Figured I’d join in with the help me threads. I have a VZ 24 with a .257 Roberts barrel, sitting in a Bishop stock with a weaver K6 Scope. Any idea what it may be worth, and any other info on it?
VZ 24 help
- Thread starter cattleman99
- Start date
.257 Roberts is a wildly underestimated cartridge. The VZ-24 was one of the better quality Mausers. As is, it's probably worth about $300 retail.
I agree, the .257 Roberts is very, very underestimated. One issue with them is what twist they have. They started with 1-12" twist. Then Remington almost immediately started co-producing 1-10" twists. A number of customs of the day started using 1-14" twist barrels as that was considered optimal for .25 cal. So, just like the .250 Savage, they have all three. As of late, some have twisted them in 1-18"
So, 1-14" is good for super light bullets pushed fast. As in 60-85 gr. bullets
The 1-12" is good for 85 gr. to 100 gr. bullets, But will stabilize clear up to 117 round nose. It will not stabilize spitzers of that weight (length)
Remington realized that the future of .25 cal (.257 Rob was dubious, 25-06 was a given) was in spitzer bullets of the same weight, so they went with 1-10",
A note here that the 1-10" twist will stabilize "short ogive" heavy bullets. But, it has issues stabilizing long ogive bullets.
Enter Pac-Nor with their 1-8" twist for those pesky off-brand heavy and ballistically efficient bullets that won't stabilize in 1-10" twists. Those same heavy, long ogive, ballistically efficient and sleek bullets that WILL STABILIZE in a 1-8" twist.
Added: PS, love the rifle. What twist? Still, would run $300-$450.
So, 1-14" is good for super light bullets pushed fast. As in 60-85 gr. bullets
The 1-12" is good for 85 gr. to 100 gr. bullets, But will stabilize clear up to 117 round nose. It will not stabilize spitzers of that weight (length)
Remington realized that the future of .25 cal (.257 Rob was dubious, 25-06 was a given) was in spitzer bullets of the same weight, so they went with 1-10",
A note here that the 1-10" twist will stabilize "short ogive" heavy bullets. But, it has issues stabilizing long ogive bullets.
Enter Pac-Nor with their 1-8" twist for those pesky off-brand heavy and ballistically efficient bullets that won't stabilize in 1-10" twists. Those same heavy, long ogive, ballistically efficient and sleek bullets that WILL STABILIZE in a 1-8" twist.
Added: PS, love the rifle. What twist? Still, would run $300-$450.
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To be clear, the .257 Roberts was intended to be a Groundhog, Fox, Coyote cartridge, but the public demanded another deer cartridge. Hence the various twist rates. Still and all, a properly turned out Bob is a versatile and accurate cartridge. Back when Mausers were being bought for 10 cents a pound, the .257 Roberts made sense since it was derived from the 7X57 Mauser cartridge.
Anyhow, that is a nice rifle. It deserves better glass.
Anyhow, that is a nice rifle. It deserves better glass.
No, you are thinking of the 6mm Rem. The .257 Roberts was initially thought of as a deer/varmint cartridge. When they made barrels in 1-10" twist, they looked at it as an "All-around" big game and varmint cartridge. With heavy bullets it will take moose and elk as well.
In fairness, it also is a great cartridge. Better than most, IMO, but without the "great marketing" to help it along. For shooting sparingly, it excels. For shooting high volume, like competition or PD'ing, it burns barrels out when loaded pretty hot...as it usually is.
But, to your initial reply, TOTALLY UNDERRATED is true.
The 6mm Rem was one of Remington biggest marketing blunders.
Amen to that. If Remington had done their homework and marketed the 6mm properly, the .243 Win. would be the bridesmaid instead of the bride.
sporterized milsurps as great a rifle as they may be are kind of hard to judge a value on i bought a sporterized vz24 in 30-06 for $129 if it was built up by one of the big name smiths back in the day it could be worth more but as a generalization i would say 300 tops especially being chambered in an obsolescent (not obsolete just not common)
Thanks for all the responses. I was genuinely curious as to its background and what it was worth. I gave $600 for it, and here's why. When I was 8 or 9 or so, I killed my first dear with it. My grandfather owned it. He passed away a few years back and his collection was sold. I couldn't afford to buy it then. I found the ledger showing which guns were sold to who and I called up the owner of the rifle. I told him the story, and he let me buy it back. The Weaver K6 is cloudy and dark, the trigger is long and heavy too, but it shoots fairly well. Im glad I was fortunate enough to buy it back.
Put good glass on it, a Timney trigger, and then be amazed at how well the old warhorse shoots.
Very cool. As said above the .257 is a great round, especially the ackley version. Running some 131gr Blackjacks, it’ll make for a killer long range shooter.
I won’t do an Ackley ever again. The top end of the pressure curve is always too steep. I’d much rather blow that case out to a .308 or 30-06 taper and give it a 30 deg. shoulder.
But yeah, run 131 Blackjacks out of it.
But yeah, run 131 Blackjacks out of it.
A coating is the best way to protect your firearm, IMO. All the bluing processes for me have rusted. Beautiful guns with little tiny rust splotches. And, I don't even come from traditionally wet country. I grew up in Nevada spent 10 years in Montana and five in N. Idaho. The most moisture where I was at that I had guns was Minnesota. Always, always, always oiling and greasing to keep the rust off.
Kinda ugly but cheap is parkerization. Kept my M16 and M1911 from turning into total rust buckets in GA, Panama and Puerto Rico.
