Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 250 Savage suggestions

Alrite guys, I’m in the process of putting together a .250savage for deer and called coyotes.

I’m waiting on a stock from McMillan before I order anything else. It is due any day now.

Here’s what I’m thinking

Olive & black speck Mountain rifle stock
700 stainless SA from buds
10twist #2 Douglass @ 22”
Timney 510

Douglass barrels are only an hour away from me so I was going to have them do the barrel installation and blueprint.

I think the only thing I’m missing is bottom metal, thought about picking up the complete BDL kit from red hawk rifles for 160$. Any reason not to go with that?

Anything else you see with the above specs you would do differently ? Not sure if I’m going to keep it all stainless or have it cerekoted. I’ll have to see it first.

Open to suggestions/criticism.

I had something similar done: I had a 700 BDL re-barreled from .243 WCF to .250-3000 with a factory contour barrel (back when Shilen used to do that) with a 1-in-10" twist, added a Jewell HVRLTSBR trigger adjusted to 2.25 LBS, had it pillar and full length bedded, and mounted a Leupold VX3 3.5x10 40mm scope in Leupold STD mounts for an overall weight of 7.75 LBS. (Original factory stock.) Shoots like a house afire, but I would consider a 1-in-9" twist if I were to do it today.

I’m looking to run the 100g NBT for most everything. I might try the 85NBT just for kicks. With those two bullets in mind, is there any reason to go 9tw?

A 1-10" twist will be fine for those bullets.

I’d go Rifle Basix. Apart from that very minor caveat, looks perfect.

A 9 won't hurt anything with the bullets you mentioned and it will give you a margin if you want to play with longer bullets later. So why not?

Yea. No reason to shy away from a 9" twist. Anything down to 75 Gr VMaxes would be fine.

And I really hate that I'm saying this....because the 250 and 250 AI are two of my favorites, and I have dies for both and brass for both and I'm still working on finishing a 250 AI (long journey, long story).

But if I didn't have brass or dies already, I'd go with a 25 Creedmoor chamber. Alpha brass is excellent, or plenty of 6mm and 6.5mm brass to neck up or down a little. I haven't checked die costs, so don't know about that.

I have dies and a ton of brass from a previous .250savage.

I like the cartridge really well, it’s really all I need for what I do here in Kentucky. If I need more I’ve got 30-06s and 300s

i would get a quality bottom metal unit it wont cost to much more if any than the remington one.....

look at legendary arms works web site they have one for $109.00 that is machined aluminum or even pt&g

I currently own a 250 Savage bolt action rifle on a Savage Axis action and a 250-3,000 Savage 99 lever action. The Axis with a 24" ER Shaw barrel will push a 100 grain bullet to 3,000 fps. It is very accurate as well. In the past I have owned a 250 Ackley Improved and several 257 Roberts rifles.

I am a big 25 caliber fan. If I were to build another 25 caliber rifle today, it would be based on the 308 case. I think the 250 Savage is a nice round, but I would prefer a bit more power.

I have another Axis with a Shaw 25 caliber barrel, and it's a 257 Roberts. It shoots as well as the 250 Savage barrel, but will push 117 grain bullets to 2,900 fps. That's getting into 25-06 territory, but with less recoil.

I see no reason to go with a 1 in 9" twist barrel on a 250 Savage rifle, especially if you intend on shooting bullets 100 grains and less.

My last thought: A few years back an acquaintance had a stainless Remington Model Seven rebarreled with a 20" long 250 Savage barrel in factory contour. It was done by an excellent gunsmith. I shot the little rifle, and it was accurate and about as perfect a still hunting woods rifle as I could imagine.

Any reason not to?

I have a couple of rifles with about the same specs as your build and I like them enough to keep them around.

Although I have a few dozen rifles chambered in 250-3000, I prefer the 25 Souper in short actions as it provides a little more performance than the 250-3000, approximately the same as the 250AI and 257 Roberts. That said, if you're willing/able to limit your reloading to bullets in the 75 to 110 grain range, the 257 Roberts doesn't run into COAL issues in a short action like it is prone to do with heavier/longer bullets.

If you have a choice of rates of twist, you might as well go with a faster ROT so that if somebody decides to make VLD .257" bore bullets, you'll have a barrel that will stabilize them. Otherwise a 1-10" ROT has been the standard in the 250-3000 for the past 60 years.

Good luck with your build and remember that since it is your build, you should build the rifle that you want, not the rifle that someone else thinks would be better for you.

I’ll look into that trigger. Thanks

260- thanks for the info. I just don’t need any more performance than what the standard .250 already offers. I’m not a long distance guy. So if .257 VLDs were to become available I’d not use them. I’m a point and click hunter. Here in the east where I live. 300 is a long long way. I can count on one hand the opportunities I’ve had at game at that distance.

I feel like anything over 100g is really pushing it I’m the little .250 case anyway.


I pretty much only shoot Nosler bullets. I always had good luck finding accurate loads and always liked the on game performance. So this rifle is built with the 100 and 85 NBT in mind.

You may want to consider Trigger Tech.

I've shot thousands of .257" 75 grain VMax and Sierra HPs at pdogs and predators from 250-3000, 25 Souper, 257 Roberts, 257 AI, 25 WSSM, 25-284, and 25-06s. They have worked so well for me that I haven't seen the need to change my varmint bullets. I used to shoot deer and predators with the 90 grain Sierra HPBT, but had a couple of bullet failures on deer, so now I only shoot them at predators. I have found this to be a particularly accurate bullet and it is, along with the 75 grain Sierra HP, the .257" component bullets against which I measure all others. I like the 100 grain BT as an all around deer and predator bullet, but prefer the 100 grain Partition if deer are the exclusive intended target in 250-3000. The heaviest whitetail that I've yet to shoot fell to a single 110 grain AB fired from a 25 WSSM, but I don't know if the 250-3000 would drive it fast enough to duplicate the performance that it has in the 25 WSSM.

I shoot deer with the old, original, Barnes X 75 grain bullets in my 1-14" ROT 250-3000 and 25 WSSM. If you like Barnes bullets, the 80 grain TTSX might be another bullet worth looking into. It would have the potential for a little more speed and more speed is a good thing more often than not, no?

Gene- appreciate that. I’ll take a look.

Mathman- the triggertech primary was the first one I was considering. The reviews are very positive. No real reason I decided to go with the timney, i will look at triggertech again. Can anyway weigh in on likes and dislikes of either?

260- now there’s a thought. I had not even considered the TSX. I’m not familiar with Barnes bullets, I know many here sing their praises. What could I expect from an 80g TSX on a coyotes?

I have no idea why shooters are scared of a faster twist barrel. Makers are beginning to introduce some heavier bullets in 257 caliber. Why limit yourself to not shooting them if you decide to do so? With a faster twist, you have the ability to shoot heavier bullets while still being able to shoot everything else same as you can with a 1-10". It's almost as if they've been brainwashed into believing that a 1-9" won't shoot lighter bullets as accurately as a 1-10". Makes no difference until you get into the heavier bullets....and that's where the faster twist has an advantage.

A dead coyote with 2 holes in it?

In 257 Rbts and 250/250AI, I chose to go with the 80 TTSX and 75 Gr VMAX. I use the same powder/charge weight and they shoot to same POI. Easy.

Idk. You tell me. I don’t shoot Barnes. I know the ballistic tips work everytime . With something as tough as a Barnes on something as light as a coyote, I don’t want it to just pencil through, and not anchor immediately. Just thinking out loud, might be way off.