I see you formed up some savage 250AI brass from 307 win for jules. What I was wondering did you have to trim necks or anything special other than running them through form dies. I am getting a standard savage 250 made and if the brass forming is easy enough I might go with a rimmed case.
One other thing with that chambering isn't jules limited because of chamber presures with a TC action I though that chambering was more of a encore setup. Just wondering?

Kevin, I'm not for sure, but the 307 brass may be too thick in the neck for use in a standerd
250savage.
Even though i'm using 307 brass in my contender chambered in 250imp. I can't use 250imp. load data for a bolt action rifle or the encore. So yes, I am limited to standerd 250savage data and a little over that. But I must say, pushin an 85gr. bullet at over 3000fps out of a contender in about as good as it gets. Mike's verson of the 250imp. is safe in the contender using 250savage data and 307 brass. But i'm not sure that the standerd 250savage is safe in a contender using factory ammo.

Years ago I did a fair amount of work with the standard .250 Savage in a Contender and quickly found out that the highly tapered case is just not the way to go in a Contender, especially with relatively thin brass like .250 Sav.

Cases do have to be shortened back to standard .250 Sav. length when working them down from .307 Win. You also have to make sure you have enough chamber neck clearance since the .307 brass is thicker to start with and thickens even more when necked down.

In Jules' barrel, I made the chamber neck a bit longer than standard and marked the trim length on the barrel lug.

You have to have at least a shortened 7mm-08 die for a form die. Even though the shoulder angle of the standard Savage is pretty gentle for case forming, I doubt you will be able to just run .307s into the Savage die.

The key to the Savage, or any round for that matter, is the amount of case set-back against the breechface. At the first hint of the barrel opening harder than usual, back off.

All other indications aside, the one showing hard opening is definitely a heads up that you are potentially making the frame work harder than it is capable of handling...... regardless of what the reloading manual's data says. Ie, the book may say you can load hotter, but the frame may tell you otherwise. Listen to the frame, and forget the book.

In regard to bolt gun rounds like the .250 Imp., normally I refuse to chamber rounds like this in a Contender, but with the stipulation that it is loaded basically like a standard .250 Savage on the one hand, and on the other, there is no FACTORY ammo that is too hot for the Contender that will fire in this chamber, I do chamber for the .250 Imp.

I would hands down recommend the Imp. over the standard .250 Savage, and strongly advise using stronger brass, rimmed brass instead of standard .250 Savage which is pretty thin in comparison.

Mike