No Accuracy from a .250 Savage

[9.3X62AL]

My 250 Savage and the caliber that displaced it (243 Winchester) are now both down the road. Both are great calibers, I might re-visit them again. If I go the 250 Savage route, barrel twist will be 1-9" or 1-10". Most of its use would be against varmints, but I want the option of using 115-120 grain bullets in the mix. That mindset says "Go 257 Roberts" pretty loudly, though.

I have kinda gone from pillar to post on these rifle rounds larger than 22 but smaller than 30. Few such calibers remain in my gun safe. One is the 25/20 WCF, which is a excellent levergun varmint round for short to middle ranges. Tone it down to black powder intensity, and it makes a great small game harvester--it doesn't shred the table fare.

The other remaining "mid-bore" (for purposes of this thread) is my Ruger 77R in 6.5 x 55 Swedish. This one almost got sent down the road, too--but it took my last deer, so there is some history with it. It also is SUPERBLY ACCURATE with bullets it likes--any 140 grain j-word, for example. It is pretty decent with Lyman #266469, too. It has been my Condor Cuddler since 2008, and does OK with Barnes TSX all-copper projectiles.

One venue I had not exploited its potential within was as a long range/large varmint taker. Its lightest bullet prior to 2017 has been 120 grain TSXs. I haven't done a whole lot of shooting this year, but what I have been able to do included the RugerSwede with Sierra 85 grainers and Hornady 100 grainers. HIJO LA--both bullets are UBER ACCURATE. Powder isn't critical, I have ranged in burn speed from WW-760 to IMR-4350 so far, and sub-1" groups are the rule to 3250 FPS with the 85 grain bullet and to 3100 FPS with the 100 grainer. There is little to choose from between the accuracy of the two bullets. A very pleasant surprise. It has provided very abrupt and unpleasant surprises for a few jackrabbits and one badger, though. One of those jacks was lasered at 278 yards off the muzzle.

An unfortunate outcome for any potential acquisition of a 250 Savage, it seems.

[Texas by God]

OP was last on the forum 5/5/16. Post is from 2010.

That's why I keep bumping my head; I don't pay attention!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Newtire]

OP was last on the forum 5/5/16. Post is from 2010.

That's OK, we still all can learn from the post.

[Pioneer2]

The 87 gr Speer also works well on deer if you avoid the shoulders/ 34.5gr -IMR 4895 in a Savage 99 use at own risk but it's out of the Ken Waters Pet Loads book.