Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters MD best Powders for 250 Savage

Keep it coming guys, dies should be here today. Mounted the rings on the rifle yesterday, they were still wrapped in paper in the cloth sack. No marks on the muzzle tip or on the bolt face, sure appears unfired. The barrel sure isn’t free floated, should I shoot it first or go ahead and free float the barrel before starting load development?

I've used IMR 4064, IMR 3031 and H380 all with good results out of my Savage 99s. One of those 99s has a custom Krieger barrel 1-10" for bullets up to 117g but likes the 100g Hot Cores, Partitions and TSX better.

If it were mine, I'd shoot it first, then maybe use JB's trick with the business card or bread bag closure to achieve a temporary float. If it shoots well floated, it makes life easier in some ways. Full-length bedding is another option, as practiced by Melvin and Barrett.

Whatever works.

I would go straight to the CFE-223. I get great accuracy with it in my two rifles- a Savage M1899 Model .250-3000 takedown and Ruger #1A with Douglas custom barrel, with the added benefit of its copper eliminating properties. Good stuff.

The 250 is an "easy" cartridge. With 100 grain bullets, which IMO are what a 10 twist 250 should be shooting, a wide variety of powders will shine. 3031 class powders on the quicker end, 4350 class on the slower, and most in between.

Well, the twist and use of heavies may change that a bit. Example, an 8 twist Creed with heavies preforms well with RL-26 and slower burners.

Slower twist, lighter bullets, not so much. Older rounds generally have slower twists, are limited to lighter bullets. So, IMO, twist separates 250 from Creed more than case, etc, maybe not as much difference with similar weight bullets.

DF

Lots of good choices already. I would skip R-17 and go for R-16 if enough will fit in the case, better temp. stability and de-coppering agents. I would also take a look at Stay Ball 6.5 even though I hate that name choice, SB 6.5 has all the required features and good density too so you shouldn't run out of room in the Savage. R-26 is worth a try for the heavies and if you are not going to shoot in really hot weather. Just shot some 243s at 90 degrees and no problems but had fits with the 6.5x55 at 100 degrees.

H4895 has done well for me with bullets from 100grs and south.

The only thing I shoot over 100 is a 117gr RN and that gets H4831.

Good score on that Ruger. I recently picked up a Ruger 77 Ultra Light 250-3000 and loaded it with the same powder and bullet that I use in my Savage 99-A. H4895 and 87 grain HotCor. 100 yard 5-shot groups are less than an inch.

Mule Deer's post that he got the best all around performance with a Savage Axis with a Shaw barrel did not go unnoticed by me.

I have tried many of the loads/powders mentioned here with good luck in my .250s but also use 38-39 grains of WW760 with 100 grain bullets - no speed demon (around 2800-2850) but typically shoots good in several.250 savages that I use and it has killed a truckload of deer.

PennDog

roundoak,

Should also mention that the cases used were new Hornady, which I found to be the most consistently dimensioned .250 brass I've ever used, even better than necking up good .22-250 cases. That probably made a difference as well.

Mule Deer, Good to know about the Hornady cases. Have found the most accurate factory ammo in my Savage 99-A has been the Hornady CUSTOM 250 Savage 100 gr. Interlock. Have not tried in my recent Ruger M77 Ultra Light yet.

I have a rebarreled 700 Rem. in 250 Sav. I shoot 40 gr. H414 with just about any 100 gr. bullet. It is super acurrate and chrono'ed 3050 fps. It puts pronghorns down in their tracks, DRT;. In my opinion the 250 is a way under rated cartridge.

With all the different combo`s mentioned, goes to show how easy the .250 is to load for and get excellent results...tho not mentioned, don`t forget 4320..one of my favorites.

I also have one of those Shaw barrels except mine is mounted on a Savage M-10. A max charge of IMR 4166 with the 100 gr Hornady soft points is very accurate in that gun. So is a max charge of H 414 under a 117 gr Hornady round nose. A Sierra 117 gr HP with a max charge of 4166 shoots to the same place as the Hornady RN at 100 yards. The 100 gr Hornady and Sierra loads are from the magazine like 2019 Hodgdon load manual while the 117 gr RN came from the Hornady 10th Edition manual.

I've been trying CFE 223 with the 100 gr Hornady bullet in a Bubba'd Model 99 with no luck. I've even gone over book max a little bit trying to get the velocity up as that seems to be tightening the "patterns" somewhat. That gun shoots 100 gr Remington loads great but nothing else so far.

I've found 99's to vary more than bolt actions. Don't know how many 99s in .250 I've owned, but would guess at least half a dozen, ranging from older take-downs to two of the post-mil tang-safety models--only one of which shot well.

The biggest mystery was a take-down with a tang sight. Have generally had good luck getting take-down 99s to shoot, but this one would NOT consistently group either the 100-grain Hornady Spire Point or Speer Hot-Cor under 3-4 inches--and I'm pretty good with an aperture sight.

Finally measured the twist, and it was around 1-15, not the standard 1-14. This was no doubt due to the adjustable sine-bar rifling machines Savage used back then. Switched to the 87-grain Speer Hot-Cor (which I have heard was originally designed for 1-14 twist .250s), and the groups shrank to under two inches.

I recall you writing that about the old rifling machines and have used that information a time or two to overwhelm someone on my "knowledge". Thankfully they somehow knew less than me so I was the victor in that discussion.

The Speer is my next attempt. I really wanted the Hornady bullet to work as the Remington factory load works so well but it's off to the drawing board. The Hornady do work pretty well in the 25/35 and well enough in the 25 Remington so all is not lost.

I like that Speer 87 Hot Cor a lot. So much that I laid in 1000 of them which should hold me for a week or three. It is the best most consistent performer in my 1918 vintage Savage takedown- 35gr.cfe223 pushes it at exactly 3000fps, with MOA+ accuracy when the stars are in alignnent at high tide, 2 weeks either side of the summer solstice. (The gun is minty with a bore likewise, and a 1-14 twist on the money.) 3000fps suits me just fine- it gives the performance that God and Savage intended 105 years ago.

The custom Ruger #1 .250 slops that load into consistent sub-moa too so I don't see a need to mess with it.

I doubt any deer will notice that I hit them with a bullet being a mere 13 grains lighter than 100 grains.

I have a Remington 700 Classic which favors H414 and 100gr NPT and a Ruger #1 which likes H380 with 100gr Sierra bullets.

I bought a 2003 Sav Vbss 22-250 in 2017.
I put a Lilja 250 Sav barrel, Boyds stock, Timney trigger, Glade bolt handle, homemade bolt knob, and homemade 20 degree Vblock on it.

It shot a 1" 3 shot group at 200 yards sighting it in.
100 gr Nos Bal Tip 39 gr CFE223, 2.550" OAL
62.5 kpsi 3154 fps Quickload
3115 fps chrono
3197 fps chrono
3253 fps chrono