Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Short Range deer rifle

250 Savage would be perfect, along with the 300 Savage.
Both of those chamberings have a good assortment of "Deer" bullets available.
The guys above have lots of good advice on possible chamberings.
I have both 250 Savages, one 300 Savage, and a Marlin 336 in 30-30 that I like a lot. The 336 is set up with a Williams rear peep and a firefly front; just a perfect 100 yard Deer rifle using Nosler's 170 gn Partition.
Have fun coming up with a new rifle. During the off season that's where the fun is, finding a new load, or a new rifle.

Don

What an individual builds is a matter of choice. I prefer to build my own rifles from components these days. I am not concerned about resale value, because even the grandest of custom rifles depreciate quickly, especially those in wildcat calibers. What I build is based on my needs, including self-education, experimentation, accuracy and self-satisfaction. The original poster mentioned building a rifle, and I offered this alternative to the limited Remington action based build.



These varmint rifles, and the one on the mat that has since been completed, are examples of what I build for myself. Each costs around $1,500 to build, and each shoots under .5" at 100 yards. Calibers include .204 Ruger (2 barrels), .223 Remington, 6mm PPC, .243 WSSM. Bolt heads can be swapped in 15 minutes, barrels in less time. The reason most shooters sell a rifle is that it doesn't live up to their expectations in accuracy. When that happens, it is possible to easily change the barrel or cartridge without difficulty using this system.

The Savage rifle is far and away a more accurate, less trouble prone system than the Remington. When you can do-it-yourself then the skills developed are worth much more than opening a box and shooting what's inside.

There is an off the shelf rifle that is just what you want. A Kimber montana in 257 Roberts, I have the 308 win in a montana and a select classic in the roberts. If I were to do it again both would be montana's. I cannot sell the Kimber select classic in 257 Roberts because it shoots to good, the 100TSX has been a good bullet in it as well.

On the other hand building a 250 Savage on a Rem model 7 action has some appeal as well, the 22 inch long Montana barrel mikes .547 IIRC at the muzzle, I think .6 would make it a bit more stable.

.250 Savage is all need be said.

I like that except for the twist. I'd NOT go with a 1-10" twist, go 1-9" twist, trust me.

I like it......

But I like mine too--a 1962 vintage M700 w/ 20 in bbl, an early lightweight Six stock, Leupy 1.5-4 (for the REALLY close shots ), with 165gr Sierras.

With 180gr Pt's, it does a good job of digging wapiti's out of the elk jungles too..........


Casey

I shoot a Savage 110 WLE with a 22" 1 in 10 twist barrel. I would also recommend the 1 in 9 twist for the heavy bullets. Mine shoots 117 grain Sierra Pro Hunters just fine with Re15.

But I'm not sure I want to pack any of those rifles around the hills...........could get a little tiring........
Casey

I bought this 250 around 1972. it's been a great deer rifle and works well for a moderate range varmint rifle too.
Doc

to answer the post.. 6.8 spc and 6xc both work fine to 200 yards no problem.

Have a 20" barreled M98 still in 8x57, that I codgeled-up many years ago. Nice to tote, very accurate, kills whitetails about as dead as they need to be, with 125gr and 150gr loads.

It's also dropped deer at over 100 yards and would likely handle an even longer chore, so that's another bonus, in addition to being fairly light and short enough to handle well in thick stuff.

Ive got this little Model 7 Remington CDL in .22-250 I occasionally use on deer...I know it works at close range, got my first deer at 12 feet with it, and my second at almost 50 yds. ( ! ) Subsequently I killed one at 200 yds with it too, so I know it will " stretch" if I need it to...



ingwe

I go with the 250, the 257 Roberts or maybe 6.5x55. Any one of the three will get it done. The 6.5 just gives you some horsepower in reserve....

Fantastic!

One pet project I have is to build a 250 Savage on the Kimber MT action... 21 or 22" barrel, likely 1-10 or maybe 1-9" twist. I used an M77 RSI in 250 Savage for a number of years and found it a fantastic killer on deer sized game at normal ranges. I mostly used 120 Speers and 117 Hdy's, but would likely use 100 or 115 Ballistic Tips these days.

Years ago when I had a project idea stuck in my head, I got hold of the shop manager at HS Precision and was talking with him about a cut rifle barrel from them for the project... he was fairly ho-hum about the conversation until I mentioned it would be a 250 Savage... at that he absolutely lit up! Stated they'd found their cut barrels in 250 Savage to be the most consistently accurate of any cartridge they chambered for... he darn near waxed lyrical over the cartridge. Go figure.

What I've found about the 250 is that it is to Big Game what the 223 is to Varmints... kills out of proportion to its size and recoil... an absolute pleasure to shoot and load for.

And of course, I've a rancher friend that has killed elk with his but that's a whole other conversation (grin)...

I have a TC Contender Rifle in 7TCU I am getting 2675 FPS with 120 gr.Nozler BT.The Rifle shoots 1/2" groups at 100 yds and weighs less than 7 lbs all set to go.I am betting this combo is good to 250 to 300yds. and there is hardly any recoil at all.7TCU is simply a 223 necked up to 7 MM.A lot of bang for the buck.

Handled one yesterday, that someone just put together and it was a mighty handy little package. Synthetic camo handles, 16.25" barrel (sort of a mini bull) and compact scope, in 7mm08.

He said it shoots very well.

I use a Ruger No.1-A 22 inch barrel in 7X57.It's about the same size as a Winchester model 94.I also use a Ruger M-77 LW .257 Roberts.It has a 20 inch barrel.

Steelhead is exactly right if I were to build again I would go with a 1-9 twist for the longer heavier bullets. That said all my 250 hunting has been with the 100 Gr Ballistic tips, 100 Gr Interlocks and I now use the 100 Gr ProHunters, my rifle has a 1-10 and if any of these loads don't shoot under 3/4 inch I did something wrong. Like I said I've used it with these loads from prairie dogs to the nearly 300 lbs boar I posted the pic of and it is deadly...

Brad, it is a great rifle I had Melvin Forbes put it into the model 20-S action. It weighs 6 lbs on the dot with 5 cartridges, scope mounts, scope and sling...

For a standard factory choice a M77 RL in 257 Rbts with a 20" barrel is very lite and nice handling. In 08 I used mine to do 5 antelope with 100 gr Hornady SP at 2900+fps. 4, 1 shot kills and the 5th needed a finisher.Not the loads fault either.It is a sweet handling outfit.The RL's are offered in other suitable chamberings as well. Magnum_Man

I thought about putting a short range deer rig too. Some the suggestions sound good to me. But what about a rifle that offers the option of a rapid second shot? I'm thinking a Remington 760. Maybe I'd look for a good used one and re-barrel it to .250 or 260 etc. I'd mount a 1x5 Leupold. If I went with the .250 I'd opt for 9" twist and use bullets in the 120gr range. Years ago a had a Mod.760 in a .270 and it was quite accurate, way more than needed for 200yd. shots. If I didn't want to spend the money to re-barrel, I look for another one in .270, load 150gr. round nose Sierra/Hornady etc. and be happy.