.250 Savage, a long venerable history but ... ?
- Thread starter jski
- Start date
- Status
Me too.
Almost left out HSM Ammo. They have a .250 Savage Game King cartridge: https://www.hsmammunition.com/ammunition/game-king/
250 Savage HSM-250Savage-3-N 100 Spitzer Boat Tail GameKing 2900 fps 1868 ft-lbs
250 Savage HSM-250Savage-3-N 100 Spitzer Boat Tail GameKing 2900 fps 1868 ft-lbs
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Ugh, I don't want anything to do with Hornady bullets.
Jim Watson
Member
I think a Ruger International will be a great hunting rifle, but a short barrel in full stock would not be in my specs for a long range rifle.
Velocity was important in the early smokeless era. As said, it was often called the .250-3000 because it would do 3000 fps with 87 gr bullet.
They also advertised the .300 Savage as "the velocity of the .30 Government '06." Well, nearly.
Velocity was important in the early smokeless era. As said, it was often called the .250-3000 because it would do 3000 fps with 87 gr bullet.
They also advertised the .300 Savage as "the velocity of the .30 Government '06." Well, nearly.
No problem go with HSM, they use Sierra "Game King" bullets for their .250 Savage cartridges. Anyway, I'd go with HSM over any but a few of the Euro elites.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Like I said, I switched to Barnes bullets for my .250 handloads.
What's your take on Sierra bullets?
Have you considered Nosler .25 cal?
25 Caliber 100 Grain
Ballistic Tip Hunting Bullet
Part# 25100
Spitzer Point / Blue Tip
25 Caliber 115 Grain
Ballistic Tip Hunting Bullet
Part# 25115
Spitzer Point / Blue Tip
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
No opinion on Sierra but I'm leery of anything that behaves like a ballistic tip.
Not a fan of soft bullets I take it?
I've only used Bergers in my .250, amazingly destructive, but they we're only used on 80lb sheep.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
No sir.
DanTheFarmer
Member
The dimensions of the 250 Savage are all the same or smaller than the 257 Roberts. I was determined to have a 257 Roberts. Savage made a run of bolt action 250 Savage's with nice wood a few years back. I bought one, paid a local gunsmith $100.00 to rechamber it to 257 Roberts and "Tah-Dah!" I have my desired 257 Roberts bolt gun. It works for me.
Dan
Dan
Gordon
Member
In the original savages I don't think 115 grain boattails will be stabilized. Rather blunt 117s will work tho and are good 200 yard bullets on the biggest deer,
Not sure why one would prefer the .257 Roberts to the .250 Savage?
Dan, check out another High Road thread: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/243-250-3000-savage-257-roberts.412719/
It's some dead .25 screwball.
If you reload, it will probably be tons of fun. Otherwise, you will probably have to order ammo online.
If it was hilariously cheap (and I mean cheap!), I might bite and try to pick up a vintage Lee Loader or something. But otherwise, it's so dead I wouldn't really be interested.
If you reload, it will probably be tons of fun. Otherwise, you will probably have to order ammo online.
If it was hilariously cheap (and I mean cheap!), I might bite and try to pick up a vintage Lee Loader or something. But otherwise, it's so dead I wouldn't really be interested.
dieselscout80
Member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2012
- Messages
- 20
Not sure which .25 you’re referring to but I went to Midway and didn’t find a whole lot more Roberts factory loads vs Savage factory loads.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
A) If you're much of a shooter, you reload anyway. However, my local shop has both Remington and Hornady factory loads.
B) What's wrong with ordering ammo online?
C) It ain't dead until you can't buy guns, brass or easily make cases from something else. In this "case", it's the parent case of the .22-250 and that is never going away. They might not have it at Walmart (the litmus test for some) but it's far from dead. All a matter of perspective, handloading changes that perspective dramatically.
Thanks, I love the finish! It's stainless steel with the "Hawkeye" finish, which appears to just be an aggressive bead blast. My understanding is that Lipsey's ordered these guns with a brushed finish and Ruger shipped the first 200 with the matte finish.
Vern Humphrey
Member
My dad killed a tiger in Sumatra in the 1930s with a 99 Savage in .250-3000, and in the '40s killed kudu, oryx and similar game -- including a cheetah -- in Ethiopia. He always said, "The 87 grain bullet is better than the 100 grain" and it was years before I figured it out -- his Model 99 would not adequately stabilize the 100 grain bullet. .
Archie
Member
There are two problems with the .250 Savage and they are related.
The heaviest bullet one can find is 117 grains (commonly). The twist is too slow to stabilize heavier bullets.
In the past the .250 Savage has killed a lot of game animals. No reason to believe it won't still do as well. But it doesn't work in an AR platform and it doesn't shoot into the next county. Neither of which is meaningful to a hunter.
The heaviest bullet one can find is 117 grains (commonly). The twist is too slow to stabilize heavier bullets.
In the past the .250 Savage has killed a lot of game animals. No reason to believe it won't still do as well. But it doesn't work in an AR platform and it doesn't shoot into the next county. Neither of which is meaningful to a hunter.
The .257 imo is in some ways cooler and in others less cool than the .250
I sometimes consider rechambering my .250AI, to .257AI.
The long savage 10 action my gun is built on, is way oversized for the .250
The .257 would be comfortable in it tho with a 2.9ish coal.
The short .250, with it's realtively short bullets does great in sub 2.8" magazines. Same goes for the 6.5cm, wierd that......
Ive never used the 87s, but again they probably work fine 95% of the time. I've shot quite a bit of game with the 85 sgks out of a .243, and had no issue.
Kills are also noticably more emphatic with the extra velocity behind the 85s, than they are with the 100s that became my standard load. But a 100sp at 2800 will go clean thru on broadside shots, and usually lodges in the shoulder or behind the ribs on quartering.
@CraigC obviously has had issues with the softer bullets, but again as he pointed out, while the options arnt stellar, there are tougher bullets available.
They downside is again in the ooooold guns it's possible to run into twist rate issues.
Which is at it's core the downfall of the .25s.
Slow twist rate limits length, which limits long and/or heavy bullets.
Now again for most usages that's not usually a huge big deal. But the low comparitive BCs look bad on paper, and the long monometals won't stabilize in older guns.
You also won't see alot of bullet development, as there just isn't a whole lot you can do with a design limit of around 1". Maybe a low 80s monometals or bonded, don't think I've seen one of those yet...
Now if there was an industry shift of putting 1-8s on .25s, you might see some interesting additions, but they would all end up looking like the 6mms and 6.5s.
The .25s are hunters cartridges. Yes there are a pile of cartridges, that are "better", but the .25s do what they need to at the ranges most of us can comfortably apply them.
All that said....a Savage 99, or Winchester 88, in 6.5CM would be pretty slick no?
I sometimes consider rechambering my .250AI, to .257AI.
The long savage 10 action my gun is built on, is way oversized for the .250
The .257 would be comfortable in it tho with a 2.9ish coal.
The short .250, with it's realtively short bullets does great in sub 2.8" magazines. Same goes for the 6.5cm, wierd that......
Ive never used the 87s, but again they probably work fine 95% of the time. I've shot quite a bit of game with the 85 sgks out of a .243, and had no issue.
Kills are also noticably more emphatic with the extra velocity behind the 85s, than they are with the 100s that became my standard load. But a 100sp at 2800 will go clean thru on broadside shots, and usually lodges in the shoulder or behind the ribs on quartering.
@CraigC obviously has had issues with the softer bullets, but again as he pointed out, while the options arnt stellar, there are tougher bullets available.
They downside is again in the ooooold guns it's possible to run into twist rate issues.
Which is at it's core the downfall of the .25s.
Slow twist rate limits length, which limits long and/or heavy bullets.
Now again for most usages that's not usually a huge big deal. But the low comparitive BCs look bad on paper, and the long monometals won't stabilize in older guns.
You also won't see alot of bullet development, as there just isn't a whole lot you can do with a design limit of around 1". Maybe a low 80s monometals or bonded, don't think I've seen one of those yet...
Now if there was an industry shift of putting 1-8s on .25s, you might see some interesting additions, but they would all end up looking like the 6mms and 6.5s.
The .25s are hunters cartridges. Yes there are a pile of cartridges, that are "better", but the .25s do what they need to at the ranges most of us can comfortably apply them.
All that said....a Savage 99, or Winchester 88, in 6.5CM would be pretty slick no?
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Fact is, we've learned a lot about ballistics, internal, external and terminal since the .250 was developed. This is a good example because the 6.5CM is so similar in size but the little differences amount to a significant increase in capability. Yeah, the 100gr Barnes makes it a better deer killer with greater margin of error but 140's in the 6.5 is a big step up in capability.
clearcut
Member
My "99" in 250-3000 was built in 1921 is still a tack driver I'll keep it till I die!
CC
CC
- Status
