250-3000 - 12/06/22
I bought a Savage 99 chambered in 250-3000 here on the fire.
I picked it up from my FFL yesterday. I measured the twist 1 in 14". Last night I looked at Nosler, Hornady, Lyman, New Nosler and first addition Nosler manuals, Ken Waters, Gun Gack #1 and on the internet. It seemed some feel that 100 grain bullets wouldn't stabilize in a 1 in 14" twist. I looked at all the sources where I buy bullets including a couple gun shops in Sioux Falls and a half a dozen sites on the internet. I found some SPEER bullets 87 and 100 grain Hot Cores, I ordered them. I found a supplier that had 117 RN bullets, but they wanted 50% higher prices than others, albeit he had them in stock - I thought I'd wait for the next run.
I looked at my supply of 257 caliber bullets, I had various boxes of bullets under 100 grains, but the manufactures said they were all varmint bullets. Then I noticed that Ken Waters' loads showed that a 100 grain Gardiner bullet with 30 grains 30-31 was his most accurate load in his 14' twist 99. I have no Gardiner bullets. But I had several boxes of plain base 100 grain Bullets - Interlocks and Partitions. I saw also that Hornady technicians wrote that the 99 - 1 in 14" twist rifle stabilized all their bullets up to 117 rn, but not their 120 grain HP. They didn't mention the other 117 grain bullets. I thought I'd give the 100 grain Interlocks a try. It wasn't pleasant weather out, but I could shoot at targets 60 yards away off my deck. I didn't want to stretch cases and I didn't care if I got top velocity. I used 33.5 grains of Reloader 15, 9 1/2 primers and RP brass. I loaded a cartridge quite long and it chambered. I decided to load cartridges short enough to feed reliably from the magazine. Hornady said the top load in their 99 250-300 was 34.7 grains of RE 15. I fired a couple with 33.5 grains and they seemed to be fine pressure wise.
I shot off my deck and for some reason and my bore sighter was off about 4" to the right, hmmm - more on this later. I sighted it in. I was using a compact M8-6x scope.
All the holes were touching at 1" high at 60 yards. I ran the 100 grain Interlock at 2800 FPS through my ap. The scope is 1.66" high BTW.
My ap says it will be .2" high at 200 yards and 2.9 " low at 250 yards.
I'm going back white tail hunting this next weekend. I'll be taking this rifle and this load out.
1 in 14" twist works fine on 100 grain bullets. at least plain base 100 grain Hornady Interlock. I hope Hornady didn't abandon those bullets! If they did SPEER and Nosler here I come.
I picked it up from my FFL yesterday. I measured the twist 1 in 14". Last night I looked at Nosler, Hornady, Lyman, New Nosler and first addition Nosler manuals, Ken Waters, Gun Gack #1 and on the internet. It seemed some feel that 100 grain bullets wouldn't stabilize in a 1 in 14" twist. I looked at all the sources where I buy bullets including a couple gun shops in Sioux Falls and a half a dozen sites on the internet. I found some SPEER bullets 87 and 100 grain Hot Cores, I ordered them. I found a supplier that had 117 RN bullets, but they wanted 50% higher prices than others, albeit he had them in stock - I thought I'd wait for the next run.
I looked at my supply of 257 caliber bullets, I had various boxes of bullets under 100 grains, but the manufactures said they were all varmint bullets. Then I noticed that Ken Waters' loads showed that a 100 grain Gardiner bullet with 30 grains 30-31 was his most accurate load in his 14' twist 99. I have no Gardiner bullets. But I had several boxes of plain base 100 grain Bullets - Interlocks and Partitions. I saw also that Hornady technicians wrote that the 99 - 1 in 14" twist rifle stabilized all their bullets up to 117 rn, but not their 120 grain HP. They didn't mention the other 117 grain bullets. I thought I'd give the 100 grain Interlocks a try. It wasn't pleasant weather out, but I could shoot at targets 60 yards away off my deck. I didn't want to stretch cases and I didn't care if I got top velocity. I used 33.5 grains of Reloader 15, 9 1/2 primers and RP brass. I loaded a cartridge quite long and it chambered. I decided to load cartridges short enough to feed reliably from the magazine. Hornady said the top load in their 99 250-300 was 34.7 grains of RE 15. I fired a couple with 33.5 grains and they seemed to be fine pressure wise.
I shot off my deck and for some reason and my bore sighter was off about 4" to the right, hmmm - more on this later. I sighted it in. I was using a compact M8-6x scope.
All the holes were touching at 1" high at 60 yards. I ran the 100 grain Interlock at 2800 FPS through my ap. The scope is 1.66" high BTW.
My ap says it will be .2" high at 200 yards and 2.9 " low at 250 yards.
I'm going back white tail hunting this next weekend. I'll be taking this rifle and this load out.
1 in 14" twist works fine on 100 grain bullets. at least plain base 100 grain Hornady Interlock. I hope Hornady didn't abandon those bullets! If they did SPEER and Nosler here I come.