Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 250 Savage non lead bullets?

I live in California and have a model 99 in the 250 with the 1 in 14 twist. I need to use a non lead bullet because the Condor areas do not allow lead. Is anyone using a Barnes TSX or anything similar with any success. What grain are you using? I want to be able to hunt deer with this load. I did a search but was unable to find any info. Thanks in advance.

Umm.. I think you're going to be out of luck. Those copper bullets are probably all too long to stabilize in the 1-14" twist. If I'm wrong, somebody will jump in hopefully.

yep, I tried, not good results

Also interested in these results. Am looking at buying a '99 in 250-3000.


Did you try the 80 gr or 100gr?

I still have three unopened 75 grain Barnes X bullets stashed away that would serve your purposes.

Drop me a PM if interested.

Thanks for the reply guys. I was afraid that they might have a tough time with accuracy. Oldgrouser, have you used these in a 99 with good accuracy? If anyone else has any other experience please let me know.

If y'all would just go ahead & wipe out what's left of them condors then maybe Kalifornia would let you go back to using real bullets.
Condor ain't nothing but a fancy name for a buzzard anyhow.


Mike

My testing of the Barnes X bullets was with a Savage M1920. I got reasonable groups that would take deer to 200 yards, but it was not the "magic" bullet for that rifle.

Shortly thereafter I picked up a M14 American Classic with a 1-10 twist and began testing other bullets like the Barnes TTSXs, Nosler E-tips and the Hornady GMXs. It turned out to be the most accurate out of the box rifle I own. Sold all my other 250-3000s and have been happily shooting the M14 ever since.

Never did test the X bullets with a scoped 250-3000 or got serious about getting little bitty groups with the 1-14 rifles.

Even the old 75's didn't work in my 99R from 1953. Some say the twist varies from barrel to barrel, some being closer to 13, some slower than 14. Mine must be pretty slow.

Ya gotta remember that back in the days of manually operated machines sometimes tolerances would slip. In older firearms of any brand bore diameter, twist and land diameter were all over the place. It wasn't until CNC arrived which involves programing skills over simple hands on skill that really uniform results were achieved in terms of bore diameter and twist. Kinda like back in the day when some gunsmiths drilled perfectly aligned holes for scope mounting blocks and others drilled holes that damn near needed an eight pound sledge to line up the scope with the bore.

I wasn't necessarily looking for tiny groups just something that would be good enough for hunting situations. My 250 does not shoot either the Remington or Winchester factory loaded 100 gr bullets well at all. I don't reload at this time but thought if I could find a non lead bullet and load that was reasonably accurate I might look into it. Thanks again.

I think you should consider a re-barrel or purchase/trade for a rifle with a faster twist. I doubt anyone is going to tool up to make a light/short non-lead game bullet in .25 cal., let alone provide loaded ammo.

Unfortunately you probably won't get far with the 250-3000...


So, pick up another 99 in 300 Savage. Steelhead and a couple others have had really good luck with the 130gr TTSX's on deer and other game out of that.

What a great excuse to have to buy another rifle.

Thanks Calhoun,
I already have a nice 99eg in a 300 and I think that's what I will do. (still kinda wanted to shoot that 250 tho).

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Obama and the EPA tries to force this non-lead stuff down all of our throats sometime in the next 4 years.

Good luck!

I think they're aiming a lot higher than taking away our lead bullets...

California sounds like a nice place to be from. Has anyone tried the Barnes lighter than 100 grains?

Here is what my notes say for my 99 250 EG 24" with tang sight 50 yard distance I checked twist and If I recall was 1 in 13.5"
twist varies IMHO

85 Gr Barnes X [email protected]" 32.5" Reshoot poor light shoots to POI

85 Gr Barnes X 3@ 2" @ 50 yards

Tried 2 loads in my 20" 1 in 10 twist 99A 250/3000 6 power leupold 70,s Era carbine which chrono shows a lot less velocity which probably affects bullet stability. The 85 gr Barnes X are long for weight.

85 Gr Barnes X 2@ .42"

3rd load notes say, shot over 7" at 50 yards

I just do not understand the fixation of a 100 grain bullet in a 250-3000. If YOU can shoot, you can kill ANY deer on God's green earth with an 87 grain bullet. Save the 100's for a 1-10 twist. Get some 87 grain pills in either Norma (if you can find them) Speer or Hornady. Load 'em up with Reloader 15 and don't look back.

I had great luck with 75g Nosler BT, not a no-lead option, but a great weight bullet for the slow twist 250