Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer: query on .22/250 to .250 Savage conversion

Happy post birthday John!

I have a Ruger .250 Savage in my grandkid guns collection, and it is a really excellent youth gun. I see a lot of .22/250 rifles out there, and not many .250 Savages. My theory is I could acquire a .22/250 or three and "back convert" to .250 Savage by rebarrelling.

My question is are there hidden pitfalls in this conversion that I should be ready for? Second, what rifle do you like?

thanks...jim

Or by reboring

Hi Jim,

As Dennis suggested, reboring would be an excellent option for your purposes. It avoids barrel-channel problems, and a good rebore job often shoots better. I’ve had excellent luck with Classic Barrel & Gunworks in Prescott, Arizona.

The only downside would be .250 cases, which is not only scarce these days but, like brass for many low-demand cartridges, often isn’t very good, due to manufacturers not replacing their forming dies very often. But good .22-250 brass is very available and easily converted.

I like almost all rifles, so would suggest using rifles you like!

Jim, I'm not Mule Deer but if I were you and had several grand kids I'd just look for another couple of .250 Savages. 22-250's are popular guns and just as expensive as the 250's. It's my favorite round of all time and wouldn't trade 1 .250 for 10 .243's. Load them down for the kids when they're young 60,75,or 87gr bullets and up the ante as they get older. The .250Savage is one cartridge that kills all out of proportion to it's size. powdr

John,

Thanks for the detailed reply, and turning me on to reboring. I don't often think of that, and it does solve some of the problems of rebarrelling. Great point on the brass too!

thanks...jim

powdr,

I agree on the .250 Savage over the .243, but I would do the trade and sell the .243s to buy more .250s! Moderate velocity and good bullet placement are killers.

When I was a kid it was still the .250-3000 and we loved that name in playground conversations...

jim

I built a 250 Savage years ago and my kids have all taken their first few elk with it. .My oldest son, who is in law school in Lincoln, shot his first Virginia deer with it last month.

25 Souper?

The conversion would be simple. I did a .250 on a .243 and found that if I don't load the cartridges near the front of the mag that they will misfeeed. Working off a .22-250 would not have that problem.I chose a Savage because I could do the reburial myself. Midway ran a deal on Shaw .250 Savage barrels for $128.

A couple years ago I had just that plan,and bought a Winchester 70 Lightweight in .22-250. I found I needed to buy a new magazine box, follower and spring because they blocked it for the shorter round. I picked up a .308 box, spring and follower, and had the gun rebarrelled. It never shot well, so I traded it with full disclosure. The point being, check you mag box before you go forward. I'm a big fan of the round, and have two.

I have three .250s and a .250AI. (The AI was just to scratch an itch.) Love my .250s. As has been said, they kill out of proportion to their size, and I have no need of a .243/6mm because of them.

Hey good point on the magazine box, I did not think about that (yet)...

jim

Yeah, the SAAMI overall length for the .22-250 is 2.35", and for the .250 Savage 2.515", so some (not all) .22-250 magazines are too short for the .250.

I have successfully rebarreled Marlin XS7, Remington 600/660/700, and Savage 11 actions to 250-3000 using the magazine box and follower that came with the 243/7mm-08/308 donors.

I don't see them in the catalog just now, but at least up until last year, Savage was offering rifles chambered for 250 savage. I've got a Stevens 200 that I use as a switch barrel between 250 and 223. Takes me about 30min to do the conversion. Change the mag box, change the bolt face, change the barrel. Got the barrel from Midway. Works great, shoots OK too.