250-3000 Loads?

[rikkit]

Recently came across a "gun show find". A really nice looking P-17 Enrfield action chambered for 250-3000 great looking 14" twist bore. I of course would like to work up some cast loads, I have 2 molds on hand Ly 85 Gr. GC and a Saeco 95 Gr GC. I did a search and tried a couple of load recommendations, 5 Gr Unique and 14.5 Gr R-7. The Ly mould and Unique have shown to perform the best so far. Has anybody out there been loading this round for cast bullets and would you be willing to share some loads. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[felix]

Up the R7 load to 21 grains and report back. Prefer to use a faster powder than R7, say 2400, 4227, N120. Try 19 grains of those to decipher which speed seems to work best up front. Use both boolits for all tests. ... felix

[9.3X62AL]

Felix--

19.0 grain of 2400 in the 250 Savage??!! Dunno about that, I'm getting 1650-1700 FPS with 12.0 grains of 2400 and the NEI #19, a 100 grainer that looks a like a sub-compact RG-4. This is in an older Savage 99 with 1-14" twist, and it shoots VERY well.

[shooter93]

Just curious rikkit and you others....do you have enough brass or would be interested in some...unfired ...Winchester with the right headstamp. I had ordered some years ago whn they talked of discontinuing it along with a bunch of other brass...I buy in bulk a lot...anyway....numbers got transposed and I ended up with 2000 rounds....lol....a bit more than I'll ever need so I have been thinking about dumping some off in 200 round lot or so like i did with the 38-5 stuff a bit ago.

[Shuz]

I competed in CBA matches for many years with the .250 Sav in the Production Class. The gun was a Rem 700 Classic with a 1:10 twist. Best boolit I found was a Cramer 55A which cast a nominal 100g boolit that ended up at 105g+- with a gc when cast from 3:1 alloy(ww:lino). Boolits were sized to .2594. Groups used to average 1"+- at 100 yds. Load was 13.5g of 4759. Velocity was 1736 with an sd of 16. The bbl "went south" so I retired it from competition and later sold the gun.
The same load is still giving acceptable hunting accuracy in a Ruger 77 that my grandson will use this year for hunting. Hope this helps.--Shuz

[felix]

True, Al and Shuz, about what you both said. I tend to strive for 2400 fps first, and then work downwards. This technique tends to work for me when using guns that use the 35-40K CUP range, and most especially any large action bolt gun. In my 700 with tight neck (turned necks) I use the 22-250 with the 225646 at 15 grains N110 (2400 speed). Around a half incher plus for 10 rounds, migrating up to three quarters for another 20 or so. Then five or so chasers are required for another 30 round volly of potent stuff. Not chronoed, but 2400 fps via trajectory eyeball. ... felix

[9.3X62AL]

No flies on that kinda performance, Felix!

[felix]

Perhaps the best example about loading high is when Corky and I had a chrono and he had just gotten his new Whelen. I brought up some 180 grainer Saeco boolits, the sillywet style version having plenty of lube for speed and a bore riding, somewhat sharp nose. His barrel is a 14 twist Shilen throated for the 280 grainer 358008 improved and was proven to shoot that big boolit 2 inches at 200 at 1900 fps. Thought maybe we should try for 2400 muzzle with the 180 grainer, assuming the recoil would be felt the same. Well, we had several versions of H335 (844s actually), and we picked one out of the air. We loaded 50 grains in that case (60 grainer case), knowing 40 worked well with the 35 remmie (42 grainer case). The first round shot 2600 which was very surprising to me, so we shot another. It went 2400 about where we had calculated it should have been. All the remaining shot 2400 with an ES of around 20. Prolly some powder from the cold barrel shot through in advance of the first boolit is the only thing that could have happened. Later on we shot those loads at the river for effect, or course, at some highway concrete slabs with rebar and all of that reinforcement at about 60 yards. The 180's took out chunks and that was about it. However, the 280's actually cracked that concrete big time because we could see the cracks with naked eyes. Never seen such penetration power in my life. About like 250's in the 41 mag shooting tree trunks at 1100; the same penetration characteristic but on a much smaller scale. ... felix

[jrgift]

I have used 4198 with the Lyman at 14.0 grs and H-116 at 14.0 grs gives a chri\ongraphed velocity of about 1600 fps.Shot a group last week that was .440 at 100 meters. No powder burns on the target either.