Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 250 Savage 117 GR RN in 1-14

Who has tried the 117 GR Hornady in 250 Savage 1-14 twist. Want a tougher bullet for other game while deer hunting up here in AK. Going to try a few and see if they stabilize in the 1-14 twist any load suggestions.

For giggles I did. Les talked me into it.

Hits the paper going sideways at 100 yards. My best suggestions? 87gr Speer Hot Cores.

This, but if you think a heavier bullet would be better the 100 gr Speer Hot-Cor and 100 gr Hornady Interlock will stabilize in that 1-14" ROT.

Is that true for all pre-mil 250-3000's? I've never tried them. The 1-14" twist was the targeted twist rate, sometimes it comes out slower and some bullets fall in the range of "works in some guns, but not in all".

It is true for the rifles I loaded for, in fact one rifle would shoot the Remington 100 gr Core-Lokt bullets very well.

.928" Remington 100 gr. Core-Lokt

.940" Speer 100 gr Hot-Cor

.987 Hornady 100 gr Interlock

Having said that, I prefer the 87 gr Speer Hot Cor for deer and never saw a need for a 100 gr bullet. The OP did not say what other game he may want to take a shot at.

If one is shooting at normal deer hunting ranges and wants a premium bullet, you could always go with the Nosler Partition.. can't shoot them worth squat out of the box, but with just a bit of work with a utility knife you get a 98gr Partition which shoots pretty well.

The base 1.04" Partition shoots groups ranging from 5" to 8" at 100 yards. The .915" Partition with the tip cut off was shooting around 1.5" groups out of two pre-1960 250-3000's.

Just shot my slow twist 1903 Springfield in 250-3000 Lyman Aperture sights front bead at 100 yards
what surprised me was the Barnes X 85 gr bullets 4 at 1.5" !

87 Gr Speer 3 @ 1.4" 100 gr Speer, 100 Gr Hornady Interlock, 100 Gr Rem Cor lock all under 2" . Measured twist several times around 1-13.

My other Savage 99,s older 1-14 twist would not shoot the 85 Gr Barnes under 5", one of them measured 1- 13.5 twist. Will shoot most 100 gr bullets.

Going to change out front site to a post style and sight it for 85 Gr Barnes X. And hopefully kill a Caribou with it this fall.

Interesting, I have some old screw machine bullets that I might modify.

Rory, are those the bullets you and I collaborated on a million years ago?

Yep, yours is #3. Groups were slightly better than the #2 groups, but both were good enough for hunting.

I have shot some excellent groups with the 100 grain green box at 100 yards out of my 50's EG. They shoot almost to the exact same point of impact as the hand loaded Speer 87 hot cores I have. Which makes it pretty handy.

One man's observations from one gun...

My 1950 R and Randy's old 1919 250-3000 Rifle both can shot the flea off a gnats arse with the Remington 100's, Joe.

One thing to add to this. I've shot Winchester 100 grain silvertips through a couple of pre mil 250's.

Every time I pull the trigger with one of those things in the barrel: I have no idea where, it might land....

My old 250 shoots 100 grainers poorly to very poorly but does nicely with the Sierra 90 grain h.p. which is a nice game bullet.

My 250 R at 50 yards with factory 100 grain Silvertips. 3 shot group. 1 in 14 twist.

Steve

My 1950 's 99r shoots the 117 rn very well at 1.25" @ 100 yds..IMR 4064 POWDER .Trying it in that nice Springfield?Scott.

Scott yes it shot the old Barnes X bullets 85 GR well, twist rough measures 1-13 thinking its 1-12. Kurt

Point of all this being....every gun is different.

Yes the Savage 99,s 1-14 twist varies I have seen some that measure 1-13.5 to 1-14.5 which may explain why some shoot 100 gr bullets and some don,t.

Elevation, temperature, and humidity play a role, too. What works up north in the mountains may not down south at sea level.

I do most of my testing at maybe 50' elevation if it works there it will work anywhere.

Here is an interesting article. Doesn't cover 117gr, but does cover origins and experimentation of the ".250"
22" or 24" barrel matters among other things. Depends what the goal is in 2017. ??

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.250-3000.250+Savage.html

Arthur Savage was in California growing oranges or making tires by 1914. Also it's my understanding that Newton wanted the 100 grain bullet and Savage Arms wanted the 87 so they could advertise the 3000 fps and sell more rifles. The author must be a Winchester guy. He's sure giving Savage a bad rap. I'm tempted to go elk hunting with a 250-3K this fall just to show him up. David

The 1-14" twist 250 Savage is likely the stupidest thing to ever come out of a factory, followed by the 1-14" 22/250.

You got that right !


On a side note, the 60 gr. Hornady FP should work like a champ....

I've shot the 117grn.hornaday round nose bullet, with blc-2 powder in my 1920 savage in 250-3000 and they shoot really well out of my gun.

Never was able to get my 1953 EG to stabilize the Hornady 117-grainers; they all printed sideways. Winchester 100-gr Silvertips shoot okay, but my preference is handloads with Speer 87-gr Hot Cor bullets. They work on whitetails and antelope as far as I can hit them with peep sights.

Shot the 99 EG 1-14 twist with 117 Horn RN today best load 3 at 2.8" looked stable.

Out of my 1903 Springfield 250 Savage 117 GR RN best load with recv sight was 4 @ 2.7" at 100 yards

See, the thing is the only reason one would have for slinging long heavy bullets out of a .250 would be for really long range shooting and/or deep penetration. Advances in bullet technology for lighter bullets make that a moot point. On top of that, though, I find some humor in watching guys trying to make .250's into something they aren't. If I wanted extra performance above and beyond high velocity 87 grain loads, I would go to a .257 Roberts or .25-06 anyway.

If 3" groups are the norm with a rifle/load combo, what is the accuracy at 200, 300, or 400 yards where the advantages of long heavy bullets come into play? Extrapolating 6", 9",and 12" groups don't exactly inspire confidence. And as those bullets shed velocity they become less stable to boot.

Don't get me wrong, if I had a pile of 117 gr. .25 bullets and nothing better to do with them, and I wanted to waste some time in a fun way, I would shoot them up. But I would know I wouldn't be cheating the laws of physics in any significant way.

What's the bullet length on those Hornady's? I'm not sure if the ones I tried were Hornady's or another brand. Been too long.

Be nice to have a better bullet while carrying the 250 Savage in Alaska. Or it will stay home. Plus I have 200 of the Hornady 117 RN . Under 3" and stable would work at short range.

80 gain TTX ask Rilly.

Mel the 80 gr tipped is a longer bullet, shorter bullets have a better chance of stabilizing in a slower twist.

My 85 Gr older Barnes X is marginal.

Probably best bet would be to cut off the lead on the 100 gr N Partition not a primary load but one to use if I needed it.

It might surprise you how accurate that Partition will be with the tip cut off. Did some quick trials with it.