I just bought a 99 in 250 Savage made in 1950.
Does anyone know the twist rate of the barrel on this vintage rifle?
Thanks.
sbsmith

1 in 14"

Buzz-
Thanks for the answer. Do you know when they switched to the 10 twist? Also, how heavy a bullet will stabilize in the 14 twist?
Thanks.
sbsmith

The 1 in 14 gives best performance with bullets up to 100 grains. Keep in mind that twist rate was chosen by the factory with the 87 gn. bullet in mind. That was the original size bullet with which they claimed to have achieved 3000 fps.
My 99 was manufactured in 1941, has the 1:14 twist rate, and loves 100 gn. bullets. To be honest, I've never tried anything larger. I've been curious if the precision would significantly degrade in the 100yd ( or less) range that is my most common hunting shot.
Doesn't seem to matter ..I've had excellent results on Southern whitetail with 100's.
Cheers,
Don

My mid 50's vinatage .250 show a definite preference for the 87 grain Hornady bullet so far. I have not tried anything heavier than 100 which do pretty good, just not as good as the 87. I do plan to give some 117 RN a try as they are shorter than the BT style and close to the same length as a 100 grain spitzer.

I believe that when Savage reintroduced the 250-3000 in 1971, they went to a 1 in 10" twist. The only post-1960 commercial 250-3000 rifle made with a 1 in 14" twist that I know of was the 1986/1987 run of Winchester 70 lightweight carbines. For some unknown reason, Winchester opted for a 1 in 14" twist, rather than the then current standard 1 in 10" twist. I mostly shoot 87 grain Speer HotCores and TNTs or 75 grain Xs and VMaxs in my 1 in 14" twist 250-3000s.

Jeff