group with the trigger guard good and snug, the rear guard does not need to be as tight as the forward action screw but tight, if the third group moves more than a inch or two then the action needs or should be bedded, ive never used hammer bullets but I am a big fan of the Barnes X im also a big fan of the 257 AI, been hunting with one in one form or another for about 45 years, ramshot hunter is my current go to powder,

 

[nealm66]

From my experience, you don't have to worry too much about the jump with the hammers. You'll notice there isn't much resistance when seating. I've been stopping at the last crimp band

 

[Hard rock]

From my experience, you don't have to worry too much about the jump with the hammers. You'll notice there isn't much resistance when seating. I've been stopping at the last crimp band

All things need too be right too get the most accuraccy out of any rifle that being said that older model mod 77 in 257Roberts has a lot of freebore which makes things a lot diff than the standard freebore hopefully the Hammer bullets will perform better because they are not as finiky as most bullets when they have a long jump before contacting the lands they may or may not make a difference keep us posted would like too know for future reference good luck