Rifles can make a cartridge popular--think the Model 94/.30-30 Winchester or Model 700/7mm Remington Magnum--but is it possible for them to save one? It has happened. According to my go-to gun sages Layne Simpson and Jon Sundra, you can trace the resurgence of the .45-70 Government to the Marlin 1895 and later the Ruger No. 3, but the guys were hard-pressed to come up with another example.

It was Kimber's new 84M Classic Select Grade in .257 Roberts that got me thinking about this. I wondered if it could breathe life into an almost-forgotten chambering and wondered why the rifle maker chose Maj. Ned Roberts' creation in the first place.

"Why not?" says Kimber's Aaron Cummins. "Yes, it's kind of a red-headed stepchild among cartridges, but if it had been introduced in a different era, the 6mms may not have made it. The .257 is a great cartridge, and the 84M is the perfect platform for it."

You'll get no argument from me on either count, and I'll get to the rifle itself in a minute, but what about the Roberts? Can it be saved? Will it be saved? Should it be saved?

To that last question, I say unequivocally yes. Most of you already know the cartridge's history. A .25 caliber round based on the 7x57 Mauser case, the .257 Roberts was legitimized by Remington as a factory round in the 1930s. It was originally chambered in Remington's Model 30, followed a year later by Winchester in the Model 54 (and later M70).

Today, Ruger chambers it both in the Model 77 Mk II and No. 1. Those two guns and the Kimber are the only new Roberts production rifles available today.

As a modern round, the Roberts suffers from a flaw not of its own making. As Layne pointed out to me, the cartridge was originally loaded with 100-grain bullets, and rifle builders of the day mated it with a 1:10 twist--a convention that has continued to this day.

Problem is, the twist doesn't always work well with heavier spitzers such as the 117-grain weight you find in Roberts factory loads now. And that's why the loads from Winchester (Power Point +P) and Remington (Core-Lokt) use roundnose bullets. The only spitzer-style loads come from Hornady (117-grain Interlock and SST) and Federal (120-grain Partition).

SPECIFICATIONS: Kimber 84M Select
Manufacturer	Kimber Mfg., 800/880-2418
Action Type:	bolt-action centerfire
Caliber:	.257 Roberts (tested), .22-250, .260 Rem., 7mm-08 Rem., .308 Win., .338 Federal
Capacity:	5+1
Barrel	22 in., 6-groove, 1:10 RH twist, custom sporter contour
Weight	5 lb., 13 oz.
Stock	A-grade French walnut, hand-rubbed oil finish, 20 lpi panel checkering, ebony fore-end tip, Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad
Finish	matte blue
Trigger	adjustable; factory pull 31⁄2 to 4 lb.
Price	$1,273

My experience--both with the Kimber 84M and a Ruger No. 1 I used on an antelope hunt a few years back--is similar to what Layne has seen with his 1:10 twist Roberts barrels. Some shoot the 117 spitzers well; some don't.

The obvious solution is to handload, and although the .257 isn't as popular as some other diameters, you'll find a surprisingly good range of big game bullet choices from Barnes, Hornady, Nosler, Remington, Sierra, Speer and Swift--including many premium styles--in weights from 100 to 120 grains.

I freely confess to being a .25 fan. My favorite is the .25-06 because of its flat trajectory and decent ammo availability. However, for all its merits, the .25-06 is a bit overbore; the Roberts design is more efficient.

Heck, out to 200 yards I'd take the .257 Roberts all day long for any suitable game. I'd certainly stack it up against the cartridge with which it's most often compared: the popular .243 Winchester, which many people believe is the reasonable floor as far as deer calibers go.