I am going to have a rifle put together and am struggling to decide between the .250 Savage AI and the .260 Rem. I am really intrigued by the .250 AI, but an having a difficult time justifying the wildcat, when it seems the .260 will do everything it will, and in addition shoot bullets heavy enough for Elk. This is going to be a light weight everything rifle from Coyotes up to a very occasional Elk, but mostly Whitetails. Comments?
I've been shooting the .250 AI for a couple of years and love it. I use mainly for roedeer but have also used it to take 5 sikadeer (biggest stag was 60 kg field dressed) and 3 fallow (biggest hind was 37 kg field dressed) all with great results. That been said I would want something bigger when it comes the occational elk. The .260 will do anything the .250AI will do + a little more. The fact that you can use bullets up to 160 gr I think gives the edge to the .260. For a "deer-only" I would go for the .250AI. Not that it is better its just a lot of fun and in my mind a very beautiful cartridge. regards Martin
I really like what the 260 can do and it is hard to pass up somehting that can be bought and shot, or bought and tuned up if you like or just build one. I ended up passing it up to go with the 6.5X55 BJ A.I just to get a little more speed out of the heavyer bullets and it would fit better in the 98 action I am useing. I think the 250 A.I. would be a great varmint, deer round but the 260 has a little more performance. One thing nice about the 250 is it will cost a little less each pull of the trigger if that matters. If a wildcat is what you are after then look into the 25 souper. It is a 25 cal 260 if you will or better yet a 308 necked down to 25 cal.
Unless you are just "warm and fuzzy" about doing an Ack. Imp. round I would say that you should stick with the 260 Remington. I have a couple of A.I. rifles and the fireforming gets to be a real pain and a waste of good components. If you have a Winchester short action or a long action, the 6.5mm x 55mm Swedish Mauser round is a really excellent choice. For real live hunting I would personally choose a 7mm-08 over any of the previously mentioned rounds cause it is one potent short action round that is as close to an all around caliber as you will find.
I'm a huge fan of the .250 Ackley, but there is no way I would even remotely consider it for elk. Just not enough energy there. But then again, I wouldn't use a .260 either. 7mm-08 would be the bare minimum.
I appreciate the replies. Pretty much leaning toward the .260. I don't consider myself an Elk expert, having killed only one. That was with a .270 and a 140 gr Hornady. Complete pass through. DRT (dead right there). Like I said, I'm no Elk expert, but I have to wonder why a .270 with a 140 gr bullet at 3000 fps makes a decent Elk cartridge, and a .260 with a 140 gr bullet at 2800 would be totally inadequate?
Hondo, there is something personally desirable in shooting a wildcat, however the fireforming and other specialty issues tend to outweight the pleasures over time. I have had the pleasure of forming cases for six wildcats, three of which are Ackleys. While performance has been good, there is always a factory cartridge which will do virtually the same job. Also regarding your specific 260 vs 250 AI, I must say bigger is always better for game. The 260 will be far more fun in the end. Good hunting.
I'm in a similar quandry as Hondo... for some reason that I can't really explain, the 250AI intrigues the hell out of me... but, logically, the .260 makes more sense.
I like the idea of a quarter bore rifle, I think the .257 Roberts is a very underrated cartridge in and of itself and this AI version kind of gives it the respect it deserves.... just my opinion....
Jigger, yes. The reason I asked is that I am a huge 250 savage fan, and oftan wonder why the first thing people want to do with the roberts and savage is see how close they can get to the next fastest quarter bore. I just dont understand that. Why not just go to the next quarter bore? The plain 250 savage(or roberts) can hold its own, and thats the whole point to these cartridges... they ARE not LOUD barrel burning quarter bores.
Small Fry.... probably for the same reason people buy '69 Nova's and try to make them go as fast as a 'Vette! Why not just buy a Corvette and get on with it? As shooters and reloaders, we seem to have this never ending curiosity to take something that ain't broke and try to fix it anyway! Makes no sense but it never stops us from trying. It's the testosterone in us... I've never seen my wife come home with a new pair of black heels and try to modify them to make the better!
Posts: 64 | Location: Indianapolis | Registered: 21 January 2003
Hmmm... I guess what intrigues me with the .250AI is, even though I have never seen one, from what I have read, the .250 AI performs way better than it's powder capacity should allow it to. Furthermore, with a case shorter than a .243 case, it seems better suited to a short Remington action. Wouldn't have to infringe on powder space as much. And, I just love the shape of the Ackley cartridges.... they just look way cool.
Disadvantages to me would be not everybody has a reemer. Dies are more expensive. Brass is getting hard to find.
Virtually everybody has a .260 reemer, I already have dies, and about 200 rounds of brass, and as mentioned before, the .260 handles 140 or even 160gr bullets if I wanted to use them. There supposedly has been a whole lot of moose killed with a 6.5x55. The .260 seems to be a short action version of it. And it doesn't seem to me that .007" in diameter could make a heck of a big difference. My practical side says .260. My fun side says .250 AI.
I have been a fan of quarter-bores for some years now which isn't normal in Europe. Even before I bought my first rifle (a Brno in .308w) I was very interested in the quarterbores. European rifle litterature doesn't pay much attention to them so it wasn't until a friend gave me his "American Hunting Rifles" that I knew about the .250 savage. My rifle is a Weatherby mark V varmintmaster (the old one) which won't alow me to use a normal short action cartrigde and therefore the answer was obvius. I chose the AI because it gives me a little extra speed and getting standard .250 brass, dieset and reamer would be just as expensive. And as stated earlier I just think its a beatyfull cartridge. Regards Martin
A friend has a 250 Savage AI and he seems to have a hard time finding 250 brass.If you like the 25's and the wildcats consider the 257AI. From prarie dogs to deer this is a great round. To me the 260 is to light for Elk but thats just me.
Well, guys, I appreciate the input. My practical side was leaning toward the .260, my fun side toward the .250 AI. I decided to go with the .250 AI. What pushed me over the edge was my gunsmith reminding me that when he pins the recoil lug, I could easily switch barrels at will. Dilemma solved. So, for now, it's the .250 AI, with probably a .338-08 barrel before my next Elk hunt. I like the .257 Ackley, but had already been through the hassles of trying to make a cartridge that long (6mm)work through a short Remington action. The brass does seem kinda scarce, but I was able to find some and order it the other day through Graf and Sons.
I would appreciate any data you .250 Ackley fans might have. This will be my first wildcat, so I'm pretty excited about it.
Hondo64d, Sounds like a good idea with the switch-barrels. I'm also running out of original .250 brass but its easy to fireform .22-250 brass. just neck-up from .22 to .25 with the sizerdie and fireforming is the same. Martin
