6mm Rem vs 257 Bob rebarrel

[T. O'Heir]

The .244 Rem is the 6mm Remington. Difference is the rifling twist.
You'd best have a look at this too.
https://www.remington.com/support/sa...-model-721-722
If that's already been done and you don't have but want 1 in 9 twist, you'll have to rebarrel. I think it'll cost as much as a new rifle though.
Do the Walmart Test. If the ammo is there you won't have a problem finding it in small places. The on-line equivalent is looking at Midway's site. There, the only available 6mm Rem ammo is 95 grain Hornady or 100 grain Winchester. Everything else is on 'No Backorder'.
Lots of something called .257 Roberts "+P"(literally above Hodgdon max loads) with deer suitable bullets. Best to reload anyway.
I'd be thinking Roberts just because the .244 was based on it. Simple rebarreling job with no fiddling with the bolt face or mag. And the ammo/brass is readily available.

[RC20]

Well I have built 3 target rifles on Savage actions. They all shoot under 3/4 and on good days (me) I have poked into the .250 area.

Remington all you have to do is take the barrel off and get a Reamage barrel and after that its about an hour at most to do a new barrel yourself.

Tickles me to build my own.

[RC20]

you couldn't be bothered to type "Roberts"???

I liked it! At first I thought it was a new wild cat, then it slowly dawned on me.

[Pathfinder45]

As has been previously mentioned, the 244 Remington is the same thing as the 6mm Remington, except for a slower rifling twist. Simply load ammo for it using 90 grain bullets. Use brand-new, single-base powder for the longest storage life; IMR-4350 comes to mind, but there are others. Work up a load that gives good accuracy and when you settle on a recipe that works, load up a few hundred rounds and put them in a GI ammo can in the coolest place in the house. A wine cellar would be ideal. Properly stored and using propellants known to have a long storage life, that ammo should last for a very, very long time.
So don't rebarrel it at all; just make ammo.

[std7mag]

The +P, brings the Roberts more into modern times.
Since the original era firearms built for the Roberts, then SAAMI won't up the pressures to corespond with modern bolt action rifles.
The increase in velocity can be significant.

[HiBC]

I poked around a bit on the Numrich site
The way it was listed, they showed the 308 using the same box and follower as the 257 and 244.The 243 was not mentioned.
So,it just might be that I was wrong about there being a problem. Maybe.

In any case,they are out of stock

[old roper]

I have 722 and they have follower list for 243.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/86120G

[gw44]

I have a pre-64 ( 1952 ) model 70 in 257 Roberts the 117gr load is a great deer load !!!

[dvdcrr]

Why does everyone talk about the "Walmart test" You have the internet and a whole basement or at least a closet you can fill up a year ahead of time with ammo, primers etc. right?

[dahermit]

have had both a 6 MM Remington in a single-shot Browning B-78...the most accurate rifle I have ever owned, about 1/2 five shot groups at 100 yards. Killed a lot of deer with it using IMR-4350 and an 87 grain Hornady varmint bullet. I expected the varmint bullet to "blow-up" and shower the vitals with bits and pieces of the bullet however, in actual practice, (I always did a post-mortem), the jacket would separate from the core and usually stay in the chest cavity whereas the core would exit on the off-side causing a quick kill.

Also owned a circa 1976 Ruger M77 in .257 Roberts. The Ruger had excessive freebore, could not get anywhere near the rifling with the longest bullets. It got spooky when working up loads inasmuch as there were never any pressure signs, even way beyond max data published in the loading manuals. I finally backed down, for safety's sake. I killed a lot of deer with that rifle also using a 120 grain bullet (cannot remember the manufacture of the bullet now), before gifting the rifle to my son.

In all, they both killed deer efficiently and I could not realistically see any difference in their performance. However, it should be noted that I always shot the deer behind the shoulder, where there is but ribs to resist the bullet.

[dahermit]

Why does everyone talk about the "Walmart test" You have the internet and a whole basement or at least a closet you can fill up a year ahead of time with ammo, primers etc. right?

I agree. What kind of inept hunter does not sufficiently plan for a hunt that they have to seek on-the-shelf ammo? To those who consider availability, how many times have you "forgotten" your ammo when going hunting?

If a person does not handload they are either wealthy or they do not shoot enough to achieve the proficiency with their rifle. Handloading is a no-brainer. I have never considered the availability of any cartridge as a legitimate factor in choosing one cartridge over another.

[Jim Watson]

Recent threads indicate that 6mm and .257 ammo are generally scarce.
A local store had what would probably be a lifetime supply of both for hunting in their going out of business sale, but you can't depend on that.

I'd put a .243, .260, 7'08, or 6.5 CM barrel on it to give it do Daniece. Include the .244 barrel for when she wanted to sell it to a collector, if there are 722 collectors.

[Rifletom]

Not to hi-jack, but, the .257 Roberts has been called the .257 "Bob" for decades by past and present gun writer types. Ken Waters, Bob Milek, John Barsness just to name a few. Dedicated owners/shooters also have used the term. Nothing new, simply just a nick name for a grand old cartridge. Back on topic now.

[Drm50]

I hate Richard Simmons gun talk. Mossies, Winnies, Bobs ect. Back to subject,
correct me if I'm wrong, isn't there a problem with AOL of cartridge when a
722 is barreled to 6mm Rem? I had a factory 257 Roberts back in 60s. It was a
fine shooter but I didn't load 257 at the time. I have owned several 721 & 722
rifles and they all preformed well. I still have a mint 722 in 222Rem. It will be
one of the last rifles to leave the keeper rack. That saids a lot, there has never
been a 700Rem in my keeper rack.

[T. O'Heir]

"...the "Walmart test"..." Lots of people get worked up when heading off to hunt and leave their ammo, their carefully reloaded and tested ammo, on the kitchen table. Or they're flying some place and the airline loses the ammo. Excrement happens. Rule Number 2 is Thou shalt CYA.
"...Handloading is a no-brainer...." Yep. Until you find there's neither ammo nor brass available.

[RC20]

I agree. What kind of inept hunter does not sufficiently plan for a hunt that they have to seek on-the-shelf ammo? To those who consider availability, how many times have you "forgotten" your ammo when going hunting?

It happens. In my case I thought I had plenty of reloaded until I tried to dig it out and found I had nothing.,

I had to pack a truck for a weeks camping and hunting, make sure the rifle was on and I had no time to dig out the reloading equipment and load anything.

Off to Freds I went, they had my ammo on sale and I got two boxes.

I also got my Caribous.

Probably a million variations to it including my wife didn't put the box in the truck.

[dvdcrr]

have had both a 6 MM Remington in a single-shot Browning B-78...the most accurate rifle I have ever owned, about 1/2 five shot groups at 100 yards. Killed a lot of deer with it using IMR-4350 and an 87 grain Hornady varmint bullet. I expected the varmint bullet to "blow-up" and shower the vitals with bits and pieces of the bullet however, in actual practice, (I always did a post-mortem), the jacket would separate from the core and usually stay in the chest cavity whereas the core would exit on the off-side causing a quick kill.

Also owned a circa 1976 Ruger M77 in .257 Roberts. The Ruger had excessive freebore, could not get anywhere near the rifling with the longest bullets. It got spooky when working up loads inasmuch as there were never any pressure signs, even way beyond max data published in the loading manuals. I finally backed down, for safety's sake. I killed a lot of deer with that rifle also using a 120 grain bullet (cannot remember the manufacture of the bullet now), before gifting the rifle to my son.

In all, they both killed deer efficiently and I could not realistically see any difference in their performance. However, it should be noted that I always shot the deer behind the shoulder, where there is but ribs to resist the bullet.

This rings pretty true to me in all respects. The heavier bullet of the 257 is slower with only the same SD.

[Mobuck]

"an 87 grain Hornady varmint bullet. I expected the varmint bullet to "blow-up"

Which Hornady 87 grain was that?
The older 87 grain spire point flat base had what was often referred to as a "coke bottle core". The lead core was shaped like the old time Coca Cola bottle with the smaller diameter in the middle. I found that design to be one of the best dual purpose bullets ever made for 243/6mm.

[oldscot3]

Go 6mm Rem. Ammo isn't as common as it used to be but PPU and Hornady are usually available. I bought a bag of PPU brass for my 6mm and it looks good, shoots good.

The thing about the 257 Roberts that I don't like is the chamber leade cut for the old roundnose bullets, also (usually) too slow of a twist rate. Of course a skilled smith can correct both those problems but why bother, the 6mm Rem is already "fixed".

[Three44s]

Really though, what is wrong with the existing tube?

The first thing if accuracy has fallen off is to up the ante on bore cleaning.

A good many magnum barrels were mistakenly pitched before the advent of bore scopes. They did not need rebarreling but rather re-cleaning.

Also the crown should be looked at.

I am a big fan of JB Bore Paste. With a barrel you are about to throw away, what do you have to lose?

Three44s

[RC20]

If it needs cleaning, this is the stuff

http://www.slip2000.com/blog/precisi...ting-magazine/

For my background, I took up target shooting 6 years ago or so. Its recreational, never going to be good enough or afford to be good enough to do competition though I may play at it if I manage to retire.

I think I have picked up a lot that makes common sense as opposed to the Urban Legends of the shooting business.

If I have an opinion, its stated as suchy (or a feeling or its just how I like to do things because it suits me, not because I have decided that what suits me is the end to all things

For barrel break in, Shilen (one of the top aftermarket button rifle custom barrels) had the most honest answer that makes sense to me, "it makes no difference". People keep bugging us so here is the wisdom.

I have done 3 custom barrels (all stainless) , it did 't make any difference how I did it, the best shooting one (Shilen) I just shot and cleaned a couple times during 50-100 rounds of shooting.

So, shoot it 10 or 15 rounds and clean it, repeat. That barrel shoot as good the first shot as the rest. The others like a fouling shot or two.

No one has setup up a real scientific study and proved anything. So its really supposition unless someone does (not likely, they know how to make good barrels and doing a definite study would cost a lot)

As for copper, I have not run into it, I don't shoot any of the calibers that go over 2800 fps so I am not into that arena.

As for cleaning, this article was by far the best, he went about it right, used a boroscope to confirm (I have a Lyman now, his was the better Hawkeye)

http://www.slip2000.com/blog/precisi...ting-magazine/

What I found agrees fully with his findings, the Carbon Killer 2000 works better than anything on carbon. The Bore Tech Eliminator
does copper the best I have seen (and he does not say but it has a decent carbon component as well). I do get older guns with some copper in them so I have tested it.

Both are non haz, non toxic (my wife was having issues with Hoppes in the shop leaking into the house). They use focused chemistry rather than brute force dissolving to do the job from my view.

Without a boroscope, the bore may look shiny, but the boro scope tells you what is down in the groves and you can see the CK2k or BTE working.

I have developed my own variation on how I got about it, partly as I hate to clean at home as I need to get to the range ealry to get a bench and I run late and don't get them cleaned, so I clean after I shoot X rounds (usually 25-50)

This is for the CK2K as I don't have copper. I shoot when the barrel is warm, that helps the process and about 3 cycles and the barrel is clean. If I can time it I run the CK2K through and soak the barrel as a cease fire is called, then it soaks while people go down range and I resume cleaning when the line is hot again.

I use a nylon brush, I have an eye dropper bottle, I drizzle the CK2K on the nylon brush which holds it pretty good, run it through the barrel, drizzle it again on the other end, then 3 to 5 strokes, the nylon brush is out the barrel on the last one, I drizzle again, pull it out and run a dry patch through.

I repeat that about 3 times and its clean. No black and a light color stain on the last patch. I run a final patch through to get the last chemical out of the bore.

You can do the same at home, takes a bit more.

We had a family 270 (Finnbear) that the best I could get to shoot with handloads was 1.5 inches.

Once I put the gun through the regimen its shoots 7/8 at 100.

It had been cleaned after each shooting with Hoppes, it just never got it all out. With the boro scope I could see the 50 years of carbon that had never quite got cleaned out build up. That one took some time as I wet the barrel with CK2K and then let it sit. There was no copper to speak of in it and what there was came out with the BTE.

The Lyman runs $170 or so on sale, worth it if you have a lot of guns and need to see what you are doing.

[J.G. Terry]

Looks like there are folks looking for a 722 in .244. Why not sell or trade the 722 and buy a new 243 or "Bob" rifle. The $ figures would be in your favor. Rebarreling can get pricey.

Addendum: Beware of worst load/best load comparisons. On equal terms the Roberts (AKA "Bob") rules.