Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 250 Savage in strong bolt actions

I have never understood why folks want to make a 257 or 25-06 out of a 250 Savage by loading it hot...

The real beauty of the 250-3000 is a very quite, light recoiling, caliber that is suitable for deer and antelope in every respect and under all conditions as far as I know..Hey, you don't even need ear plugs when you hunt, you don't even need a recoil pad.

If you want 25-06 or hot loaded 257 Robts. velocity, then the 250-3000 is not for you, it is what it is...

I shot a lot of deer and elk in my mispent cowboy youth with the 250-3000 with slow factory Rem corelokt and Win Silvertip 100 gr. ammo at probably 2600 FPS, and some with the 117 gr. Peters RN at who knows what, probably 2400 FPS or there abouts!! and it never failed me, once again showing the plus factor of cup and core bullets at reasonable velocity..

I still hunt deer and antelope with that same gun from time to time, usually when I am hunting from horseback and jump shooting.

I keep hearing about how well cup and core bullets work at 2200 to 2600 fps and that's been consistent with my experience. Conversely I once had an issue with a cup and core bullet at ~3000 fps, but that could have been due to other factors. As of late I've loaded my various rifles at from 2300 to 2800 fps. Maybe I'll rethink that and back it down a notch on the high end.

Separately, I remember that Jack Belk said that the .250 Savage was his favorite round for youths.

Thanks Calhoun. I was hoping one of the serious Savage guys would chime in. I wasn't sure if the mod was for feeding or strength. I'd still play it safe on guns made before the .308 was available.

Jeff

Steve, everytime I drop a deer w/a 6mmBR, or shoot an itty bitty group, I think the same, a hidden jewel that nobody notices.

DJS, if not a 250-3000, a 6mmBR is a sweetie and drops deer no problems if you use do your part. I am like you and do not want to add injury to my damaged hearing, let alone take any more on my shoulder than I need to get the job done.

I just finnished a Stevens 200 22-250 to 250 Sav. and have a Sav 1920 and a 99 Takedown in 250-3000.

A few years back I built a wildcat 25-204Ruger that is running 100gr NPT's at 2800fps, great little deer rig.

erich

Ah, the hidden jewels. More and more, I find myself looking at cartridges that I owned years ago. In some cases, they are cartridges that I wanted to buy but could never afford. The 250 Savage is one, along with the 25-35, Wasps, Zippers and Bees.

How did the 250 Savage build go? I assume that you had no problems with feeding from the magazine.

I recently started loading for a .250, that I built on a Savage action as a coyote gun. It has a Douglas barrel from Sharp Shooter Supply, as well as their recoil lug and trigger. I've an abundance of Sierra 90gr bthp bullets, so started with them in Remington cases, and Reloader 15. It groups quite well, but I've yet to get it to feed from the magazine (older, stagger feed magazine). I think a stronger spring might help, and maybe a spacer in the rear to take up space.....

Kaiser Norton

I think we all get to the point of realizing, the stuff from the early part of the 20th century works just fine. The 250 Savage is a wonderful example.

I am also with Wismon here on the fact that a little lower velocity, is not only more accurate, but also more along the lines of giving the best performance with standard cup and core bullets.

Particularly at ranges I seem to take most of my game at, I am a big fan of 2400 fps seems to be an ideal MV for hunting, especially combined with heavier bullets.

I'm debating on a 250 Savage barrel, on what is currently a Ruger Stainless 22.250. However I want to duplicate the balance of a Ruger RSI, and make it with an 18 inch barrel, and also reduce the length of pull by an inch. To give it a little more heft and rigidity, have the barrel contoured in a heavy magnum profile.

That with the 117 grain RN Hornady, would make an easily carrying and handling rifle, making the old 7 x 57 Featherweight, seem as heavy as a varmint rifle.

Mine feeds like it was built for it, it is a center feed. The 25-204 took alot of tweeking, pulling the spacer on the old 223 mag and making a new one plus bending the mag lips. After they added the 204 the mag boxes are longer and the new mag boxes work better.

erich

That 40 gr. H414 with 100 gr. bullet is NOT a hot load, it's right out of the loading manuals and was tested in a '99 Sav. I don't believe in overloading any cartridge but I like to safely get all I can out of them. I have use core-lokts in my .250 at 3000 fps and they work just fine, same for my .270. I still say the .250 is way underated and should be more popular.

I feel that way about the 25 WSSM and 260, "underated and should be more popular".

Jeff

The 250-3000 was the first WSSM.

Doc

In my 700 Classic, I load 40.3gr RL15 and either the 75gr Sierra or the V-max. The Sierra chrono'd 3415fps. Haven't checked the V-max. 37gr of 4320 and the 87gr Hotcore does 3071 from my old 99 Savage. I have to trim cases about every three loadings. 37gr 4320 or RL15 and the 100gr NBT does 3003fps. I switched to the Hornady 100gr because I like the terminal performance better. Also use that load in my Dakota 76. Lost a little velocity, but the deer don't mind. Haven't trimmed brass for the bolt guns because I use the Lee collet die for them. YMMV

Seafire, FWIW, I passed by a 77 MK2 SS/Walnut 18.5" in 250/3000 that was mfg in the past year or two. In case you did not know, you might find one, those are very handy carbines. I'd prefer a 20" RSI in a #1 or a 22" or so bolt. Not likley there is much practical difference on deer in the field in carbine vs. std. bbl. at typical ranges.

Except for the fact a .250 Savage never would fit in a .223 length action.

I have one of the new Lipsey Ruger 77 full stock rifles , Stainless over walnut chambered in 250 Savage. What a beautiful rifle it it. Factory trigger is very nice. I haven't started to load for it yet as I had a few factory rounds of 100gr Winchester ammo. I can't get over how pleasant a round this is to shoot. I think I'll be loading 100 gr bullets for deer hunting for next season. Seems to have a rather short throat.

Regards Greg

Soon as I can the money moved around I'll be having a Browning A-bolt rebarreled to 250AI. Decided on the AI to make it be able to zip the bullets a biut faster if I want, save on brass trimming and still allow usual 250 loads for typical deer hunting.
I'll have a 250 bolt gun, A 358Win Marlin lever, and maybe someday a 454 Casul lever gun. Plus my 17 and 22 rimfires. Then maybe another 50cal lefty sidelock front stuffer someday as I sold my muzzleloader this year.

Oh... something in 300 Savage and something in 204 Ruger would help round out the collection. Then maybe something in a 40...