Hi Riflemen:
I just recently received a .257 Roberts from a friend who passed away. Her husband brought it a few days back and what a nice looking rifle. It was built by my friends father. He was an enginer for Remington. He built it on a Mauser 98 action and I'm not sure what barrel it is - perhaps a Mauser as it has a high ramp front sight. No rear sight and if there ever was one it must have been a receiver sight. He hand-made a stock out of a piece of bird's eye maple he took from a tree cut on his land and what a beautiful stock. He carved a cheek piece on the stock and flutted the comb. One problem though is he made the rifle for his wife and the length of pull is 123/4". I'll put a recoil pad - slip on - on to give it a little length. The action is equipped with a scope safe and the trigger-pull is excellent. The rifle has been hunted some and shows some signs of this and it all goes to the character of the rifle. He had a female checkering craftsman who worked for the Remington Custom shop hand checker the pistol grip and forearm. Along with this I was given 5 boxes of shells. All Remington of course and they have to be at least 40 to 45 years old. Keep in mind that the rifle was also made that long ago as well. Four boxes of the ammo is in the Kleanbore Remington boxes that are mostly green with red trim on the ends and sides. One has a price written on it that is $ 3.05 and another $ 5.10. The newer box - 1991 written on it - and is the newer green and yellow box has a price sticker of $9.99. All are loaded with 117 gr. core-lokt soft points. I inspected the rifle and cleaned it and it has a very smooth action. Bolt has been nickel platted I think and has nice engravings on the bolt handle. I took a couple of rounds from each box and they all fired and I hit the target I was shooting at. By the way, it is equipped with a Weaver K4 and although it appears to be in good shape I'm considering sending it back to Weaver to be reconditioned. I like those old Weavers.
My questions are do I need to take this rifle to a smith to make sure it's safe to fire the new .257 Roberts +P loads? The safe accommodates the scope but comes off very easy. I'd be worried that it could be knocked to the fire position very easily by carrying the rifle in a slung position or as you travel through thick brush. Yes, I plan on hunting with it. Can this safe be changed to be more secure? I'm not sure which Mauser action it is. There are numbers on the bolt/receiver but I'm not sure what they mean. There is no writing on the barrel nor any caliber designation either. Why?
I'm a very experienced hunter and have had and have many different rifles but never a Mauser action and never a .257 Roberts. My shooting situations would be for hunting deer in woods and openings which would require shots of 30 to 200 yards on medium to large whitetails and black bears. Comments please, especially from those experienced in the use of the Roberts. Thanks guys.
Good Shooting.
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