Bought one today,
A hunter not a safe queen. It looks like an EG model to me, Barrel length is 22 , stock has on pretty good nick in it but , it a hunter, Serial Number dates it to about 1938 or 39. Somebody put a pad on and installed a 4 power M8 leupold in a one piece Redfield mount.
It has an old pop up tang sight , looks like a Lyman. I got Lots of Ammo , 50 some Remington Corelockt and 34 Winchester silver tips.
Bore is very good, i bet this girl has some history, who ever put the miles on it took care of it. Should be fun, I paid a grand for it, there were what looked like better deals on gun broker, But here i got a 100 bucks worth of free ammo, Didn't have to pay shipping or transfer fee, And i could probably get 100 out of the scope easy enough, so i am happy enough.
...tj3006

Enjoy your new rifle

quote:

Originally posted by tjroberts:
Bought one today,
A hunter not a safe queen. It looks like an EG model to me, Barrel length is 22 , stock has on pretty good nick in it but , it a hunter, Serial Number dates it to about 1938 or 39. Somebody put a pad on and installed a 4 power M8 leupold in a one piece Redfield mount.
It has an old pop up tang sight , looks like a Lyman. I got Lots of Ammo , 50 some Remington Corelockt and 34 Winchester silver tips.
Bore is very good, i bet this girl has some history, who ever put the miles on it took care of it. Should be fun, I paid a grand for it, there were what looked like better deals on gun broker, But here i got a 100 bucks worth of free ammo, Didn't have to pay shipping or transfer fee, And i could probably get 100 out of the scope easy enough, so i am happy enough.
...tj3006

Check out the Lever Action Forum. If you need another one, there is a really nice one at the ACE Hardware in Blue Ridge, GA. They are asking $650 for it. Really good one.

witch lever action Forum, paco kelly ?

No, the AR lever forum.

Congrats on another 1/4 bore. Sounds like a rather rare piece of history.

Be sure to keep the loads to 100 grains and only certain 100 grain bullets at that. Sierra's 100 grain game pro and maybe the Winchester Silvertips. The early 250-3000 guns had too slow of a twist to stabilize most anything bigger than 85 grains with the exception of a few 100gr bullets with certain profiles designed to work in the Savage. Do some research online and you will understand. Later guns had faster twist rates but many factory loads with heavier bullets aren't worth a crap in the older guns.

Tried her out today !
Overall i am pretty happy. It did not like the factory Remington 100 grain Core locks to well. And the 87 grain Speer Hot core was not good either.
But the Sierra 90 grain BT HP was At 1.13 and 1.33.
This with a 4 power scope, i can do better i am sure.
The 100 grain speer , did right around an inch and a quarter. I was very surprised the 100 grain speer out shot the 87 gr. More speed might change that.
These were mild starting loads with IMR 3031 will bump them up a little at a time....

99EGs did not come in 22 inches so yours has been cut or rebarreled..check the front sight that should tell your what is going on, if it really makes any difference other that resale value. As far as I know all the EGs had 1x10 twists..Its the model that made Savage famous..They have been on a down hill spiral ever since, in and out of bankruptcy, you would think they would bring back the 99EG or 99F, they have the tooling..but bean counters are not known for intelligence..

1938-39, 22" barrel, could well mean it's a 99T. A pic would help identify it. Kind of rare, worth a premium in nice original condition, but with a butt pad installed and used general condition not so much. But you're happy so that's all that matters.

The fact that those 100 grain bullets shoot well in that slow twist Savage tells me you're shooting at significantly higher elevation than sea level, no? Thinner atmosphere is a big help in getting long-ish bullets to stabilize in marginally fast twisted barrels. Also, bear in mind that back in those days when everybody was still using sine bar rifling machines it was on the shoulders of the setup man to get it right, and humans being what they are it's not uncommon to find early Savages with ROT's that vary considerably from their nominal specs- perhaps you got lucky and found one with a bit faster ROT.

I've had marginal but inconsistent luck with 100 grain-anythings in early Savage .250-3000's, and every one that did well with 100 grainers invariably did even better with 87 grain Speers. But, we all know there aren't many absolutes in the world of early Savages.

i am only assuming its an EG cause of the for stock ! Barrel looks original .
I put a better scope on it, to get a better idea of what it can do. I will be putting as gloss leupold 3X9 compact on it soon.
I orders a 1 piece Leopold base , to replace the rather thick heavy base on it now. I hope the threads on the screws match...

I bought an EG about 15 years ago at a gun show. The show in reality was a bust, we had flooding rains that weekend, plus a much bigger show was scheduled in Houston, about 200 miles south, so not too many dealers showed up. Mine is in 300 Savage, and has an old Weaver K4 with a Lee dot. I wish it had a tang sight but that's ok. I went in and gave the hammer and trigger sear surfaces a couple of strokes with one of the very fine black Arkansas stones, and I do mean just a couple and that slicked the trigger up nicely. She shoots good, though I have not shot her much. I bought it more out of curiosity as I already had numerous Marlin and WInchester levers. I know they have not been made for years, but wonder why they were not more popular down here in the south,

A great calibre IMO,+ one of the 1st to achieve the 3000 MV.Thus the name.Save your brass;I understand it's getting hard to find.

Yes brass is getting tougher to find for some of the classics like this.

I think unfortunately the reason the .250 isn't more popular today is because many want to drive bullets as fast as possible without appreciating what some of the old standards did at the velocity they were at. Especially since they aren't packaged in some plastic fantastic rifle on the dealers shelves.

A Savage 99 in .250/3000 is a great little deer gun that gives up nothing at realistic hunting ranges.

I have 250 cases including 80 some factory rounds that came with the rifle.
If Brass ever got to hard to come by I would think 22-250 would do nicely.
Probably open up to ,257 in a snap. You could always use a .243 stem 1st if the necks split or something..tj3006

tj your right just run a 22-250 through your 250 die and load er up..Starline or some outfit is making 250-3000 brass now..but it sells by the 20 round box and its expensive..fortunately I have enough factory ammo and brass to last me the rest of my life im pretty sure..

well, ray i bought 150 winchester cases, and another 250 99 too. i found a 99A, with the tang saftey 1in 10 twist . it has a 20 inch barrel. should have it in about 10 to 12 days.
Hope to score a slightly used VX2 2x7 Gloss finish tomorrow.
The one i have now shoots well enough. it really likes the 90 grain sierra bt hp. But i would love to get this new one to shoot 100 grain boat tails.
At the speed this cartridge pushes, them i think that any brand will work fine...

That's a good cartridge, had a friend who had a Remington Custom XP 100 and it was a sweet shooter.

TJ, every 250 Ive owned shot the Sierra 90 gr. HP best...I also like the 85 gr. GS Custom and Barnes TTSx bt in most of my 250..Sounds like you got one of the later straight grip 99A from the 1970s era, nice guns and the last of the good Savage 99s..

Ive killed enogh deer and elk with a 250-3000 to know its worth..Its never failed me..

In Texas in the 1940s to the 1950s or there abouts the 250-3000 99 SAvage was very popular in West texas and south Texas and so was the 300 savage..The 300 was all but considered a magnum in those days...Had an uncle that slew all mannor of elk with both calibers..said you had to be carefull with the 250 and keep the range under 200 yards. I suspect he was spot on. and I adhered to his advise in those early years..Its still good today.

My latest possession is a 1940ish FN commercial rifle in 250-3000, ser. #1115 purchased from JeffreyPD, a fine gentleman on AR, Its the most beautiful factory bolt action Ive seen in years, beautiful old world rust blue that mezmorizes me, a very classic stock with two cross bolts like all those old FNs..and it shoots bullet up to 100 grs best, may be a 1x14 twist being that early of a gun..but Im working on heavy bullet loads as we speak..it shoots them 2" at 100, but the 80 to 90 gr. shoot one hole, so Im suspect, but we will see..It was love at first sight, Lord help me not sell or trade this one..its my addiction..

Addition: Today I shot the 115 sierra at 1.5 inches,not great for this gun but good enough to hunt with..and low and behold the Hornady 117 gr. round nose ( a shorter bullet )for the 25-35 shot 3 or 5 five shot groups under 1/2 inch, one holers..That bullet does the same in my 99s..Its length more than weight that causes keyholes and inaccuracy in the 1x14 twists..both 250s shoot flat base 100 gr Sierras and Speers etc, but keyhole boattail Nosler ballistic tips,lenth is the culprit..

My neighbor shoots the 250-3000 + I load for him. He has had problems in the past finding ammo + was considering rebarreling it to a more "modern" calibre,I told him,no,I will reload for you,just save your brass.Of course not being a handloader himself he never saved his brass.I had some extra in the loading room + got him ready for deer season + then wonder of wonders,a member here on AR had a 100 ct. bag of new RP brass for $40.00 shipped.You know I bought it. I'll keep Ken shooting for several more years.I never charge him anything.He's a neighbor + has a large pecan orchard down in the valley below me.Sometimes I go + help him eradicate his crow woes.On a good year (more dead crows) we get to collect pecans in 5 gal. buckets + crack them in the winter while sitting around watching T.V. etc.Life could be worse.

I found a hardware store in Utah about 198?, can't recall the name of the town but it was isolated...They had 20 boxes of WW and 10 boxes of Rem 250-3000..the price tag was about 1945 related..I bought them all..Still have about half of those factory loads, plus a coffee can of brass..so Im fixed of 250s...Need 257s if anyone has any..

Roberts brass is hard to come buy unless you want to pay for Nosler, Starline will rescue us one day i bet !...tj3006

Since the below post, I ran about 200 7x57s through my 257 Robts die, fireformed to 257 Ackley..All is well on the 257 Ackley program..

That will work + as we all know (at this time) we still have a plethora of 7X57 brass available.

Old post but my favorite gun ...
1-14 twist model 99 shoot 87/100 gr Speer well...
I use 87 gr Speer Hot Cor.
32.5 grs of #3031 ....
Same hole at 50 yds over and over...
I get 4 loading per shell FL resizing ....
Been loading my baby for 55 years ....

TJ,
If you want to sell that Leupold 4X, id be interested..