Well that tears it... (new caliber)

I saw an ad last week for an estate sale in my town, to be held through the weekend. Said sale was to include reloading supplies and equipment, so I thought I would mosey on over and see if there was anything interesting available.

As it turns out... (I can tell you're all waiting in suspense)... there was, and I brought it home. I got some bullets and a whole lot of brass, not to mention some cartridge boxes and some organized shelving that I could put to good use (my current system of organization being of the "a tornado came through here" school).

I was sitting down sorting brass yesterday and looking at what I thought was about 300 cases of 6.5 Creedmoor. It turns out it was about half 6.5 Creedmoor brass and the other half .250 Savage brass.

So I have about 150 empty brass cases for .250 Savage. I thought to myself "What am I going to do with this?" The reply came to me almost immediately: "Uh, I dunno... shoot some deer with it maybe?"

There's a shop a few townships over that seems to really appreciate the Savage 99, and they keep quite a few of them on the used rack. I am certain they will have one or more of them chambered in .250-3000.

A couple of questions:

1) Will the 14:1 rifling twist stabilize a 100-grain bullet adequately, or should I look specifically for the later 1:10 twist? and

2) Does anyone here have any experience loading and shooting the .250 Savage?

-AaronB

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If you look at factory 100 grain ammo, you will see that the bullets are kind of between a round nose and a blunt spitzer. The factory 100 grain loaded ammo stabilizes just barely, but not well enough for great accuracy. A 100 grain Spitzer would never stabilize in my 1 in 14 twist Savage. The best I could find was the Sierra 90 grain hollow point. I tried Nosler 100 grain plastic point bullets, but they went through the target sideways at any distance. None of the 100 grain Spitzers I tried ever would stabilize. The bottom line is that if you want to load any bullets heavier than about 90 grains, the 1 in 14 twist isn't going to get you there.

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I have read that the 100-grainers will stabilize in the 1:14 barrels if you push them to top velocity, i.e. 2800 fps or so. The reason is, at that velocity you're spinning them fast enough for them to stabilize.

Of course, I read the above "information" on the internet, which makes it worth exactly what I paid for it. Still, it does lead me to ask, when you were trying the 100-grainers in your rifle and they were keyholing, how fast were you pushing them?

-AaronB

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It was a while ago and I can't get upstairs to look at my records due to having back surgery last week, so this is just by memory...

I believe they were around 2800 to 2850. Factory 100 grain ammo was just over 2500 fps... Pretty slow.

I really like the 250 Savage as a cartridge, but even Speer 100 grain flat base bullets showed that they were tipping at 100 yards. I've talked to some people who say their 1 in 14 twist rifles will stabilize 100 grain bullets, but mine certainly would not, even with an excellent bore. I finally gave up and sold the rifle and moved on to the 257 Roberts with a 1 in 10 twist.

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If I pick up a 99 in .250 Savage, it will have to be a late production one with the faster twist.

I was hoping that wouldn't be the case, but there it is. The alternative is to hunt deer with 87-grain bullets, I guess, but those tend to be varmint bullets and I don't trust 'em in the deer woods.

-AaronB

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I understand. It's a wonderful cartridge in a classic rifle. I was disappointed to find mine wouldn't do what I was looking for... Maybe you'll be able to find a fast twist rifle, or one of the newer bolt actions chambered for it....

Good luck!!!

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I have read, John Barsness maybe? That some of the earlier 99s in 250 savage actually had 1-14.5” to 1-15” twists and that is why some will shoot 100gr bullets acceptably well while others will not .

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I have a set of Lee dies that I would send you for a pittance.

It will be a little while. Like JD, I am recovering from surgery and I will not be able to get to The Dungeon for a bit. (JD and I were going to start a club but nobody wanted to join. :-P )

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If I collect a set of dies, before long you know I'll find some component bullets. Presently the trap will spring completely and I'll bring home a rifle.

Today I stopped at the closest local shop to see what they had by way of Savage 99s. There was one on the rack, but it was chambered in .22 Savage Hi-Power. A neat little cartridge invented by Charles Newton, but it uses a non-standard .228-diameter bullet that you have to order from Europe.

Nope. That's a bridge too far for me. I'm not done with my .250-3000 jones yet. :-D

Let me know how much you would like for the dies, and thanks.

-AaronB

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When I am up and moving, I'll dig them out and drop you a note. As for the .22HP, Buffalo Arms has a goodly supply of the .228's....just saying. :-P

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It appears that if I can't find a fast-twist model 99, I might still load ammunition for deer hunting using these bullets, the Sierra 90-grain hollow-point boat-tail GameKing.

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They say it's tough enough for the application. The 1:14 rifling should stabilize it. The cartridge should move it out at 3,000 FPS. Placed properly, it should do the job at any reasonable Eastern deer woods hunting distances.

Now to find the rifle...

-AaronB

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