Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 250-3000 Load Data

I currently own two rifles in this chambering. One is a Savage 99 F with 1 in 14" twist. It will not shoot any 100 grain bullet I have tried well. It will shoot 87 grain bullets very well, and the 90 grain Sierra HPBT shoots great. My powder of choice there is Leverevolution.

To answer your question - what 100 grain load do I shoot - it's 39.5 grains of H4350 under a 100 grain bullet in my Savage Axis rifle with an E.R. Shaw barrel. My Shaw barrel has a short throat, and 39.5 grains of H4350 gives me an easy 3,000 fps. I haven't tried Big Game with 100 grain bullets, but it should be a good choice, along with WW-760.

There are lots of good 100 grain .257" bullets, and I think they are the best choice for the 250 Savage.

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I've had several .250 Savage's over the last thirty-five years or so. Two of them were the 40 degree Ackley Improved version. In the regular .250 (my only one now is a Ruger UltraLight with 20" barrel) I've used many powders including IMR4064, H380, H4350, H414, Varget, Reloder 15, H4895 and probably a couple of others. I use only 87 or 100 grain bullets and nothing else overall compares with H4895 for accuracy. For Texas whitetails, the 100 grain Sierra or Speer is hard to beat, but I think I also used an 87 grain Sierra years ago for deer. I've seen very good accuracy with the Sierra 90 grain HP but have taken no game with it.

I have always loaded 100gn bullets in mine with H4350, even in my 20 inch barrelled Ruger Ultralight. The load I have stuck with is 39gn of H4350 but I noticed the past half dozen years Hodgdon and ADI have upped it to 40.5gn. I have tried H4895 and Varget but H4350 has always given me the highest velocity with very good accuracy. The 100gn Hornady is a superb bullet in the .250 if you can still find some.

100g NBT and about 35g of IMR 4320 and you’ll be all set.