250 Savage handgun questions

[Tom H.]

I want to pick up a new barrel for the express purpose of deer hunting.

In my area both pistols and shotguns are legal and I typically carry a 20ga with sabots and a 357 shooting cast lead.  Both have performed very well.
What I would like is a single shot in a rifle caliber to take shots that may be up to 200 yards as I do hunt some farmland where those shots may be closer to the norm.
I have hunted with a 250 rifle in other areas for a few decades and find it to be a great cartridge.
How is its performance in a pistol?
What barrel length do I go with and would 14" be adequate?
Do I move to a premium bullet like the partition, or are sierra 100gr fb and the like decent at the lower velocities?

All comments are appreciated
Thanks

Tom






 

[Ken ONeill]

I've shot pronghorn antelope as far as 254 yards with my 14- 1/2" XP-100 .250 Savage, using the 100 gr. Hornady spire point bullet which expanded well and killed quickly at that distance. Muzzle velocity was a bit less than 2500 fps. I've also shot game as heavy as 600 lbs. with it, but that's pushing it's envelope.
I've also used that bullet and the 100 gr. Nos. Ball. Tip out of a .257 JDJ at just a bit faster (2600 fps) than the .250 Savage, and both bullets have performed very well on a variety of game from 80 - 200 yds.

[Tom H.]

Thanks Ken, that was exactly what I was hoping to hear.  I'm currently clocking 2650 out of my rifles which although moderate, stays within the limitations of the bullets that I picked.  2500 out of the shorter barrel is perfect, and glad to hear that the bullet acted as it should out at 250.

Two  other questions:  How much does your pistol weigh and what powder are you burning?

With a choice on barrel contour I want to balance weight and recoil.  The only powder that I have ever used in the 250 was AA4350 and I would think that it would be a bit slow in the short barrel.

Thanks

Tom

[sixshot]

My 2 biggest muley bucks were taken with the 250 Savage, the first buck was just a shade over 30", shot  back in the late 70's with a 14" XP100, seems like about 125 yds, not sure. The bullet was the 100 gr Hornady & it took out both lungs & exited.
 Second buck was a 27" dandy taken with an Encore 15" Bullberry in 250 Improved, my bullet was the 100 gr Ballastic Tip at just a hair under 400 yds. I caught him right at daybreak as he fed across a field, didn't make my best shot but it knocked him down, he got up & ran down into a steep gully & I gave him a finisher at 50 yds. This buck stayed in first place in the Soda Springs big buck contest until the last day of the season. Also took a 25" buck with the 250 Improved, I had spotted him several times during the summer, he had a favorite hay field that he fed in most days & hid out along a river during the day. I left for work an hour early, hoping to catch him out in the field before I began work at 7pm.
  I watched the field until 6:50 pm, picked up my pack & turned to walk to the car, I stopped & turned around to take one last look & he was standing 10 yds out into the alfalfa, I couldn't believe it! I gently laid my pack down on a little dirt mound, nestled the Bullberry Improved on top & held about 3" below centerline on his rib cage, at the shot he folded like a wet noodle. I drove across the highway to work, called my boss & told him I had just smoked a dandy, we crossed the highway with one of the loaders, picked him up in the bucket & I gutted him right in the bucket, called one of my son's & he came & hauled him home while I went to work. I was shooting downhill at a very steep angle, thats why I held low, think the shot was about 160 yds.

If you look close you can see the 250 Savage sitting between the bucks horns, this is the 30" buck.



This is the 27" buck taken at almost 400 yds with the 250 Improved, my grandson watched me make the shot..



This is the buck I shot in the hay field & picked up with the loader. Photo taken the next day after I got home from work.



Dick

[Ken ONeill]

Tom,
I use 30.5 gr. H 4895 & CCI BR2 primers, which is a couple grains below Max. in any book, but which is often a 1/2 MOA load. I also suspect that the 4350's might be a bit slow, but I advise testing them. I know that they work well in the .309 JDJ, for example.
I don't know the weight of my gun offhand, but it's a Remington Custom Shop gun with a sporting contour barrel (about like a Douglas # 1 ) and Redfield 3 ring mount and a Burris 4X . That's a low magnification these days, but was state of the art in the late '80's when the gun was built. The whole rig probably weighs 5 - 5 1/2 lbs. as a guess.
Since Dick's showing photos, here's a picture of a dead pronghorn  :

[Tom H.]

Thank you gentelmen.
 Those definately show the flexibility of the round from a pistol.  I am currently shooting a Clerke xtender on a Kimber frame. When the opportunity came up to upgrade to a caliber of choice, I wanted to make sure that I was in the right direction.
The one that I have is in 7.62x39, and the factory corbon 150s are so fast and accurate I never bothered reloading.  Regardless, it is still a 30-30 class cartridge.
Looking forward to recieving this one and doing some field testing.  Should be a good fit for a 2x7 burris that still needs a home.

Many thanks and good hunting

Tom

[Tom Brush]

I have a MOA in .250 Savage.  I have taken quite a few deer with the Nosler 100 gr. BT.  It is very accurate.  Rich Mertz at MOA is the .250 Savage expert.  Give him a call.

Tom

[vmthtr in green bay]

Not a 250 Savage but a 25 Bullberry, aka 25x30-30.  I shot a bunch of whitetails with the Seirra 90g HP.  Worked great out to 350 yards.  Worked out to about 2500 fps with IMR4064 in a 15" barrel for my T/C.

[Lloyd Smale]

im not a big fan of rifle caliber handguns (short rifles) anymore. I hunted with them when i took up handgun hunting many years ago but just couldnt see any more challange in it then hunting with a rifle. that been said id i was going to do it again the 250 would be one of my first choises. I use it alot in rifles and its a wonderful little very efficient round that works great in shorter barrels. I wouldnt go much shorter but your 14 in thought will work fine.

[Tom H.]

Ok, with all of the additional replies and experience with the round, I am trying to decide on a contour.

The standard barrel is about .930 without taper.  The 13" is manageable, but I have a feeling that it would be different with the 14.5 in a smaller caliber.
I was thinking about going with a Shilen style #3 or #5 countour after the first 4" or so (that is the area that gets the scope mount and the foreend) as I was looking for something that would be stable without being too heavy.
I haven't figured out how much weight I would lose when the metal came off, but any reduction with that length barrel would probably help.

Thanks

Tom

[vmthtr in green bay]

XP 100 right?  Or Encore, Savage?

[Tom H.]

x-tender on a 1911 frame

[Tom H.]

Finally found a load and did some range testing.
Cut the barrel down to 14.5" to make it more manageable as well as putting in in the mill and slab siding the .930 barrel by .050 on either side.  I will probably have to go to .1 per side to actually cut the weight any reasonable amount.  Either that or cut a contour  past the scope mount and foreend.
Either way, the reloading manual load of 34gr of 748 clocked around 2500 and an extra grain added 75 fps to that with a 100gr speer fb.
The 34 was substantially more accurate and through luck or otherwise grouped into a bit over 2 inches at 200. There was a blustery 10mph breeze which could have otherwise opened up a pretty good group.
as per the tables around 3" high at 100 and something over 2" low at 200.
Now to find the deer.

For those who were wondering what an extender is http://nramt.com/index.html
Good hunting.
 
Tom