.250 Savage, a long venerable history but ... ?

[jski]

I have an opportunity to pick up a Ruger Mannlicher .250 Savage. This cartridge has a long venerable history but appears to be on the cusp of winking out. I did notice tho that Hornady recently began offering .250 Savage rounds:

• Grain Weight 100 Grains
• Muzzle Velocity 2800 Feet Per Second
• Muzzle Energy 1741 Foot Pounds
• Bullet Style Jacketed Soft Point
• Bullet Brand And Model Hornady Interlock
• Ballistic Coefficient 0.35
• Sectional Density 0.216

Often compared to the .243 Winchester but not the barrel burner.

What's the long range community's take on this cartridge?

 

[just country]

morning, I have a custom 250 savage on a Model 70
win. action. green mountain octagon barrel 24".
very attractive setup. I shoot the barnes TTSX
and 110gr accu-bond. no recoil. very good killer
to 400yrds. a bit of history. just me gbot tum.

 

[jski]

just country, I assume these are your own custom loads?

 

[J E Custom]

The 250 Savage is a great deer cartridge with very good accuracy and it appears to be a real stopper for deer. A friend of mine had one for years and would not let it go because everytime he shot, a deer hit the ground.
He finally gave it up when his wife latched on to it.

Recoil is mild, with SAMME pressures barrel life is very good. With a slightly larger bullet It should out perform the 243 at distance.

Depending on the bullet chosen, it should be good for 400 to 500 yard hunting. At 600 to a 1000 on targets, with the heavy bullets it will also work well.

J E CUSTOM

 

[jski]

Recoil is mild, with SAAMI pressures barrel life is very good. With a slightly larger bullet It should out perform the 243 at distance.

Yeah, the .243 will burn barrels out relatively quickly.

 

[Timnterra]

I have a buddy that loves the 250 savage. He has two custom rifles built around the cartridge. Both of them are .25 moa accurate with hand loads. He uses them for prairie dogs and coyotes and can hit just about anything he can see with them. He's not a "long range" shooter and uses lighter bullets moving faster, but inside 600yds nothing gets away...

 

[jski]

That lower SAAMI max pressure for the .250 Savage (vs the .243) appears to be a big plus for this cartridge, in that you needn't worry about replacing barrels.

 

[stomp442]

Ah the .250 Savage. I own three of these. One Savage 99 and two Savage model 10s that I have customized with aftermarket barrels and stocks. I love this little cartridge, it will do anything you want it to and then some. I have a safe full of rifles and one of the 250s is about the only thing I grab out of it. My 99 is loaded with 75gr Vmaxes and is my designated coyote rig. One of my model 10s is loaded with the 100gr match kings and is my range plinker. The other model 10 is loaded with 115gr Bergers at 2840fps and is my deer rifle of choice. I killed my biggest Coues deer at 667 yards with that set up and it worked like a champ. I have yet to see anything walk away from it. I even built a youth oriented Savage for my nephew when he got drawn for Elk a few years back and it tackled a large cow at over 200 yards no problem. I am an honest believer that the .250 will do anything the .243 can do and do it more efficiently with less recoil. It may not have the BC of the heavy .243s but I've never felt under gunned with it.

Edit to add that cases can easily be formed from a number of cartridges. I make all of mine out of Lake City Match .308 cases.

 

[flatwater bill]

jski....................I bought the very same rifle you are looking at the year it came out. Ruger 77 tang safety full stock. I put a 1.5X5 Leupold VX-3 dot scope, and it has been my choice for many lope and deer hunts. This short bbl will not produce the stunning velocities other members are getting with their longer barrels, but it is wonderful gun/cartridge when used within its limits. One of my favorite, but late, gun writers wrote of the 250 "it has probably wounded more (big game) than it has killed". This was definitely not my experience. I killed large muleys, whitetails and antelope with one reasonably placed shot....Sierra Pro Hunter 100 grain and 4320 powder. Snap up this gun!.....FWB

 

[scott63]

Never done any long range shooting with it, but I put together my daughters deer rifle in this caliber on a swedish mauser action. Shoots great, and the four deer she killed with that rifle were all with one shot, plain old Rem 100 gr core lokts. I've been trying to get the 90 gr gmx's to shoot in a 200 stevens I put together for myself without great success so far. My next rifle in this caliber is going to be a Rem 600 rebarrel, looking forward to that!

 

[Weatherby Fan]

I have a Savage 99 lever 250-3000
and I recently picked up a Carl Gustaf target rifle chambered in 250 AI
Haven't shot it yet but taking it to the range tomorrow to give it a whirl !

 

[jski]

Here's the aforementioned Ruger:

 

[just country]

morning, the loads mentioned in my posting r handloads.
I was going thru my bullet makers I have in shelved for
the .250 cal. bergers, barnes, noslers and new tech.
I have not tried the bergers yet in my 250 and 257wbee,
i reload all my rifle calibers. just me gbot tum.

 

[jski]

Hornady just released a .250 Savage round: