.250 sav. plinking load

[82nd airborne]

i posted this in the wrong forum the first time, so here it is...


I noticed there is no load data on gunloads for .250 sav. So for my fellow casters who shoot the .250-3000, here is a very, very light cast load that hits exactly the same poi at 100 yards as my deer loads, which are also listed below. It is extremely quiet and has almost no recoil.

74gr cast boolit (lee gas check mould for 25-20) with a level scoop of unique from a 052 lee dip. I load the round to 2.28in o.a.l. very fun load. in my rifle it hits the same as the two following loads.

100gr rem cor-lokt, 2.45" oal, rem 9 1/2 primer, 35.5gr 4320.

117gr sierra game king, 2.48 oal, 35g imr 4350, cci 200 primer.


in my rifle ( a sporterized sweedish mauser with a shilen semi-bull barrel) all three of these loads will shoot .75moa or better at 100 yards. with the light cast load, accuracy quickly vanishes past 100yrds, but makes a great practice/small game load.
I hope one of you will find this load interesting, if any of you have other .250 savage cast load data please add it to this thread, im always looking for new loads.

[Newtire]

i posted this in the wrong forum the first time, so here it is...



74gr cast boolit (lee gas check mould for 25-20) with a level scoop of unique from a 052 lee dip. I load the round to 2.28in o.a.l. very fun load. in my rifle it hits the same as the two following loads.



Hi 82nd!

Is that mould a Lyman? If it's a Lee, ya got me droolin! I shoot that little 74 grain Lyman-it's actual weight in wheelweights in my .256 Winchester Marlin 62 with 5 grains of Unique for a great plinking load.

[Pavogrande]

A nice memory jog -- I have not used my 250 in a good many years, there always seems to be something new to take my attention --
My old loads were lyman 257312 90gr fn gc - an old mould from my 25-20, with 7.0 gr ains of unique and the pointed lyman 100gr gas check 257418 with 8.0gr of Unique --
My interest piqued, a trip to the safe to check out my 250 was needed --
I bought her about 1957, seems she began as life as M98 but the maker is lost forever by the dovetailed bridge mount holding the weaver K4 scope - the low serial number of 12691 would possibly indicate pre - WWI. Barrel is by Hyman, I think located in Denver and "sporterised" before WWII. A Nice double set trigger is also in residence -- In about 1960 my dad ( a retired jarhead) bought a herter's stock -- best in the world-- and replaced the thinned and shortened - read sporterised - Kriegsmarine stock -- I would bet that stock, unmodified, would pay for several mausers today.
I think my 19 year old grandaughter may enjoy having this one --
thanks for the memory --

[Bret4207]

The 250 is one of those cartridges that should be more popular. I'd far sooner see the woods full of HUNTERS with 250's, 257's, 6.5x55's and 35 Rems than SHOOTERS with a 937 Eargenschplittenloudenboomer Tacticalextremetactical model topped with the Hubble Telescope. One group hunts deer, the other feeds coyotes and their egos.

[82nd airborne]

bret thats spot on! ive seen alot of deer killed with a .22. power is nothing if you cant hit what your shooting at. people complain about 5.56 being too week to stop enemy combatants. ive never seen anyone shot in the head with 5.56 that didnt just crumple into a pile...and ive seen quite a few.

[82nd airborne]

newtire, yeah its a lee, im not sure of the number, its at my dads house, which i am going to this weekend for turkey season. ill try to get some more imfo and maybe a pic for you. PM me and ill send you a few to try out.
pavogrande, anytime. im building a .300 savage for my daughter to use when she's old enough. (thatll be 6months to a year since shes only 2 and a half!)

[GabbyM]

That will make an exelent gun for her. Of course you can test it out first right.

FYI: Savage still chambers rifles in their 250 Savage cartridge.


I've shot a friends 257 Roberts which is a necked down 7 x 57 mm Mauser. Owner of the 257 Bob said he'd shot a Missouri dear with it every year for over twenty years. DRT or a couple steps.

Less recoil than my 243's. They use less powder to push the same weight bullet Plus the 117 gain bullets are far superior IMO to a 6mm bullet for deer size game.

If more people knew a 243 win barrel wears out in 1,200 rounds or less we'd see a lot more 25's and 6.5mm rifles in the field.

I've come to appreciate “efficient” cartridges. Out of all the new stuff the last few years the 6.5mm Creedmore appeals to me the most. That old Savage 250 is a dandy. The listed book loads are all held down to 45,000 C.U.P. Am thinking this is in difference to old Mauser for the 257 and lever guns chambered in 250/3000. They are still fast enough even at those pressure levels.

[82nd airborne]

i agree, i have a m77 compact in .243 and i would much rather shoot the .250 due to its efficiency. i cant tell a difference between the two on deer at close ranges, but both get the job done without destroying much meat, or any if you shoot strait. it is a very forgiving cartridge to load for, i hope the .300 is as well.

[NoDakJak]

I began testing cast loads in my 250 in 2008. The rifle is a Sako 579 with a Douglas barrel with a 1/10 twist. Testing at this time has been limited to Lyman 257312 cast of ACWW and sized to .258 with 50/50 lube. All testing was at 50 yards.
The first loads were with 8.0 grains of Unique. Despite settling the powder against the base of the case I encountered vertical stringing that averaged two inches. More powder or the use of a case filler could maybe improve this load but I think that there are better powders for this rifle.
8.8 grains of 7625 is one of them. Two ten shot groups were fired. The first group was with the powder randomly distributed through the case as in a typical hunting situation. The result was a nice, round group of 1 5/8". Okay for plinking I reckon but just not what I wanted for poking Mr. Squirrel in the earhole. Simply elevating the muzzle remedied that. I was rewarded with a beautiful 1/2" group. You can't always elevate the muzzle in a hunting situation however so the search continued.
7.0 grains of Green Dot produced 5/8" group when the time was taken to settle the powder at the rear of the case.
A somewhat warmer load of 12.0 grains of 4759 provided several ten shot groups that averaged from 5/8 minimum to 1 1/2" in size. That is with the powder distributed randomly and is much better for hunt purposes.
12.0 grains of Enforcer appear to be even better with groups ranging from 3/4" to 1 3/8".
An even snortier load of 20.0 grains of Varget is when I struck paydirt. Groups average less than one inch. 21.0 grains shot double groups but for some reason usually, one about 9/16" below the other.
The best overall load at this this time is definetly 12.0 grains of Enforcer which averages slightly under one inch consistently.
I hope that this info is of interest and helps someone. Neil

[felix]

Shuz should post about his Savage. If I am not mistaken, his is a 14 twist. ... felix

[82nd airborne]

id like to hear it!

[Guido4198]

I set out to find some low noise, no recoil 50 yd. cast loads to run through my Savage M-99. My rifle was manuf. in 1941 and has a 1 in 14" twist. The family story is that Dad bought the rifle back then for Mom, to be her "Deer Rifle". You'd have to know my Mom to understand how funny that is...she is the "Big city girl" from Boston...never hunted a day in her life.
Time passes, and I have the old rifle now. I've taken 2 Whitetail with it over the years. Dad cast for everything he shot...soooo...I also have a Lyman 257464 mould that has the "hollow-point" option (Dad liked those in his cast bullets...all his old Lyman rifle moulds are "hollow-point" style).
For this effort, I'm casting 50/50 WW/Pb, lubed w/ NRA-Alox. Air-cooled, sized .258. They are coming in @ 91.1gns. segregated to +/- 0.1 gn. This is before lubing and gas-check.
I have a large quantity of Winchester Super-Lite Shotgun powder on hand, and wanted to use it to develop these "plinkers".
I'm getting good results using charge wts. of 6.5-8.2 gns. WSL powder. At 50 yds.off the bench, these are reliably grouping from .768 to .953 with Mv=1450-1650fps.
Oughta be just the ticket for Squirrels...if I was in a place you could hunt...Grrr....[smilie=b:

[9.3X62AL]

Like Guido, my 250 Savage is an older-series Model 99 (1930) with 1-14" twist rate. Whether the bullet is cast at 1600 FPS or jacketed at 2450 FPS, the 117-120 grainers won't work in my rifle.

100 grain bullets/boolits are a DELIGHT, though. 100 grain Sierra spitzers run to 2700 FPS stay within 1.5" at 100 yards, given the right amount of WW-760. That's about as good as it gets with aperture irons directed by yours truly, so the rifle might be better. Same story with castings, and 95% of this rifle's cast work has been done with an NEI pattern by the late Walt Melander, his 100 grain bore-rider that closely resembles a 30 caliber RG-4 that shrunk in the wash. 12.0 grains of 2400 is so docile and accurate (about 1700 FPS), I've not seen a need to push it or experiment very much.

I've given some thought to a bolt rifle in 250 Savage, Gabby. I'm unaware of current offerings by the company in this caliber. Please do go on, sir!

[GabbyM]

I've given some thought to a bolt rifle in 250 Savage, Gabby. I'm unaware of current offerings by the company in this caliber. Please do go on, sir!

Savage offers the 250 Savage in their models 14 and 16 and Ruger offers the M77 in 257 Roberts. IMO the 25-06 holds to much powder for this caliber. I've never understood it's popularity. Except that we know how guys like guns that make a big boom.

[Shuz]

Folks--I'm currently in the process of wringing out a new Savage Mdl 16 with Accu-Trigger and Accu Stock that is chambered for the .250 Savage. My old standby load of 13.5g of 4759 behind a Cramer 55A nominal 100 g boolit that I used for years in a Rem 700, did not fare well at the last CBA match. Score was 175 out of 200, and 4ea 5 shot groups were 1.196",1.325"1.880",and 2.196". All shooting was 100 yds. Back to the drawing boards! Stay tuned!--Shuz
PS:The twist on the new Savage is 1:10

[NHlever]

Remington still chambers both the .250 Savage, and 35 Remington in the model 7 through their custom shop. Sometimes I've been tempted to find out just how pricy those are......... maybe not much more than building a good one. You can also find Ruger M77's in the RL, RSI, and standard R versions on gun broker sometimes.

[Pioneer2]

If you are using 100gr jacketed bullets in a 1-14" .250 Savage use Speer as they are the shortest made.Dominion/CIL Canada used to make a nice 100 RN that shot into the same hole................Harold

[dnepr]

If you are using 100gr jacketed bullets in a 1-14" .250 Savage use Speer as they are the shortest made.Dominion/CIL Canada used to make a nice 100 RN that shot into the same hole................Harold

hmm i am trying the hornady 100's I was hoping they were short enough , My paper patched 100's are still hitting the target sideways at 2400 fps , I really hope I can get 100's to work , but I may try lighter if I have no success , speers might be my next option , Remington factory 100 psp at 2750 fps work pretty good , more load development ahead :roll:

[82nd airborne]

dnepr, have you tried the 100g cor-lokt?

[wfa17332]

Just managed to "join", so this comment really "goes back a ways": In a 1:10 twist (the 16FHSS Savage, etc), try 10.0 grains of Trail Boss and about any bullet (cast or "store bought") you can chamber. You may have to play a little, but you should see nice tiny groups at 100 yards. Yes, they will shoot lower than "full bore", but I shoot more paper than game, and re-zeroing is something I do anyway when hunting season arrives.

A little about myself: Used to be VERY active in CBA postal matches and have been casting for rifles about 30 years. My "little break" has caused me to forget a lot - so be patient!

Walt

[dnepr]

dnepr, have you tried the 100g cor-lokt?

not yet but I will give them a try if the hornadys don't work , If I don't get the 100 gr PP to work I may try altering them shorter and giving that a wirl if I get the PP 100's ( 105 actually ) to work really well I may skip the j-word bullets altogether but I am no were near those type of results yet .

[Bret4207]

I'm very happy with the Nosler 100 gr Ballistic Tips (coyote medicine) and Partitions in our Ruger 250 Ultra Light. 4 deer and a bear- no problems.

[Three44s]

Partial quote by 9.3X62AL:

"I've given some thought to a bolt rifle in 250 Savage"

I'd go over to Savage shooters forum and you can build yourself what you want if finding it ready to go is more than you want to spend.

You start with a Savage short action on sale .... the Stevens are identical but with less $$$$ and less bells and whistles ...... and find a barrel on that web site, either a used or slightly used or also there are custom options by way of Vendor/members.

One downside: After you enter ........ there is no returning!

Three 44s