Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Tell me about your experience afield w/ the 250-3000, and AI

My .250AI is on a M70 compact classic. No feeding issues at all. Of course, that can't be assumed for every rifle.

We have a Remington 700 classic chambered in 250-3000. I haven't used it in the woods nearly as much as my father has, but I fell in love with the cartridge even from a young age! It's been very reliable on whitetails for us out to around 350 yards with Remington 100gn PSP ammo, but we did have quite an interesting experience about two years ago with a buck.

I was sitting on a pipeline one morning and my dad was back in the woods about half a mile away. Around mid-morning, I heard a shot and was planning on continuing to hunt until I heard from him over the radio; but then I heard another shot, and another shot, so I figured I'd head that way assuming he saw a pack of hogs or a state-record buck on the ground! When I had pulled near the stand and started walking his way, he shot AGAIN and I was sure this was going to be the biggest buck I had ever seen. When I finally got through the brush, I saw him and was immediately dumbfounded. It was only an average size buck, and the stand was less than 100yds away from where he fell! Apparently, this was one of those Spartan deer that refused to die after taking the first round in the neck, then through the spine and out of his tailpipe, and one through the shoulder/spine. I can't remember where the fourth round landed, but one of them ended up chipping an antler in the ensuing chaos.

Have owned a total of 10 .250-3000 Savage rifles, including four 99's (including a take-down), a Savage Model 20, a Winchester Model 70 Lightweight Carbine, one Sisk custom rifle on a Remington 700 short action, a Remington 700 Classic, and a few I can't remember right now. The little cartridge kills deer-sized game very well (which includes pronghorns, where it works nicely).

It also kills elk, in fact a good friend has one that his kids have killed several cows with, using Nosler Partitions. Can't remember which weight, but it was either 100 or 115, and all exited on broadside lung shots.

I grew up in a family of hunters who used the 250-3000 on Whitetails and I guess I am a chip off the old block. A few 99s have passed thru my hands until I settled on one, a 99-A. Thru the years in a couple of Wisconsin deer camps I have seen a lot of deer killed with the 250 and killed several my self.

In a week moment recently, I picked up a Ruger 77 in 250-3000 and look forward to see how it shoots. I have good stash of Remington brass so I will blast away.

Oh, and here is my 99-A

I guess I’m like many here - have a particular fondness for the .250-3000 that started when I was about 12 when I saw my first cartridge (a W-W 100 grain silvertip) that was left on the window sill of an out building on my oldest brothers farm. I had no idea what it was as the only cartridges I knew much about were the .30-30, .270, .30-06 as these were the ones used by my brother and other family members. So the quest began and now some 50 years later I have 14 .250s in my accumulation of firearms - some of the “usuals” - Remington 700, Rugers ultra-light and RSI, Mauser, Savage 99s and 14s, and a few customs - Griffin & Howe on a Kurz Mauser 98, a Sako, and a Remington 700. I’ve pretty much used them on whitetails but have take antelope, black bear and elk and only ever had one issue - apparently the bullet didn’t land where it needed to. The load used most often was the older Nosler 100 grain Solid Base BT and WW760 powder. After all these years really can’t think of a better cartridge for whitetails for man, woman or youngster.

PennDog