Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors game that can be taken by the 250-3000

Until I found this from a 1930 A. G. Parker catalog I did not realize the 250-3000 was capable of taking some of this game, evidently it's the only gun one would ever need (threw in some other pages from the same catalog) -



Interesting 22 claibre conversion kit - for those with a Savage made Lewis machine gun in .303 British who wish to shoot it in their basement -



...some more stuff that looks like it would really be worth having....


...................................................................................................... I think I'll still just use matches...

Cool.

I have thought about hunting elk with a 250-3000 but I would only take short range head shots. The elk have been too hard to hunt this year so I've stuck with the 300 Weatherby. David

Thanks for posting this, GeneB. After reading the 1930 catalog I figure all I would need for an African hunt is my Savage 99F in 250-3000. I guess ferreting was pretty popular in 1930.

Very interesting. Don't think I'll be going after brown bear with a 250-3000 anytime soon.

Gene says the catalog is from 1930, and the rifle is listed as a 99G. Take a look at the image of the rifle (looks like a first variation 1899 .250-3000 to me). No raised ramp front sight, and even more interesting, perch belly stock. Weren't perch belly stocks discontinued when production resumed after WWI? That would mean they were still using a 12 year old image. Probably says something about the cost to change images at that time. I assume the catalog would have been printed using the letterpress process.

My 99R 250 belonged to my Sister-in-Laws father and was used to feed his family while they lived in Wyoming. He used 87 gr bullets for antelope, 100 for deer and 117s for elk. I asked him one time how he hunted elk with it. His reply was he "got close and shot them in the neck". Good thing, since the 117s he included with it when I bought it would keyhole every time at 100 yards.

I have killed many deer and hogs with the 250-3000. At all times, it was very effective.

All three of my sons deer rifles are chambered in 250-3000. I have zero doubt that they will serve them well.

The ad also says it had a checkered trigger. Only the pre WWI 1899 250-3000's had checkered triggers and the perch belly stocks weren't used after WWI. It was common practice to use outdated info in catalogs and advertisements. Savage catalogs had pictures of 1895's up until 1904. This caused a lot of people to say the early 1899 carbines (SRC) had barrel bands. They didn't. David

They would be belly up with wrongful death lawsuit's today.

I mentioned a number of catalog errors in my book.

The 22HP was the only gun you would ever need until Savage invented the 250-3000 - that is with a little help from Mr. Newton. Now if you could only adapt the Lewis drum to the 99???

the 250-3000 worked well for my wifes grandfather . he fed his family in the early part of the last century in Colorado with his. My father in law had a string of elk ivories, with about 50 on it from that era.
my BIL has that 99 today and try as i might he just wont part with it.
he was going to move to Hawaii this year and i tried to tell him they wouldn't let him bring it in over there. too bad he can read.

I like old catalogs like that

So it is, in essence, a 22HP Magnum?

The pictures were not very up to date, the listing for the Savage Model 29 still has a picture of a 1914 (shows the tang safety).

Here is the only 99's listed in 1933, pictures updated and there is no mention of taking African game (possibly by 1933 all who suggested that had gotten themselves trampled or mauled to death).



1933 also has tang sights, including one for the 99's, it might be the first catalog with them, the 1930 does not have them.



Here are a couple more pages from the 1930 catalog - earlier versions of these 'tubeless scopes' were issued to the front lines during WWI.

That was a comendable try!

Someone (DGF?) had one of those tubeless scopes at the first Savage Fest. I wonder why it wasn't more popular. It's mechanically very simple. Less parts to fail.

That was Fug that had the tubeless scope, we were all at DGFs table when he brought it out! if I rember right! then he put that away and brought out the mint "T" in 22HP, was a Great time!

To heck with all that other stuff, I need to stock up on ferreting accessories.

first thing you need is a pair of gaiters for your pant legs and a tight belt. those suckers can go up a pant leg in a flash . make you dance and curse!


Gary, have you ever used cast in a 250-3000?

... I do want to make it clear that the ferreting information was from a different section of the catalog and that by placing it next to the 250-3000 information I in no way intended to suggest that ferreting would also be an acceptable method for hunting African game, or larger American game, (even if you had a large busyness of ferrets consisting mainly of hobs & hoblets due to ferrets being sexually dimorphic predators with the jills being much smaller).

... same with the walking stick catapults, they should only be used in dispatching "marauding cat's & rabbit's" as they suggest.

I posted pictures in the image gallery of the optical sight that was at Jed's in the image gallery. you can see it here:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/12553005/optical-sight

Lets try and post them here.

My Grandfather only used his 250-3000. Fed his family for many years with it killing many deer, and yes, Moose. He took many Moose with it, I don't know where he shot them or at what range, but they fell down just the same.

If I encountered a "marauding rabbit" I should think I would prefer a .250-3000, loaded with FMJ's for maximum penetration.

"Be sure to place it right in the mid-point between the ear and the eye if you want a hope of penetrating into the brain. Elsewhile you'd best be prepared to withstand a charge, and have your Holland's double within arm's reach."

Yes, I played a bit with cast bullets in a .250, but not in recent years. I relegate cast bullets in calibers smaller than .30 to targets/plinking/small game, not deer. If I had a 7mm (I don't at the moment) I would include it. That's not to say they aren't scads of fun to shoot with, it's just that killing energy is attained with either speed or bullet weight and neither can be attained in sufficient combinations with cast bullets of .22 or .25 size. Just my personal opinion- I'm sure that someone will pipe up about Uncle Jake and his brothers all killing a ton of deer with a .25-20 in 1923, or Grandpa Elmo feeding his family venison during the Depression with a Flobert .22. Would I if I had to? Yes, if I had to but I would be wishing for a Holland's double rifle the whole time (or at least an 1899 .303 with 190 FN casts or .22 HP loaded with sizzling jacketed bullets).

Addendum: you might ask why not 6.5mm's? Molds of decent weight can be had in that caliber but typically those rifles have a fast rate of twist to stabilize long jacketed bullets, and that isn't conducive to long cast lead bullets which don't take to fast twist at the velocities needed for sure killing. I tried, oh how I tried, to work up a deer load in a M70 Featherweight in 6.5x55 but I just couldn't get that 160 grain bullet up to anywhere near a usable velocity with a soft enough alloy to guarantee expansion before accuracy went to pot (probably due to partial stripping in the fast twist bore).

An 87 grain lead bullet is the peaches in a .250, but again that 2000fps threshold (give or take) just can't be breached with a bullet cast to less than 14-15bhn for reliable expansion. That's a far cry from the 3000 fps that enables that grand cartridge to be a killer-diller.

Obviously I'm discounting paper patching of cast bullets and two-piece cast bullets but that's a discussion for another time and place.

Interesting, I'm a long time fan of the 6.5-Swede.