Hey guys
Was at the range today and shot a fantastic group with my Ruger 77 International in 250 savage with an older 100gr nosler solid base bullet with 38gr of IMR 4350.
How long a shot is about the max for the 250 savage? Thanks FS

I've been shooting a 24" bull barrel 250-3000 for 13 years. At 200 yards the wind really kicks in for 100's and I find shot dispersion with handloads is 'hunting accuracy' but not necessarily close enough to make me feel really confident. I also have (had) a box of the 100 silvertips and they were uber accurate at 100 yards with that barrel on my rifle.

Shoot your rifle at the range you expect to hunt at, in wind and in still air.

My son shoots a .243 with 100 grain handloads and I have observed a real 'time of flight' difference between the two at longer ranges.

It is possible for that 100 grain bullet to be traveling at 2350 fps at 300 yds. That's 25-35s muzzle velocity. There are those on this forum who have used the 25-35 often on elk and mule deer with success. That being the case the answer to your question is with your experience, and confidence level in you and your equipment. roger

Well thanks Roger

I will load up some more rounds and shoot them at 200 yards and see how they look. I wasn't hoping to hear that someone thinks the 250 is good for 300 yards , no problem. Me thinks the super accurate Steyr prohunter I have in 6.5x55 with 120gr bullets is most likely going to do the shooting on my pronghorn hunt, save the 250 for the doe hunts later in November. FS

My wife killed an antelope with a 100gr bullet in a 243 Win, at 350 yards, and several in the 250 to 300 yard range with no problems.

The 250 Savage should do at least as well.

It will do fine out to as comfortable as far out as you are shooting it.

I've seen many one shot kills, out to 400+ yards with 243s.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
My wife killed an antelope with a 100gr bullet in a 243 Win, at 350 yards, and several in the 250 to 300 yard range with no problems.

The 250 Savage should do at least as well.

It won't. Trust me. I've had both in the field at the same time shooting large Red Aussie ferals in the 50kg+ range. At 200 + the son's .243 (which shoots Sierra 100 SptBt's) has it all over my 250. Damn it

At least as far as you can kill them with a .223.
Any of you .223 experts want to volunteer the maximum range for a .223 on deet if there is one?

Many of the 25 caliber bullets are tough enough for 25-06 velocities and penetrate much better in my experience than do 243 cal bullets. I would rather hunt deer and equivalent game with a .250 Savage than with the .243.

I shot this Axis deer last year with my 250-3000. It was only 100yds., but it is a much larger animal than a pronghorn.

can you tell us a little more? what bullet did you use? where did you hit? full penetration? thanks

I will check my info in the morning and post it.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I shot this Axis deer last year with my 250-3000. It was only 100yds., but it is a much larger animal than a pronghorn.

Oooh, pretty rifle! Tell us more about the rifle, too.

I have taken quite a few of the Axis deer in Hawaii with my 250 AI with OLD 100 gr Nosler Solid Base with no problems out to 300 +-. In Or it has done the job for the last 10 yrs or so out to 350 or so on the Blacktails and two Antelope on the Hart Mtn areas. I think with decent accuracy I would go 275 or 300 but not much further. Most of the bullets open up a bit and mushroom pretty good but I do get complete pass through on the deer but not on elk. On the bigger bodied elk-- call them in and place your shot carefully or you`ll be tracking for awhile.
Aloha, Mark

I don't know why, but it appears that I used a 100 grain Ballistic tip bullet. Picture doesn't show it, but it was a neck shot and no exit wound. Animal actually stood still for 10 seconds or so before collapsing. I was just getting ready to fire again. It also appears that I used 34.4 Grains of IMR 4895. Probably a hefty nload.
The rifle is a Peruvian turned to small ring, Blackburn trigger, LaPour safety, Wiebe bottom metal, Shilen barrel, Roger Vardy wood, and Kobe stocker.

thanks. sounds like a very nice rig!

I was wrong,
I used 100grain TTSX Barnes bullets.

Wow. I am really surprised that a TTSX would not give complete penetration. Guess you did not recover the bullet?

I grew up in the Big Bend country of West Texas South of Marathon, Alpine and Marfa. All my family and everyone I knew in that area shot 25-35s, 30-30s and 250 Savages with a Win. mod. 95 30-40 Krag or 06 ocasionally..That was all there was back then..

The 250 was real popular for saddle carry and it killed so well that most of us used it on deer, antelope and even elk..My dad shot over 50 elk with his 250 and 25-35, I shot half a dozen elk with a 250 and my first few with a 25-35..We all shot lots of Mule deer in that high rimrock country and shots could be long across one canyon wall to the opposite side. I have seen many Mule deer and Coues deer shot at up 400 to 450 yards..

I have shot a number of deer at 300 yards and a number at way passed that 300 yard mark, but that was a long time ago and young cowboy who didn't know any better. based on about 60 plus years of actually hunting with a 250 Savage mod 99 Savage I would call it a good 300 yard gun and perhaps a bit further under ideal circumstances with a rest and broadside shot by a good shot.

Mostly we used Silvertips and Corelokts and the were about 2600 FPS..Later with handloads I used the 85 gr. GS customs and Barnes X with good results, I like the 100 gr. Speers and 100 gr. Hornadys at about 2950 FPS. I love Nosler partitions but only in calibers of 30 and above., not in the 6mm or 257 calibers..The 110 gr. Nosler Accubond is one of my favorite 250-3000 bullets at a bit more than 2800 FPS, its a real killer..Most of the 117 gr. bullets are good at 2800 FPS..The 250 is kind to bullets, the velocity is such that it gets the best out of most bullets, and kills beyond its paper balistics and is a much better killer than the 6MMs IMO...

I have never found the wind to move the 100 gr. 250 any more than a 270 or 7x57, it would only be in a few inches if it does. Doping wind in a hunting situation with standard shooting equipment is tricky at best and damn near impossible in reality..

Thats about all I know about the 250-3000 and yes I am prejudice towards it, it earned that.

there were elk in west Texas??

Elk were introduced in SE Okla. several years ago. Poaching is a real problem there. I go to the Choctaw Indian Hospital yearly for dental and eye care in Talihina. WE have seen elk crossing the road more than one time. Yes, there are some east of Ennis, Texas. They are raised for the meat I am told. Don't know about west Texas.

Yes sir there has always been elk in the Glass Mountains behind Marathon, Texas, I have hunted them on Cap Yates ranch many years ago as Cap and I were real good frinds and I worked for him from time to time. That herd of elk is still there and they have some monster bulls. They run on the old Cap Yates place and the Blackmore ranch. I don't know who owns the ranches now, I suspect some magnate out of Houston or Dallas, or Japan...

However, I should qualify that most of my familys elk hunting was in Colorado back in the 1950s...We would take two trailer loads of mules to Chimney Rock Store in Colorado to the clos Trail head, and hunt in the Wilamanuche (SP. ?) Wilderness, stay until everyone killed their elk, then come out and the outfitters would be standing by to bid on our mules. We boys just took a few weeks out of school and nobody cared back then..I will say that the adults were old and tougher than wang leather, smoked cigerettes one after another and drank coffee by the gallon when they ran out of Whiskey, but snow, blizzard, whatever didn't seem to bother anyone but us kids!!

My brother, cousins and I would spend the next year breaking mules for the next elk season. It paid for our hunts and made the family a good deal of money. That rough, rocky high Big Bend country is ideal for breaking mules, you can get a lot of wet saddle blankets in a hurry there. I had a very fortunate childhood, and passed that on to my kids and grandkids..

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Yes sir there has always been elk in the Glass Mountains behind Marathon, Texas, I have hunted them on Cap Yates ranch many years ago as Cap and I were real good frinds and I worked for him from time to time. That herd of elk is still there and they have some monster bulls. They run on the old Cap Yates place and the Blackmore ranch. I don't know who owns the ranches now, I suspect some magnate out of Houston or Dallas, or Japan...

However, I should qualify that most of my familys elk hunting was in Colorado back in the 1950s...We would take two trailer loads of mules to Chimney Rock Store in Colorado to the clos Trail head, and hunt in the Wilamanuche (SP. ?) Wilderness, stay until everyone killed their elk, then come out and the outfitters would be standing by to bid on our mules. We boys just took a few weeks out of school and nobody cared back then..I will say that the adults were old and tougher than wang leather, smoked cigerettes one after another and drank coffee by the gallon when they ran out of Whiskey, but snow, blizzard, whatever didn't seem to bother anyone but us kids!!

My brother, cousins and I would spend the next year breaking mules for the next elk season. It paid for our hunts and made the family a good deal of money. That rough, rocky high Big Bend country is ideal for breaking mules, you can get a lot of wet saddle blankets in a hurry there. I had a very fortunate childhood, and passed that on to my kids and grandkids..

Interesting. I knew that there are some elk in that area now that have been re-introduced. And my understanding is that they are categorized as "non-native" game or "exotics", and as such there is no closed season.

Was that the case back when you were a pup? thanks

I chickened out, and found a fairly warm load with my 257 AI on a Win. xtr feather. Weighs quite a bit less than the Sako deluxe with the 5-20 Nikon on top.
Load is 51gr of 4350 with the 100gr TSX, I know it is way over book, but I have shot 15 of them and my bolts lifts just like normal and there are no pressure signs any where on the brass and the accuracy is right where we all like it. FS

The Glass Mountain wild elk were put there by Bill Blakemore as I recall, and I think that was in the 1940 or 50s, not sure...I don't know if there has ever been a season on them..The herd however spread to most of the neighboring ranches over the years along with the Audads as no high fences exist in the Big Bend area as far as I know..Texas may have put a season on them because of that and they should have..

When I was a pup ranchers did whatever they pleased, the attitude then was all the land was privately owned and nobody told them how to do anything on their real estate, over the years that has changed and all the old boys are gone to the arena in the sky...Todays Texas ranchers realize that wildlife is a resource and they manage it to perfection, and it brings in big bucks, and has saved many a cattleman from selling shoes for a living!

I remember well when my dad walked in the house and said "Boys, no more hunting and living on deer meat because deer were bringing $50.00 from hunters in Houston, Dallas and even El Paso, and steers are bringing 14 cents pound....

Conservation came to Texas and it was welcomed. It helped all of us comeing out of the great depression I'm told.

Where we would perhaps see a deer every 10 or so days, and that was being horseback most of the time. With water development, cutting sotol in drought, and just good management in less than 5 years we would see 50 deer a day and sometimes twice that many in a day.

Today Mule deer are bringing $2500 to $3000 on the better ranches, most of those 50 to 100 section ranches bring in 30 or 40 hunters in the 9 day season.

The elk are going for about $5500 last I heard, so that was a good investment for all..

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I was wrong,
I used 10grain TTSX Barnes bullets.

That's a pretty light bullet roger

They were special order.