Savage Model 99 250-3000 (250 Savage) question

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Gary W. Strange

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I bought this Savage Model 99R off Gunbroker. It is in 250-3000, just plain 250 Savage now. It is in very good shape. It was made in 1954. I have wanted a Savage 99 for my collection for a long time and this one was priced right and I love .25 caliber rifles. I may hunt with it or may just shoot it some. I have read this rifle will not stabilize 100 grain bullets. Can some of you that are in the know, tell me something about this. If this is the case what would be a good 87-90 grain bullet to hand load for deer. Also any recommendations on powder that works well for this caliber. I love quarter bore rifles. My go to rifle, in my old age, is a pre 64 Winchester Model 70 in 257 Roberts, that may Grandfather left me. This rifle is such a joy to shoot. It has plenty of punch and reach for my hunting needs. It's not going to kick your shoulder blue. It is a caliber i like so much, I bought my Grandson a little Kimber in .257 Roberts a few years back. The Kimber is just a beautiful little rifle and it is light and a joy to carry. I am interested in the 250 Savage but don't know much about the caliber or the Savage Model 99, other than what I have read. I hope someone can tell me more about the bullet weight situation. I have read this rifle probably has a 1 in 14 twist rate and that is too fast of a twist to stabilize a 100 grain bullet. I don't mind reloading for it if it is feasible to make it a user.
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Beautiful rifle. The 1:14” twist is slow, not fast - the slower the twist the more difficukt it is to stabilize long bullets. I have a .250/3000 XP-100 with a 1:13 twist 15” barrel and it shoots very well with 100-grain Nosler BallisticTips. My guess is that yours may not, as that is a long bullet. It is bullet length which makes the bullet more difficult to stabilize. A short 100-grain bullet like the Speer HotCore soft point would be easier to stabilize, it is a good hunting bullet for the velocity window of your .250/3000.

If the 100s won’t stabilize, I have had very good performance with both the Hornady and Speer 87-grain soft points. You don’t need premium bullets for your rifle and since most of them are extra long they will be even more difficult to stabilize anyway. Don’t try to hotrod that rifle, M99s of around that vintage and before tended to stretch a bit, leading to difficult extraction - just what you don’t want in a hunting rifle. Later M99s were strengthened a bit for the higher pressure .308 and .358 WCF cartridges, but I don’t know the exact year of the change.



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Congratulations, Gary, and welcome to the 99 club!

Thats a great example right there, and with the cartridge counter which they were starting to elimninate on the lower-grade postwar guns. I would probably swap the Williams sight for a Marbles- more "old timey" IMO.

My advice is keep it well lubed and and protected against moisture and fingerprints- they are rust prone. Otherwise, enjoy!
 
Like wise Gary you've got yourself one beautiful rifle there, I got one a couple years back in 300 Savage, and it was made in 1931 and it too is a beautiful rifle, couldn't tell ya about the proper bullet to load for it, that is half the fun of loading your own.
 
I have an F series about that vintage in .250 Savage and it stabilized the factory 100 grain load fine. I will not stabilize anything heavier and t doesn't like longer 109 grain bullets.I does just fine with boatail 90 grain bullets tho. I do not shoot it much because factory ammo is rather hard to come by and the work opening up .22-250 fired shells is a little time consuming if you anneal the cases as you should. The gun is so sweet I have not been able to bring myself to sell it, yet. Enjoy !
 
I remember reading a john barsness article in handloader magazine that the savage 99 twist rates varied from rifle to rifle. you might want to check yours as his had a real slow rate and could not shoot the heavier bullets. I don't remember if his savage was in 250/3000 or 300 savage, but i'm sure the barrels were all cut the same.

luck,

murf
 
I last year I bought a .250 Savage 99 made in 1951. I tried factory 100gr SP bullets & some handloaded 100gr RN & they just would not group. I then loaded some Speer 87gr SPFB & the rifle is grouping them very well, but I'm still experimenting. From various discussions with other .250/99 owners, the Speer 87gr bullet is just fine for deer, although I have no personal experience yet. One thing I found out about my 99 was that the chamber neck is very short & brass, even once fired, needed trimming. I suggest you measure & determine your rifle's own case OAL.

BTW: Congratulations on a GREAT rifle & a GREAT cartridge!
 
pert near said:
I last year I bought a .250 Savage 99 made in 1951. I tried factory 100gr SP bullets & some handloaded 100gr RN & they just would not group. I then loaded some Speer 87gr SPFB & the rifle is grouping them very well, but I'm still experimenting. From various discussions with other .250/99 owners, the Speer 87gr bullet is just fine for deer, although I have no personal experience yet. One thing I found out about my 99 was that the chamber neck is very short & brass, even once fired, needed trimming. I suggest you measure & determine your rifle's own case OAL.

BTW: Congratulations on a GREAT rifle & a GREAT cartridge!
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For what its worth, my .243 99E is a laser with 100gr. slugs, but isnt happy with lighter bullets. Not sure what the twist on that one is.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
Congratulations, Gary, and welcome to the 99 club!

Thats a great example right there, and with the cartridge counter which
Click to expand...
pert near said:
I last year I bought a .250 Savage 99 made in 1951. I tried factory 100gr SP bullets & some handloaded 100gr RN & they just would not group. I then loaded some Speer 87gr SPFB & the rifle is grouping them very well, but I'm still experimenting. From various discussions with other .250/99 owners, the Speer 87gr bullet is just fine for deer, although I have no personal experience yet. One thing I found out about my 99 was that the chamber neck is very short & brass, even once fired, needed trimming. I suggest you measure & determine your rifle's own case OAL.

BTW: Congratulations on a GREAT rifle & a GREAT cartridge!
Click to expand...
What powder and primer do you load with this combination? I know most will not give out the charge weight of powder they load, but can you tell me if you load on the low or hot side? I would appreciate what ever information you are willing to give.
 
Gordon said:
I have an F series about that vintage in .250 Savage and it stabilized the factory 100 grain load fine. I will not stabilize anything heavier and t doesn't like longer 109 grain bullets.I does just fine with boatail 90 grain bullets tho. I do not shoot it much because factory ammo is rather hard to come by and the work opening up .22-250 fired shells is a little time consuming if you anneal the cases as you should. The gun is so sweet I have not been able to bring myself to sell it, yet. Enjoy !
Click to expand...

Are you using the Remington or Hornady factory load? What 90 grain boatail are you using, and powder and primer, if you don't mind telling? Do you load on the low or hot side? I would appreciate what ever information you are willing to give.
 
Hint ..... it's so simple to check your twist rate .... why not do that first? Not trying to be snarky here. This was my first rifle , in 1956, I don't know what its twist was but at that time Remington loaded a 117 gain round nose that worked for me.

Common sad story : traded it before I realized what I had and waited over 50 years to replace it
 
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Gary W. Strange said:
What powder and primer do you load with this combination? I know most will not give out the charge weight of powder they load, but can you tell me if you load on the low or hot side? I would appreciate what ever information you are willing to give.
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My best load so far is 87gr Speer; 35.5gr Varget; Winchester WRP Primer; Win Super-X Cases;OAL=2.45" The bullet ogive is .02" off the rifling in my rifle.

I consider this a lighter load being around 1.5 gr below book max, but as you know always be careful & work up. You don't want to push your 99 too hard. Look in your loading manual for powders that produce good velocities while showing lower pressures. I intend to try some H322 as it has always been accurate & stable in cartridges of a similar size.

Good Shooting!
 
pert near said:
My best load so far is 87gr Speer; 35.5gr Varget; Winchester WRP Primer; Win Super-X Cases;OAL=2.45" The bullet ogive is .02" off the rifling in my rifle.

I consider this a lighter load being around 1.5 gr below book max, but as you know always be careful & work up. You don't want to push your 99 too hard. Look in your loading manual for powders that produce good velocities while showing lower pressures. I intend to try some H322 as it has always been accurate & stable in cartridges of a similar size.

Good Shooting!
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Thank you: I load below book max myself. I have found the best accuracy with most loads at the mid to low end.
 
I also love the 99 and all of the "early fast movers"....I have been on the hunt for a 22HP but just not found the right one yet.....looks like you got a nice one there....Prices seem to be doing nothing but going up.
 
That's a beautiful M99. My .250 Sav is not near as old as yours but I've had it for about 40 years or more. The best load in mine is 32 grains of 4320 and a 100 grain bullet. I've killed an enormous number of deer with that rifle/load. I also have a Ruger M77 that I picked up new in 1975 in the same .250 Sav. That rifle shoots 1/2" groups with 32 grains of 3031. Between these two rifles more deer have fallen with them than all other calibers combined that I shoot.
 
I'm on a road trip and much of my posts are garbled. I haven't loaded for my 1957 vintage .99F in years. The factory 100 grain was Remington Corelock and that at least 10-20 years ago. I shoot alot of .22-250 and it is easy to expand to .25 if you anneal cases first.
 
Gordon said:
I'm on a road trip and much of my posts are garbled. I haven't loaded for my 1957 vintage .99F in years. The factory 100 grain was Remington Corelock and that at least 10-20 years ago. I shoot alot of .22-250 and it is easy to expand to .25 if you anneal cases first.
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I use 90 grain Sierra Gameking hpbt and use 4320 powder .
 
Gordon said:
I use it a lot in my .25-06 but it kinda blows up under 200 yards in that, which is Ok as I use it on coyotes .
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Thank you for the information. When you can, I would appreciate any more you have to offer. I have always got good results with H4350 in short cases and lighter bullets. Have you used this powder, with this caliber?
 
My wife's mid 1950s 250 has a 1 in ten twist. Savage started using it shortly after the 100 gr bullets came out in factory ammo. As has been suggested check your twist rate. The bullet length is what is critical when it comes to stabilization. Weight come into play because if you add more material the bullet gets longer. That being said try and stick to shorter 100 gr bullets. Cup and core flat bases have worked very well for my wife. The 100 gr bullets we have used are Hornady interlock, Speer hot cor, and Sierra pro hunter. All group under 2 inches and just knock the stuffing out of deer and one unlucky hog. Boat tails have been hit and miss. The best shooters are not as good as the flat base. The worst are about 3 inches at 100 yards. I am sure any mono bullets would be iffy. They are very long . If you have a 1 in 14 twist try the Speer. It is the shortest that I know of. 4064 is the velocity king from my experiments. Have used both Accurate and IMR. 34 grains does the trick and is well inside published data. 4350 is a winner also. Not quite as fast, but, also good accuracy. 99s tend to have huge chambers. Try and avoid pushing the shoulder back any more than you have too. Before I learned about this the wife went through a lot of brass!
 
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