I'm thinking about a heavy barreled Mauser for varmints only. I noticed that the 4th Edition Sierra Reloading Manual used a Mauser with a 1-14" twist for their load testing.
Sierra, Berger, Hornady all make bullets 75 grains and under.
Good wind resistance, low heat, mild pressures. Looks pretty good on paper.
Am I missing something?

I have two .250 Savages, a 1953 Model 99 Savage with the 1-14 twist and a M77 Ruger tang safety built in 1975 that I think has 1-10 twist. Both are very accurate with 75 Sierra HP, and the 75 V-Max is scary accurate in the Ruger. Haven't tried it in the M99. I haven't used either on Prarie Dogs as both are old and I don't want to chance shooting them out. Both have done very well on coyotes though. The M99 won't stabilize anything over 87 gr., but the Ruger does very well with 100 Hornady sp.
You're Mauser project looks very good for a coyote, Ground hog, type rifle. In a heavy barrel, it should e good for long range PD's as well, the heavier barrel should help with the heat build up. Just won't get the velocities a good 25-06 would generate.

quote:

Am I missing something?

YES...you're missing the 300+'/sec additional that you could have in the .257 Roberts and with absolutely no losses of anything.....in either case I'd recommend to stay with the 1-10 twist.

A 250 Sav with a 25-26" barrel will easily get a 75 V-max into the 3400 fps+ range- absolute destruction on Pd's & perfectly capable into the 400-500 yard range. Yes you can go to a larger case in 25 cal and I do, you will find that in the field the 250 Sav. is highly underated.

I have a mauser vz-24 that is chambered in the 250 improved that has been a great fun varmit rig. I like to shoot the nosler 85gr BT for vermin, as it performs very well as to accuracy and splatter factor. I really like the 350 savage for varmit hunting, as it is very plesant to shoot, and doesn't have the ear/hearing zing of some thing like the 243/6mm yet it performs on par with them. I like the 25 cals, and shoot a standard 250 in a 14 inch contender, the afore mentioned 250 improved, a 257 roberts, and a 25-06. Why the 243/6mm's ever got a foothold is beyond me.

I have shot the 250-3000 for years and think that it is a good varmint round. The 75 grain Sierra BTHP and 75 grain VMax are very accurate in all of the .257 bore rifle that I have loaded for. I have a Ruger 77 with a heavy barrel that I used for shooting pdogs, but decided that I wanted a little more speed for the longer, 300 yards +, shots and rechambered it from 250-3000 to 25-284. A 1-14" twist usually works fine for bullets up to 100 grains and, IMO, the 250-3000 doesn't have enough case capacity to get the optimal speed out of any heavier bullets. If you want to shoot deer with a 1-14" twist 250-3000, the 87 grain Speer HotCore is a nice choice, as is the 87 grain Speer TNT for coyotes.

Jeff

Yes, I also have been looking at rechambering a short action rifle into a 250 Savage, for varminting, just because it is an old timer and doesn't get any respect any more....

The 75 grain ballistics don't give me anything that a 6mm won't give me, except something different than the other guys are shooting... which is GOOD Enough for one in my book!

cheers
seafire

Great varmint cartridge, the .250-3000. I used a Savage 99EG for several years with the 60 grain Winchester hollow point bullet, the one designed for the .25-20 WCF. Could get it moving over 3300 fps (a couple of mauals stated 3500 fps) and the results on Crows and Woodchucks were dramatic!! The .250 Savage is a great cartridge and largely overlooked today.

LLS

If you like the case, you might like to consider a 6/250. My wife uses one as her rabbit/fox rifle. Accurate and mild. Seems to have most of the pluses of a 243 without the hassles, and it's in a different league to my 22/250.

Slancey, I'm doing something like that at the moment with a 700 SA. My thoughts are to make a light walking rifle out of it with twist suitable for 100 grains or less. I think the heavy barrel is a mistake but it is your project however. I agree with the comment above regarding case capacity of the .250 Savage, not a lot of reason to play with the 117-120 grain bullets. I also think it a mistake to handicap your rifle's potential. Sure, your intent today may only be varmints, but someday you may change your mind, or sell it, and that will have a limiting factor on value. A faster twist won't hurt the lighter bullets, I'm doing 1:10 for mine though I likely won't shoot anything much more than 90 gr. Also, I don't know if the 1:14 will stabilize the 85 gr. Ballistic Tip, a bullet I find superior to the 75 VMAX in accuracy, and equal in velocity with the Roberts.

Good Luck in any case!

I saw a cutie on AuctionArms a while back. Someone had managed to build a .250-3000 on a Charles Daly Mini-Mauser action. Looked like about the perfect woods loafing gun.

Were I going to build a varmint only .250-3000, I believe I would keep my eyes open for a Rem 788 with a shot out .22-250 barrel.

Think I was stay away from 1-14" barrels. Might consider a 1-12" if that is available. My .25s have mostly been 1-10" and have generally shot 75 grain bullets very well.