Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Hornady 250 Savage ammo

That's what she said..

LOL Steelhead.

JeffG, I did a screen shot from the video I was recording.
I was surprised too. So much that I checked the powder charge a 3rd time at the range online! H-335, 42.5 gr, 150 gr Sierra SP. The box ammo my buddy was using didn't make a fireball....

Shouldn't the object be to complete the powder burn within the barrel?

Crow, after doing a "H-335 muzzle flash" google search, I found a post from a gent that called Hodgdon to ask about the known muzzle flash with H-335.
Here was his reply:

H-335,Blc and and BLc-2 as you probably know are double based ball powders. That is, they have a certain precentage of nitroglycerine added to give more power and as an added feature, better storage abilities. One of the byproducts of the high nitro content in H-335 is the generation of hydrogen gas. Depending on the cartridge it could be lots of hydrogen gas. Now when the round is fired as long as that hydrogen gas is contained in the barrel, nothing happens. But when the bullet exits, that hydrogen gas literally explodes in a very bright flash and extremely loud report.
I used to load H-335 in a Remington Model 660 with 20" barrel. In the middle of a Nevada summer at just about high noon, my buddy and I were shooting at tin cans and other targets of oppotunity. I broke out the .308 and torched off a round. The blast was something else but the 4 foot wide ball of fire was actually brighter than the sun. That's when I got interested and gave Hodgden a call asking about it.
I had a small amount left over from all those years ago and used it in my .35 Whelen. It's a darn good powder for that cartridge and I'll have to get more on my next powder run.

I guess now you have to wear those special solar eclipse sunglasses whenever you shoot it...

I used it in a 20 inch 35 rem for a while and it also had a wicked muzzle flash. I use it in a 223 with a 24 inch barrel and have no more flash than with any other powder.

Mike

Hey Guys,

Finally found time and reasonable (32 degree) clear weather to go try the new Hornady Custom 250 Savage 100 grain ammo. 600,000 serial # range 99EG. Lyman tang peep. 100 yards benched off of good bags.

No dice! Shot two foulers, then six for the record. Five of the six went into a 5-inch "group" (if you can call it that). Number six hit a foot low. Yep, a foot. All shots felt like they broke clean.

Lest you say it is the "monkey behind the crank" or the rifle, this EG will group an 87 grain Hot Core into 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" on command at 100 yards with the peep. It may do better, but my eyes cannot discern any better than that!

I use a homemade target of dayglo yellow poster paper with a 1.5" black cross spanning the whole paper. Looks like a crosshair behind the front bead. Otherwise, the groups would be much larger. Open sight shooters may want to consider this trick.

So, these Hornady's are relegated to foulers. That Pre-Mil twist just won't stabilize 100 grains, at least THIS Pre-Mil won't.

It was worth a try, as you just never know.

Best wishes, Marc

"Do either of these 250-3000s have a 1 in 14" twist? My 1955 vintage 99F does. I wonder if it would stabilize that Hornady ammo."

Obviously from what I just posted above, this 1-14" twist will NOT stabilize the new Hornady ammo. It was worth $32.00 to find out though.

I wonder if Hornady is selling their brass though?? Hmmmm....I better go look. I have culled tons of poor Winchester and Remington brass from new packages in the past.

Best wishes, Marc

That's a beautiful rifle.

My Savage 99A in 250-3000 just LOVES Sierra 100 gr. Game Kings perched atop 33.5 grains of IMR 4064. It is deadly on NH whitetail too.

Rich

Roundoak that is really,really high in my list of the all time best looking rifles!!! No joke about it. It really makes me want another 1970s 99A Saddle Carbine in a bad, bad way. I know I'm talking/writing like a teenage boy but THAT trips my trigger. I got one about 10 years ago that was truly a 98% rifle except a split at the tang that had been repaired so that you had to look for it. Mine was a.250/3000 also. It was so beautiful that I was scared to hunt with it for fear of putting a scratch on it. I did kill one whitetail with it and it was a bang flop DRT. I sold it because I knew they would likely never be made again and that one was in such good shape that it should be put up for posterity sake. Than is one fine rifle!!!

I failed to mention that mine (see above post)was a pretty good shooter too. The best load i had was with the Sierra 90gr HPBT Gameking. I don't remember the powder but it chronographed just over 3000fps. Only deer I took with it was DRT as it broke both shoulders and exited. I know that bullet is a sure Southern whitetail killer. Both my uncle and I used it for years at about 3400fps in the 25/06.

I'd be interested in how they shoot in older 250's also. My 99 F from 1926 shows perfect bullet silhouettes with 100 grain bullets at 75 yards. I've measures the twist as best as I can and think it is maybe a little slower than 1 in 14".

The 90 grain Sierra shoots great in my 1955 vintage 99F with 1 in 14" twist. The shortest currently made 100 grain bullet is the Speer. Sierra is longer. I have some Remington 100 grain PSPCL bullets which I will also try. If we ever get over this winter and I can get to the range, I will report on how well the Speers, Sierras, and Remingtons shoot. I have a box of the Hornady 100 grain ammo, but haven't tried it yet. I guess it will be used in my Savage Axis with 1 in 10" twist barrel. The Hornady 100 grain bullets are longer than any of the other 100 grain bullets mentioned.

Regarding your barrel's twist rate, Mule Deer has mentioned that twist rates were nominal in those old days. Sometimes the rifling machine might rifle a 1 in 14', or maybe a 1 in 15" twist. Maybe a 1 in 13", too. I checked mine pretty carefully, and it appears to be exactly 1 in 14".

In another post I listed the lengths of the above bullets. If anyone cares I can re-post them.