WoW! First .250 Savage loads.....WoW!

K

KaiserNorton

New member
A while back I did a deal with CRASHRONDO here in the classifieds, buying his Sharp Shooter Supply barrel in .250 Savage for my Savage M10 action. For some reason, I've a "thing" for this cartridge, having owned one in a M110 sporter (sold it), and having bought and sold a Midway A&B barrel in this caliber. About the time I'd sent the A&B barrel down the road, I hit upon a deal on another board for a bunch of .250 brass (300 pcs), two boxes of factory ammo, and a set of Redding dies. Well, I just had to have them. Then this barrel popped up in the classifieds here - done deal.

At this point, the only stumbling block was to find a scope. I've a set of Burris Signature Double Dovetail mounts on this action, and none of my Nikons fit in them - not enough length in the tube. I could have changed mounts, but this was to be a switch barrel platform, and I wanted rings that wouldn't scratch the scope during barrel swaps. Well, I finally broke down and stole the Leupold 6.5x20 off my Sendero - thinking it'd be good for load workup, then back to the Sendero. I loaded up 15 rounds with 34,35, 36 grs of Reloader 15 under a Sierra 90gr HPBT - lit off my Federal gold medal primers in Remington brass.

I used a few of the factory loads to get on paper, then began with the handloads. WoW!! First three shots were touching, the fourth opened up the group a bit, though. Then I pulled the fifth about a half inch up. The first four measure .435, center to center. The 35 gr load put all five into .31, CtoC. The 36 gr load started off just as good, with the first three going into .248, but that was too much - I pulled #4 AND #5 well out of the group. I'm just not used to shooting that well.

I then shot the rest of the factory box (Winchester 100 silvertips) into a two inch group (17 shots).
I think this rifle is going to shoot, now if I can just get it to feed from the magazine............

Kaiser Norton
 
I was lucky years ago and was able to pick up a Ruger 77R in 250-3000 from a guy at a gunshow, when I first laid eyes on it I knew it was mine even though I had my eyes on a Smith 586 at the same show, I never have looked back since buying this rifle, it has been a excellent varmint rifle for me, I have played with the 85gr Noslers but I settled on the 75gr V-Max, IMR-4320 was the powder I started with and it did fair..but then I tried IMR-3031(the accuracy load in the Sierra manual) and I knew I had a winner, 1/2" groups at 100yds and many a dead groundhog later its still a favorite of mine.
 
dontcha just love that .250 Savage round???

I have had mine for about 5 or 6 years, now. It is a Savage 111FL, that I got for a very modest price. I can't imagine not having it in my collection, now.

I load 44.0 grains of H414 in Win. brass, Win LR primers, and a 75 gr HP from Sierra. I get a chrono'ed 3320 fps with this load, and 5/8" groups. It has taken a bunch of coyotes, several bobcats, a few foxes, and the odd armadillo, now and again.

This is a great round that deserves a comeback.
 


Both the .250 Savage and the .250 Ackley are incredible rounds.

My wife, Karen, has shot a .250 Improved for many, many years (ever since she STOLE it from me!!) and she has literally never missed a big game animal with it. Now has she ever shot twice on a critter.

The accuracy is absolutely stunning and the killing power is way out of proportion to the size of the round.

We use H-414 in "our" .250 Ackley and it works well. Deer, antelope and the occasional elk; they all simply drop dead to the .250.

Steve Timm
 
My main go-to yote gun is a Ruger 77 ultra light, tang safety in 250. Mine likes 38.5 grains of H380 and Hornady 75 grain V-max. I own about 8-9 250's and they all love H380.
 
Kaiser,

Here are a couple of groups shot with two different rifles I have in 250 Savage. I concentrate on the 90 grain Sierra HPBT because it shoots in every 25 caliber rifle I have.

Edit to add: These are 100 yard groups.

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DSCF0027.jpg
 
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I've got an old 99A Savage in 250-3000 Sav and it's killer.
Not that accurate "about 1.5@100yds. but quick and easy offhand with a nice follow up. I load it light she dus fine
 
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