Great tips. Thank you!
Planning a 250 Savage Build - Two Barrels, Many Questions
- Thread starter OutsideBill
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
I bedded the woody last night. You can kind of see how much wood is left after opening up the barrel channel.
For a tad bit more step into a Remington 700 shorty and the options are endless!
As much as I would love to do that, I've already got too many projects to finish. Maybe in the future. I had one Remington 700 years ago and I loved it.
Sorry I'm late seeing this. Glad it worked out for you.
Unfortunately, my grandson wasn't able to get a deer this year. I still have a hunt coming up and I think I'll take my wood-stocked rifle. I plan on hunting a stand, so the weight won't be an issue.
Wilderness Blacktail
Well-Known Member
Not needed for its penetration on normal shots but the Partition buys a lot of penetration for quartering shots and the front half comes apart so violently and consistently that they work as well or better than any c&c.
Ive killed a whole bunch of deer with the 250 savage, none with a PT but its a fantastic idea. I used them in a 22-250 and was so inpressed with the work of that 60gr bullet.
What bullet(s) are ya running? I missed that post.
Wilderness Blacktail
Well-Known Member
Very cool. My favorite cartridge!
Are both of the throats Saami?
And if so are you going to have a lil freebore put in your rifle?
Just wondering as the saami spec COL is so short with those at 2.515" that I always wonder what I could get seating them out to not use all that powder space.
Even so I had 100gr speer boattails runnin 2960 in my 22" ole Savage 1899. Burnin H4350 which is cool because u cant get enough in to overpressure ur rifle Nd doubly cool because leveractions will show u in extraction issues wayy before pressured could become dangerous, assuming u work up from low of course.
I rebarreled this rifle in 2011 to a 10" twist, and with that load I could hit a 2" target regularly at 400 yards. Very accurate combo.
Very cool what you've done with your rifle. I love the 1899 (my first deer rifle), and I believe the 250 Savage round is capable of a good bit more performance with modest changes, especially in a bolt action.
Since I bought both barrels from members and they were already chambered, I don't know much about them. My assumption is they are both SAAMI spec with the standard short freebore.
Buried earlier in the thread I talked about the fact that factory Hornady ammo in the youth rifle was a concern when setting head space. I initially set it myself using a go gauge. With the headspace just a smidge off the gauge, a factory round required just a bit of effort when closing the bolt. As best I could tell, the bullet was engaging the lands. I took it to a local gunsmith and he confirmed. He set it up about the same, but with slightly more headspace. When he was done, I couldn't close the bolt on a go gauge with two layers of tape, and I couldn't feel the bullet engaging the lands. He believed the bullet was right at the lands, which is how he prefers to set up a rifle. Not everyone likes that, but that's his approach.
The wood stocked rifle didn't have that headspace issue. I set that headspace myself with the go gauge. Again, the bolt would close on the go gauge, but would not close on it with two layers of tape.
Both rifles shot two kinds of factory ammo (Hornady and HSM) fine with no issues in cycling the bolt and no signs of pressure. I think the youth rifle will be kept as is and will run only factory ammo for now.
In the future I plan to start reloading for this chamber. When I get to that point, I will start investigating the chamber more fully, especially in the wood stocked rifle. I plan to use it as my learning and experimenting platform, and should be able to push that 250 Savage round more fully, within the limits of the 10 twist rifling. I might reach out to you in the future for some advice since you are apparently well down that road.
Last edited:
Wilderness Blacktail
Well-Known Member
Yes feel free to reach out.
You could always have the throat on your rifle lengthened. Thatd help and be easy for a smith to do, not expensive.
Ive taken a few deer with the hornady 100sp and it worked well but not impressive. I posted to 24hr and John Barsness said thats because that bullet is designed to withstand 3500fps from the 257Weatherby factory loads so its a harder bullet.
Sierra and speer 100 grainers would be a good bet when you do reload. Nosler 100gr Ballistic Tip excellent as well.
I have load data and notes for bullets from 80-120 grains in my rifle. This cartridge is the great great grandfather of a handful modern accuracy type cartidges. Its quite efficent considering its 110yrs old.
You can buy very high quality 22-250 brass and neck it to 250 in one pass.
Have you been able to stabilize the 120 grain bullets? I know the higher velocities you're pushing will make a difference, but the information I've seen on bullet makers' web sites and such seem to indicate 100 to 110 grains are about the limit on stabilizing with a 1:10 twist. If you can stabilize a traditional 120 grain bullet, I wonder how heavy a copper solid you could push? I think it's just a matter of time until most public hunting spots are forced into that.
Between the two rifles, I have generated probably 140 rounds of once fired brass. As long as I can get factory ammo and keep generating a supply of brass, I would prefer to do that. I would like to avoid having to worry about head stamp mismatch, especially since these rifles are to be used by multiple family members.
Wilderness Blacktail
Well-Known Member
Ive shot the heavies well enough, stable or marginally stable at least. I did not devote as much time as I would have had the lead free situation not come about. I wouldnt hesitate to try any bullet for 1:10 and mebbe some 1:9s as well.
Im with you, I feel as in Europe a lead ban is a movement that will grow. The bullet situation is much better now than it was at least.
Length is the hurdle more than weight but in general youre limited to bullet length around 1.2" in my conditions and rifle. The good news is every bullet makes who covers this caliber offers bullets made to work in a 1:10. In copper that gets you around 90-100 grains.
I hear you on the brass situation. Ive had great luck with regular Winchester and Hornady brass. If ya wanted to get very into details one could always weight sort, cull and prep the way target shooters did for decades before we had a handful of premium brass makers at our disposal.
Im with you, I feel as in Europe a lead ban is a movement that will grow. The bullet situation is much better now than it was at least.
Length is the hurdle more than weight but in general youre limited to bullet length around 1.2" in my conditions and rifle. The good news is every bullet makes who covers this caliber offers bullets made to work in a 1:10. In copper that gets you around 90-100 grains.
I hear you on the brass situation. Ive had great luck with regular Winchester and Hornady brass. If ya wanted to get very into details one could always weight sort, cull and prep the way target shooters did for decades before we had a handful of premium brass makers at our disposal.
Wilderness Blacktail
Well-Known Member
heres a pic of some 25 cal bullets Ive played with in a couple rifles. Note the length of the green tipped 100gr ETip on the right side in conparison to the red tipped 117SST.
And then theres that ETip seated to 2.508" C.O.L. This is why I was asking if you were gunna lengthen the throat some, to seat that bullet outta the powder space and gain some speed. I run that ETip at a bit over 2800 with imr4064.
And then theres that ETip seated to 2.508" C.O.L. This is why I was asking if you were gunna lengthen the throat some, to seat that bullet outta the powder space and gain some speed. I run that ETip at a bit over 2800 with imr4064.
Attachments
Last edited:
To answer your question, I might lengthen the throat on the wood stocked rifle. I'm certainly open to that as an option to improve the utility by allowing the use of longer, heavier bullets.
If you're having success stabilizing those longer bullets, I consider that good news. I think the improved ballistics are worth pursuing. Although not considered a long range hunting option by most, better bullets and higher velocities should make the 250 Savage quite potent at extended ranges.
