Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Non-lead .250 load data

Hey guys live in CA so limited to non-lead ammo. Deer hunting with Savage 99F 250 cal. 22” barrel, 1x14 twist. Looking at Barnes TTSX 80 gr. Or Hornady CX 90 gr. If you have an opinion on which projectile and load data it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

I’d wonder if something like this might work in your 1-14?

I know the 90 monos are pretty long.

https://hammerbullets.com/product/257-cal-67g-shock-hammer/

Hammer bullets…..

Had never seen Hammer bullets before, do the additional grooves help stabilize in a 1-14?

Both those choices are too long for the 1:14 twist.

It’s all about length….

They’re short enough to stabilize, the grooves just help reduce bullet/bore contact.

Are you confusing the bearing surface length with the length that affects stability?

Thanks for the info. I placed an order for 50 for my 1in 14” Savage 99.

The 80 grain TTSX are too long for the 1-14" ROT. I've used the 75 grain original X bullets successfully in 1-14" ROT Savages and the 1987 Winchester 70.

I just called Hammer bullets and he explained to me their “drive bands” are radiused so there is less bullet contact in the barrel thus decreasing high pressure with copper bullets. If I understood him right. Said the only thing that will work for deer inside 200 yds is their 67g Shock Hammer

Looks like this is the one, thanks

Rule of thumb for the old slow twisted Savage M1899/99's is the bullet can't be any longer than .850" to stabilize well enough for great accuracy - predicted by "modern" twist rate formulas and confirmed by empirical testing to my satisfaction. Of course, altitude, temperature, barometric pressure, etc. has a say in it too but the guy who wants to spend his money wisely will want to consider that. My results here at sea level may probably differ from yours if you're at way higher elevation, but not by a heckuva margin.

Then there's the good chance that an old Savage may have gotten out the factory door with a pronounced faster twist (or worse, a slower one) than the nominal 1-14", and that'll skew the formula. Setting up and operating the old analog sine bar rifling machines called for skill and a clear head, and humans being what they were/are....

At the end of the day, with the thin selection of suitable mono metal bullets short enough to guarantee accuracy and tough enough to do the job, and I lived/hunted in a lead-free zone, I would probably pick something other than a 99 in .250-3000 - as much as I love the cartridge and those guns.

I guess I better avoid California because as often as not I'm caught in the deer woods with a gun stoked with cast lead bullets. Persona non grata in the eyes of woke green do-gooders.

Wonder what kind of velocity is possible with that in a 250-3000....

Betcha it'll screech out the barrel at 3300fps, even within the pressure parameters of a 100 year old Savage.

Need to try it in a 25-06.