I recently picked up a like new Savage 99A 250 Savage for my 13 year old son to use on deer this year here in South Dakota. I`m having problems deciding which bullet to use. Looking at the Barnes manual, it has me thinking that a 90 grain X at about 3000 fps would be just about right. However, being an Elmer Keith groupie, I have never used a bullet that light on deer before. Or how about a 100 grain Partition a little slower? What do you think? I wanna buy bullets this weekend for a trip to the range next weekend.

I would suggest the 100gn Part, however my youg lad uses the 100 Sierra's they're much cheaper & shot good in our 250s. Sierra also recommends the 87gn for medium size game, I haven't ried a deer with these but they do shoot best by far in all the 99 250's I have owned.

I thing to keep in mind is the twist rate; many 250 Savages use the 1:14, which is marginal for stabilizing 100 gr bullets. But when the 1:10 twist is used (as in my 700 Classic), even 120's shoot great. Not sure if Savage stayed with the 1:14 with all their 99's.

This is one of the newer 99s and is 1 in 10"

I use 115g Ballistic Tips in mine - but it is a stronger bolt action. I get about 2700 fps and the BT's hold together just fine.

hoss101 I shoot the 250 savage quite a bit... you might try the very ordinary hornaday 100 grainer, it is well matched.