Thread: 257 roberts

Originally Posted by Hunt4life

My two cents for fun... I have no experience with 257 nor 22-250. But my experience with .25-06, while I used to think it was an awesome calibre, I've seen and heard too many deer get away, even with very well placed shots (i.e. Straight through both third ribs).
If reading between the lines of ego and preference from some of you, I pick out the crucial differences between the cartridges, it seems to me the 257 typically travels a bit slower and therefore packs a bit more punch, more successfully putting deer on the deck.
I've had similar experiences with my old .308 where I'm now fairly convinced that projectiles travelling in excess of 3000fps are going too fast to generate the internal trauma required to put a large animal down so it stays down. These days I prefer my 6.5x55 because I'm yet to see any animal get up from a 140g SPBT, and I've recovered the last three mushroomed projectiles from my last three deer, with two of those just under the skin on the far side of bullet entry. My projectiles are doing 2560fps at the muzzle.
Each to their own of course, but my unfounded love of super velocity calibres like .25-06 and .22-250 died quite some time ago.
If I was long range target/varmint shooting however...hmmm


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Think you will find, that any given bullet, will carry more energy if travling faster, suspect your poor results are more to do with poor bullet choice or placement, A tsx or bonded bullet in a small deer may not expand fully, before exiting, or may need to strike bone and heavy tissue, ie threw the shoulder rather than behind the shoulder, like wise a varmint or too light a bullet, may not reach vitals,
I tend to shoot threw the front shoulders, rather than behind, Right now I am in Canada, and most everyone up here shoots behind to save more meat, due to restrictions on tags, and amount of game that can be taken. But you don't get any runners, with both shoulders broken.
If you have had a bad run fair enough, move on, personally, I think the 6.5- 7mm bore is more versatile for NZ conditions. love my M70 7x57, and .260
Doesn't much matter what cal you use, if you put the wrong bullet in the right place, or the right bullet in the wrong place, results are generally poor.