Cast bullet for .250 Savage deer load

[Steven66]

I think I would probably want at least 100 grains or more with a gas check and would most likely buy an NOE mould. (s) should I consider for whichever bullet is most popular/most effective for deer hunting (eastern whitetail).

Haven't yet made a chamber cast, so not sure what as-cast diameter I should choose either.
Thanks!

[MT Gianni]

I would only go under 7mm on deer with cast if I could be assured on putting my shot in the ear hole. I don't see the diameter as being large enough given the difference in which cast and jacketed kill deer.

[gwpercle]

NOE has some nice mould designs and I'm like you , for deer or hogs I would go with long a heavy bullet NOE has some good looking possibilities : all are shown as gas check designs which I would use .
258 - 120 - FN

260 - 105 - FN
260 - 115 - FN
260 - 118 - RF
260 - 122 - FN

They can also be had with a Hollow Point / flat point pin set up .
That 122 gr. boolit looks promising ...if your rifle will feed and chamber it ... it's long .

My Uncle used a 257 Roberts on deer for years ... When asked about the .25's effectiveness He would say "Put the boolit in the right spot and the job is done ."
Gary

[Shuz]

My grandsons and I have had good success on whitetail deer with the Cramer 55A pushed by Reloder 7 in the .250 Savage. This is a nominal 100g boolit and is a bore rider. Of course there are other designs that will work as has been mentioned. I too, would use only boolits that are at least 100g and relatively soft such as Bhn 11.

[rintinglen]

Umm. What twist do you have? If it is the older 1-14", you may find that it doesn't work well with long, heavy boolits. My Savage 99 won't shoot anything longer than the Sierra flat-based 87 grain spitzer worth beans. A 100 grain spitzer more than doubles group size and 110+ grain bullets? Fugedaboutit. Shotguns can group better. We can but hope that you have a modern 1-10" twist barrel.

I have had some success with the Lyman 257-464, a 90-ish grain RN Loverin style bullet. I heat treated mine for maximal toughness, using Dennis Marshall's technique from the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual #1. IIRC, I used 28 grains of WW748, which ought to have delivered about 2200 FPS, but I never got around to shooting it over the chronograph.

[quilbilly]

I have couple 25 cal molds for my 18" Encore barrel in 250 Sav. (aka250/3000)with a 1/12 twist and my favorite is a Saeco 3-cavity for 105 gr boolits. It is similar to the NOE 260-105 FN. I wouldn't hesitate to hunt deer with it. Many years ago I had a Mod. 99 in that caliber and took the largest bodied deer (over 300# live) I have ever gotten with it using an 87 gr bullet - DRT.
If your rifle is an original Mod 99, it probably won't shoot well any boolit over 95 gr. due to that original twist.
I also have an old Lyman Loverin style mold which also shoots very well but, being a semi-point boolit, it would not be my preferred boolit for deer. My best accuracy has been about 1900-1950 fps which is adequate for deer out to 150 yards when placed properly.
The 250 Sav. is one of my favorite cast boolit calibers.

[PositiveCaster]

My .250 XP-100 has a 15” barrel with a 1:13” twist, and using 90-grain LFN GC cast bullets gave sub-1/2” accuracy in CBA matches. Velocity is low, under 1300 fps, but obviously the bullets are stable. I can’t imagine a 100-grain cast bullet at 1800-2200 fps being inaccurate in a 1:12” barrel.





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