Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Will give the 250 Savage a try

After much effort (hint never let anyone talk you into cutting off the angular forward guard screw on a Model 77 Ruger) and three gunsmiths I now have a nice 250 Savage that shoots 100 grain loads well. So it gets to walk with me around the mountains of Southern Arizona in search of a Coues buck.
Anyone else hunting with a similar piece this fall?

I've been carrying my '36 Mex Mauser in 250-3000. No blood yet, but it's not over 'til it's over.

I have some swampland and a bridge I'd like to discuss with you.......


Nope. Got a couple of .24 calibers though.

Happy hunting.

What did they do to make it shoot the 100's.

I have one and it has been a problem child.

All it needs is a 1:10 twist. Although, my XP-100 in .250-3000 has a 1:13 twist Hart barrel and shoots 100 BTips “okay”, not moa but the bullets are stable.

I have shot the 250-3000 a lot. 75 grain V-Max and Sierra HPs, 87 grain Speers, 90 grain Sierras, and 100 grain BTs and Partitions all shoot good groups in every rifle that I've tried them in.

Have one....shoots lights out and will NEVER be sold.

When I mentioned to gunsmith number two what I had been talked into, that is cutting off the front guard screw he told me that I must replace it to hold the action tight in the stock. So I had him install a vertical screw that solved the problem. Problem number three was a Leupold scope that would not hold zero. Once it was replaced all was well.

250 is my 2nd favorite deer cartridge after the Roberts. My Ruger M77 Tang Safe with it's 1 in 10" twist does real well with 100s, Hornady Interlock, Speer Hot Core and Nosler Ballistic Tips. My M99R Savage however only shoots the shorter Hot Core 100 decent. That 1in 14 twist does much better with the 87 grain Hot Core and so far I haven't seen it lacking on deer.

Now just load it with an 87 grain Sierra. Bang flops. Classic cartridge and classic load (87).

There is a really nice '76 model Ruger M77R with box on GB right now. Probably a decent price on the rare chambering, but more than I want to pay.

I will be using a Savage 99 in 250-3000 this year in NY State. With a 1 in 14" twist, it won't shoot 100 grain bullets, but shoots 87s and the 90 grain Sierra HPBT very well. I also have a 250 Savage rifle put together using a Savage Axis 243 as a donor action. I bought the barrel (E.R. Shaw) from Midway on a closeout. I paid $137 if memory serves. I had to buy a 22-250 magazine to make the rifle feed properly. It has a 1 in 10" twist barrel and shoots about any 25 caliber bullet. In the 250 Savage Axis I like 100 grain bullets at 3,000 fps.

Jerseyboy,

Your Savage 99 may not actually have a 1-14 twist. I've had a number older 99 .250's, and had a terrible time with one even when trying the 100-grain Speer Hot-Cor, which is the shortest 100-grain spitzer I've encountered over many years of playing with 99's. Length, not weight, is the major factor in bullet stabilization, and previous 1-14 twist 99's had all shot the Speer well.

After trying for a while, I eventually had a flash of very limited brillliance, and actually measured the rifling twist in the rifle, using the standard method of a cotton patch around a bore brush. It turned out to be 1-15, and such variations are common in older mass-produced rifles, because they were often rifled with sine-bar machines, which allow adjustment of the twist rate.

After discovering that, I tried the 87-grain Hot-Cor, which shot fine.

I have a Savage Model 20 in 250-3000 that shoots the 100gr Speer Hot Cor really well. I have taken a couple deer with that bullet and it has worked well.

Yeah, it's a very good bullet at .250 velocities. And so far Speer has kept making it!

I have recently acquired a '59 99F in 250 which is supposed to have a 1:14 twist. First two groups I shot with it, using Hornady Custom Lites 100gr factory ammo, first two shots were in same hole. Third shots were 3/8 and 5/8 out. This was at 50 yds with factory irons. Went home and measured rate of twist. It is 1:10 1/2. Go figure.

Top was shot with 85 BTs and the lower with 100 gr NP in sequence at 100 yds.




Rem 700 ADL that has been house trained.

I have about a lifetime supply of them squirreled away, just in case.

I’ve still got about 3-4 boxes of the Hornady 100 grain Interlock and now about the same number of 100 grain Hot Cores. I’ve only taken two deer with the Hot Core so far, they worked fine, but seems to be slightly softer than the Interlock in this limited sample. Both shoot great in the 10 twist Ruger

The only bullet I ever used on deer with my Ruger 77 RSI Mannlicher was the 120 gr. Speer Hotcore... in and out.

The 250 Savage is to deer rifles what the 223 is to varmint rifles... "kicks a little and kills a lot."