Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 250 SAVAGE TWIST RATE QUESTION

250 SAVAGE TWIST RATE QUESTION

I am thinking about rebarrelling a rifle to .250 Savage, but the barrel that I can get at a very nominal rate has a 1-10 twist. Is that OK for the .250 Savage cartridge? I thought that the standard twist rate was tighter than that. I would be shooting primarily the 87-100 gr projectiles, using them on deer in the 175lb class

For the bullets you quote you should be good to go with the 10" twist. I get very good accuracy from the relatively long 100 grain ballistic tips with that twist in my 700 Classic.

1 in 10 will work fine. My bolt action has that twist and it stabilizes the longest bullets. I think the 99's were 1 in 14 or so and the 117's and sometimes even the 100's were eratic. At least that's the way my 99 behaves.

The early 99s were 1x14 and they performed best with light bullets, later they went to 1x10 which is the best twist for a Custom rifle and for bullets of 100 to 125 grs. however the 1x10 usually handles the 85 and 90 gr. bullets pretty well...

IMHO, 1:10 is ideal for the Savage since most use 100 grain bullets or lighter/shorter. Were I re-barreling for a Bob or -06 I'd likely require a 1:9" as the 120 grain bullets start to rock in those cases.

I'd run a 1-9" twist, don't be skeered of an extra 1" of twist.

I have a 1-9 on a custom model 7 in 250 Savage. Works well with 87gr to 120 gr. In this particular rifle, the 117gr rn Hornady thinks its a match bullet! To be honest, I've done 90% of my load development with 100gr and greater, but I do have one 87gr Speer load thats very accurate.

A Custom 250 I had built 20 years ago has a 1-10" twist, which I thought at the time was perfect. I still think it's perfect.
Shoots great.

My Savage Model 14 Classic .250 is not a purist rifle, but when my Karma is on, it will shoot with the best of them. I believe it is 1 in 10. I can get an honest 3,000 fps from it without stress it on it or me with a 100 grainer. Shoot lighter bullets very well also. The 115 to 120 grainers are very accurate but it's hard to get a high velocity with this weight.

I guess my question here would be "Why not a 9" twist?" With the bullet quality we have today, I would think 87 and 90 grain bullets should give good accuracy in this twist, providing the barrel is of good quality, while at the same time guaranteeing more than enough stability for the heavy-end bullets. Based on my own experience and what I have noted, when studying bullet-length/barrel-twist information and formulas, this guarantee is not there when shooting these heavier spitzer and/or boattail bullets at .250 Savage velocities.

M Bell

ttt

I would have said 9" in my earlier comment, but he said he has a potential good deal on a 10" twist barrel and he said he was going to top out at 100 grains.

My 10" twist 700 Classic is very accurate with the long 100 grain Ballistic Tip, so I said good to go.

You're right! I was responding in a more general sense, and not taking into account the good deal on the barrel. Taking that into consideration, along with fact he is going use primarily lighter-end bullets, I think it would make good sense to go with the good deal!

M Bell