No Accuracy from a .250 Savage

[GabbyM]

For those 1-14” twist rifles I wouldn't look to far past the Speer Hot Core bullets for a deer hunting.
Speer makes the Hot Core bullet in 75, 87 and 100 grain. They are all flat based and of harder construction than there boat tail bullets. As per there advertising. Speer-bullets dot com.
Before I declared a 100 grain would shoot I'd want to get out to the 500 yard range. Just to make sure it remains stable. Plus test it in at lest as cold a temperature as I'd hunt in. Been a long time since I went to a range in the dead of winter. Nothing wrong with an 87 grain bullet at 3,000 fps on deer.

[Larry Gibson]

EricT

Seems everyone has gotten off on 14" twist rifles which you don't have. For your 10" twist rifle, which should adequately stabilize the 120 gr cast bullet, you definately need to slow the load down. What is killing your accuracy is that velocity, which is too much for that bullet, alloy, etc. The RPM are taking their toll. This is obvious by the poor accuracy, even at 25 yards.

I suggest you slow the bullet down. Try 18 gr of H4895 with a 1/2 gr dacron filler. Work up in 1/2 gr increments until accuracy again goes south. You should find an accurate load in the 1800 - 1950 fps range.

Alternately, if you are savvy about loading for cast bullets, you could try some slower burning powders such as AA4350, H4831SC, RL19 or RL22. Start with a load that gives 60% case capacity and possitively use the 1/2 gr dacron filler. Work up in 1 gr incrments until accuracy goes south or 100% loading density is achieved. At 80% loading density you can quit using the dacron filler. With those slower powders you can probably find useable accuracy to 2100 + fps.

Larry Gibson

[Lloyd Smale]

my sons 250 is a 1 in 14 and it shoots the 87 grain sierra real well and hes taken a number of deer with it.

[ErikT]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. As for specifics, the barrel is 1:10 twist, as I already mentioned, so I'm sure that the barrel should be able to stabilize these boolits. The actual design is the RCBS 257-120 SP with a gas check. The powders I'm using are Varget, IMR 3031, and Win 760 so far, but I might try some slower powders than those. I tried using straight linotype as well as water-dropped wheel weights, and got the same effects. I think the simplest answer is the most likely; I'm just pushing them too fast. I'll try dropping the velocity way down below my initial starting loads and see what's happening there. I also figured out that this particular barrel is unusually picky about seating depth, so that may have a lot to do with it. It's so picky, in fact, that a change of 0.010" in seating depth of jacketed bullets will open groups from 1" at 100 to 5" at 100. I've never had a barrel that was this picky. I'm going to vary the seating depths as well to see what it likes. Wish me luck!

[9.3X62AL]

I mentioned the 1-14" twist in the context of the gentler twist rate being a bit more kind to castings than the steeper 1-10" rate of the OP's rifle, in light of the velocities he was driving the slugs at. Sorry for spoiling the ambiance. Jeez......

[Larry Gibson]

9.3x62AL

It's to bad the twist wasn't 14" then he may have gotten away with driving them 2200+ fps. I don't think you spoiled the ambiance at all and think you did well in mentioning the twist angle. Seems when I mention it all the come out because I'me talking about RPM again. They can ignore it all they want but here is another fine example of how it works. I think EricT is going to do just fine with his 250 Savage when he slows that RCBS bullet down to 1800 - 1950 fps.

Larry Gibson

[Bret4207]

I'll tell ya what, a 25 cal boolit at 120 grs doing 1800 fps ought to be one penetrating sucker!

[9.3X62AL]

RPM matters, Larry. Not a speck of doubt about it. I have at least one rifle (in 223) right now that I wish ran 1-14" instead of its 1-9" twist, but that's another story. &%$# THING!

[Larry Gibson]

RPM matters, Larry. Not a speck of doubt about it. I have at least one rifle (in 223) right now that I wish ran 1-14" instead of its 1-9" twist, but that's another story. &%$# THING!

My sympathies....and i feel your pain.....I've 2 of those also; an AR and a Savage Comp bolt action. Fortuneately I also have an AR and 2 other bolt guns (M70 XTR and a M700V) with 12" twists and a single shot iwith 14" twist....those do well with cast

Larry Gibson

[PAT303]

You guys have me worried,I have a 1-12 twist 25/303 and I've just odered the RCBS mold for it.I hope it flies straight. Pat

[madsenshooter]

Makes me worry too! I don't like reading things about a fast twist not working myself. I'm having an AR upper built with an old Obermeyer 6mm barrel. I didn't measure the twist, but just looking and guessing, I'd say it's a 1/8 or faster, and the only thing I have to feed it, boolit-wise, is the Eagan MX2-243. Oh well, just don't go too fast! I've got an alloy that'll go 2450fps in a 1/10 30 caliber though. Ah, what the heck, if it don't work, it'll be j-word dedicated! At least the 6mm bullets are cheaper than 30s!

[PAT303]

I don't want to spend $100 on a mold that doesn't work. Pat

[NoDakJak]

My 250 is a Model 579 Sako with a 1/10 Douglas Supreme barrel. Testing has been limited but shows geat potential. Boolits are ACWW and sized to 258 with Horndy Alox. All testing was at fifty yards as I had just had a knee replacement and couldn't make it out to the one hundred yard targets.
The majority of testing was performed with Lyman 257312. All of these are starting loads and can be increased.
12.0 grains of Ramshot Enforcer
12.0 grains of 4759
15.0 grains of 5744
20.0 grains of Varget This was the most accurate and is probably the load with the most potential.
Lyman 257464 The only load tested is with 20.0 grains of Varget and groups were almost twice the size as with 257312. It will take more shooting to find out if this is just a fluke.
I just purchased a Modern Bond two hole mold that casts an 88 grain, gas checked, Loverin boolit and am looking forward to much testing with those slugs.
A couple years ago I was doing much testing with several 25.20s. 257312 seemed to stablize fairly well but 257464 invariably showed tipping. For reasons that I can not remember now I tried reducing the load of 2400 by one grain and then stuffing the case to the brim with drier lint before seating the boolit. It turned out to be by far the most accurate load that I found for the 25.20 but is sure a pain in the seat to stuff all that lint in that small hole. Neil

[NVScouter]

I also have a 1-14" that loves 75-100g but wont do 120s. Your barrel should be fine but here is my take:

The 250-3000 was done with jacketed 87g bullets. A 120g should be closer to 2500fps and your running 2100-2700. The faster powders never worked for me but BigGame, H4895, and AA4350 did. I have the Ideal 88g mould made for the 250-3000 but havent really tried it yet. Also I find 2400 to pretty be my powder for picky cast bullets. I resisted for a long time but it works in my 22H to my 300WBY after Blue/Green/Red Dots, W760, TB, etc all failed to give me decent accuracy.

I'm interested since I was thinking about a 250-3000 or 257R barrel for my Savage switch barrel too. Good luck to you.

[Newtire]

I'm having a problem with my Savage bolt-action in .250-3000, and I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions. I just fitted a new Shilen barrel (1-10" twist) on this rifle, and I've been getting pretty decent accuracy with J-word bullets (0.75" to 1.5" at 100). I just picked up a new RCBS 120 grain 2-cavity GC mould, and I cast a bunch of really nice looking boolits with it. I fitted the gas checks and sized them to .258" (the bore measures .257," right on spec) before I lubed with my time-proven home recipe.

When I went to test fire them, I wasn't getting any hits on the target at 100, so I moved to the 25. Let's just say I would have gotten better accuracy if I'd have thrown the boolits downrange. The best grouping I got was about 8 inches at 25 yards! Now, I'm no veteran of cast boolit shooting, but I've been getting great results from other cartridges and similar loading practices, so I'm wondering if maybe I missed some fundamental issue that gave me shotgun patterns instead of rifle groupings. The lube worked great; not a sign of leading anywhere. The lead was water dropped WW, so would they be too soft? I was only pushing them between 2100 to 2700 fps for this test, and no velocity gave any decent results. Any ideas?

I have a 1-10" twisted Shilen barreled .257 AI and get great accuracy with that boolit but found that one mould I have casts a boolit that's too small of a diameter in the nose. Plus, I push that boolit at just over 1600 fps. In my opinion, you might think about using a slower burning powder, although I used SR4759. But make sure the boolit nose is a snug, push-fit into the bore with no side to side play. I have had this same issue with 2-rifles I have-the other being a 6.5-06. Powder coating fixed my problems by increasing the nose diameter slightly. I used water dropped wheel-weights and Felix Lube or Carnauba Red lube. I am able to seat that boolit long enough so that it doesn't protrude into the case past the neck. So, it's a real shooter for me as long as I follow the rules.

[Texas by God]

My meager advice is to back off the gas as well. The sweet spot for Lyman 90gr fp in my 25-06 was 1500-1600 fps. Above that speed accuracy fell off a cliff. 1-10" twist Tikka.

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[MT Chambers]

Note also that the "bore rider" portion of this design must also be a proper fit in the barrel or accuracy goes south fast.

[ole_270]

In the slow twist M99s I'll add a +1 to the Speer Hot Cores. I've taken several deer with the 87 and a couple with the 100. No surprises, no doubts. I still haven't tried cast in this rifle even though I have 3 molds I use in the 25-20. Molds range from the old Lyman 257420gc to a plain based NOE version of the 260283. I need to try that one sometime.

[Texas by God]

Ole270, that Speer 87 is THE deer bullet in my wife's Sako .250 at 3000 fps.
OP- any update?

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[MT Gianni]

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