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

Don't let that rifle get away from you.

Brad,

So well said.."kicks a little and kills a lot". A prefect description of the little 250 Savage.

I have one in a Ruger K1A, but also a Roberts in the same gun. Both are SO pleasant to hunt. Both have nice lumber too.

I have 250's. One of my favorites

I've got about 11 boxes I think. I'm loading it in my Ruger Ultralight .250 Sav with 1:10 inch twist. That is a great bullet in the .250 and .257 Roberts. I used to load the 100gn Ballistic Tip in my .250 but it was too hard at 2770fps from the 20 inch barrel. The 100gn Hornady kills much better. I never took mine out for a walk this year as I had a couple of new ones to play with but I will set a goal to take a deer with my .250 next year.

Thanks Doc... found a pic of a 250 Savage kill. 120 Speer Hot Core, November 1990:

Love the 120 Hot Core. Used it for years in a 257AI. Great performer.

Thanks for the comment, John. However, after reading what you said about that 1 in 15" twist in one of your books, I carefully measured the twist on my 99F. It is truly 1 in 14". I have been shooting the 90 grain Sierra HPBT and the 87 grain Speer in the rifle, and both shoot very nicely. I guess I will have to settle for one of those.

Very nice!! I have been using the Hornady 117 gr SST in my 250 savage and have been extremely pleased the bullets performance out past 300 yards which is a bit far to be poking whitetail with a .250.... or at least i used to think so.

Your pic is great! Reminds me of the old gunsmith I used in NorCalif in the early 80's. Just a small very professional one man shop. The only person I ever trusted to do all of my trigger work. I stopped in one Saturday to pick up my 7mag. I casually asked hiim - with all you have seen and worked on, if you were to do it all over again what gun and cartridge would you choose for big game hunting. No hesitation to his answer - a Ruger RSI 250 Savage with an aimpoint red dot for hunting deer in thick areas up close and a 338-06 for everything else. The 338-06 would have a 3-9 scope. With those 2 he said he could hunting anything he wanted to to in North America forever. Your gun, circumstances, and deer reminded me of that. For some reason an RSI in 250 was always an ideal combo to me. Yeah - that was a long time ago and that RSI model was only back in the days of the tang safety. They felt so natural to shoulder and point. Thanks for posting!

The 87gr Hot-core is the way to go. Hammers deer out of my grandfather's 99 (circa 1919). Loved it so much that I got a 700 Classic and a Dakota Alpine. Soft shooting for varmints, deer, and pronghorn. As Dad said, "This gun doesn't go 'bang'. It goes 'meat'!"

Soft shooting it surely is. With as little powder as it takes to get 3000 fps with the 87 Speer out of my 700 Classic the recoil/report is extremely mild. 100 grain bullets at about 2950 fps with 35 grains of H4895 are far from teeth rattling as well.

I measured the twist in my 1918-vintage Savage Model .250-3000 (what they called the takedown rifles before name change to 99G in 1920, and they were only in .250 and in fact intro'ed the cartridge). The mark on the rod is a skinch shy of the 14" way point, call it 1-13½. It still much prefers 87 grain Speers over even short blunt 100's. Go figure. Magic, I guess.

Model 70 Ltwt carbine in .250/3000 here, the one on the right.......it is a 1-14" twist gun.

and, a Remington 7KS in .250/3000 also; that one is 1-10".

the left one in the pic was a third rifle in .250/3000, it was a pac-nor rebarreled model 7 in an MPI stock, sold that one to another campfire member who killed a real good buck with it last year.
also have a pair of 25/35ackley improved single shots that duplicate .250savage speeds with 87's...all seem to kill stuff pretty well.

Been giving them a try for a long time

Wife has used the 250 on and off for 33 years. Model 99 Made about 1955. All flat base cup and core 100 grain bullets we have tried shot fine. Knock the stuffing out of white tails also. Had e r Shaw build one for me a few years ago. Haven't shot anything but 100 grain Sierra pro hunter in it. Put one though a good sized buck last year. About 225 dressed. Passed all the way thru both front shoulder blades and exited at around 150 yards. Went about 30 feet. The lads at work make fun of our little cartridges cause everyone knows you need a magnum to hunt deer

Gorgeous wood!

I have an early Model 7 .308 that might end up as a .250. Bought it with my graduation money in 1984 and the barrel is getting tired, and I'm liking kick less and less...

Hi all
Any 25 cal is great.
A 243 is a waste of time take the barrel off use it for a tomato stake on put a real barrel on it in 25 cal you will have a better rifle.
My personal 25 is a P14 with a lightened action, timney trigger, llijla match grade barrel in a boyds stock.
My 25 is my own creation a 25/303 Epps Newton. I got told it was a waste of time by one Smith but found one to do this stuff.
End result a 25 that launches 100grain Barnes ttsx at a chronoed 3,670fps with 58 grains of superformance or a 117sst are 115 nosler combined technology at a chronoed 3,370 fps. Groups .9 inch at 200 yards.
Drops our fallow deer as if struck by lightning.

Long live the 25 caliber and to all that own one be proud and be grateful it ain't a 243

Tell us all how you really feel about the .243!

Oh my!