I am interested in building a light-weight .250 Savage based rifle. I am looking for suggestions for a suitable action (besides the scarcer than hens teeth Mauser M98 Kurtz actions)?

The Remington Model 7.

Mod an XP-100 action. I believe they are lighter than the model 7 ?????

Remington 722, Mod 700 short.

Another option is a 96 Mauser.
I did a .257 Roberts on a 96 and it is a slim trim nice little rifle and a .250 would be great in the same. All kinds of options available like cock on open, safeties and triggers abound.
Or go more conventional like a Win or Rem action as suggested. The XP 100 is a solid bottom single shot from what I remember though.
Or try a short action Remington/ Zastava action in the Mauser 98 style.

mexican mauser, mini mauser, rem 7,

How about a Weatherby Varminter action - very light, quite different. --- John303.

Or a Yugo 24/47.

or m48

Mexican Mauser. There is a Type A Kurz 250 for sale in Victoria, $8500.

Well,

You might look at a ----

Savage M-99



SSR

This rifle is built on a M38 Swede action. Weight as pictured is 7lbs. Chambering is 6.5x55, a barrel swap will get you to the .250. A good place to start, and I'm looking to sell it. If you might be interested, LMK

Then there is the original Savage light weight bolt action 250-3000 The 1920, crappy bottom metal, stock prone to breaking and a bitch to mount a scope on. But has tang safety, stock can be reinforced and there are suitable ways to mount a scope. A Google of Savage 1920 will turn up several images and specs.

KIMBER M-84M would make a nice one.

SSR

Start wit a Savage or Stevens mod. 200 in .243. Get a barrel chambered to 250-3000 and deep throated with fast twist that fits the action. unscrew .243 barrel and spin on .250-3000 barrel and go do your thing. roger

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
If you really want to do it right, find somebody competent, and have them shorten a Mauser Action to fit the cartridge. I will see if I can find a picture of the one Don Allen had done.

Not saying one way is MORE RIGHT than the other but the Stevens as described will allow an OAL > 2.800" not the perscribed 2.515". That's a whole bunch and yields a cartridge of an entire different complextion with bullets up to 120 grains. You will also gain the pleasure out of the doing yourself. roger

Having owned and used a .250 Savage in the Savage Model 1920 bolt gun when living in Saskatchewan, I would not recommend one even to an enemy.

The best feature of the gun in my eyes is that the firing pin protrusion is VERY easily adjusted if you need to do that...and mine definitely needed it. Other than that, I would take a Remington Model 7 action over it every time, or even better a G-33/40 (lightened sort-of Mauser) action.

The Model 20 trigger is the pits; so is the bolt stop. Actually the trigger is lousy even if you work it over, because THE SEAR IS THE BOLT STOP!! It quickly becomes battered as you operate the bolt if you use the gun much. And the whole action will definitely need some smoothing of the operating internal parts if it is still original.

Oh, and the thing I liked least about it...if you DO happen to get a primer leak, it directs the hot gas and bits of brass directly into your face (and eyes if not wearing glasses)...been there; learned the hard way.

Sako Forester action - lighter than the Mausers and about the same weight (40 oz.) as the Remington 722 but with more class.

AC,

I couldn't agree with your more. I tossed it into the ring since the OP wanted to know what suitable actions (suitable in this case being questionable). Their big draw to me is the safety, as a lefty that is a +. I have 3 still, 2 in 250 & a 300 and while they aren't Mausers or 50 year newer Rem 7s they were IMHO pretty good for the era. Fortunately for me, mine have relative decent triggers still.

Model 70 Winchester short actions are really nice. CDNN has the actions for 308 based cartridges. The last time I looked they still had them for $349. They are the FN Patrol rifle actions with box mags.

I had a 1920 in .300 Savage. A joy to carry, but yes, the trigger was a mess.

quote:

Originally posted by loud-n-boomer:
I am interested in building a light-weight .250 Savage based rifle. I am looking for suggestions for a suitable action (besides the scarcer than hens teeth Mauser M98 Kurtz actions)?

if I built one, Model 70 SA Featherweight...

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Having owned and used a .250 Savage in the Savage Model 1920 bolt gun when living in Saskatchewan, I would not recommend one even to an enemy.

The best feature of the gun in my eyes is that the firing pin protrusion is VERY easily adjusted if you need to do that...and mine definitely needed it. Other than that, I would take a Remington Model 7 action over it every time, or even better a G-33/40 (lightened sort-of Mauser) action.

The Model 20 trigger is the pits; so is the bolt stop. Actually the trigger is lousy even if you work it over, because THE SEAR IS THE BOLT STOP!! It quickly becomes battered as you operate the bolt if you use the gun much. And the whole action will definitely need some smoothing of the operating internal parts if it is still original.

Oh, and the thing I liked least about it...if you DO happen to get a primer leak, it directs the hot gas and bits of brass directly into your face (and eyes if not wearing glasses)...been there; learned the hard way.

A little preface here; of all the contributors to AR you fall into the category of few that I totally respect and heed. What you are saying about the Savage bolt design I agree with.
Be it known ,however, that during the last 8 or so years. I've derived a lot of pleasure in playing with the Savages and Stevens even though they are what you say. Perhaps I'm a little more simple than most. As a kid my toys were mostly hand-me-downs, yet I didn't know any better and I enjoyed them; well mostly.
Kinda like the avid collector who turns his nose up at a some what worn 1916 D dime. On the other hand the news boy who found it in his paper collection money thought he had found a treasure,and did . Nuff said and no offence taken roger

I would look for a Sako L579 used by Browning for their Safari 243 and 308 rifles. I made a Mannlicher on one in the mid 80's that was perfect for that size case and rifle

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
A little preface here; of all the contributors to AR you fall into the category of few that I totally respect and heed. What you are saying about the Savage bolt design I agree with.
Be it known ,however, that during the last 8 or so years. I've derived a lot of pleasure in playing with the Savages and Stevens even though they are what you say. Perhaps I'm a little more simple than most. As a kid my toys were mostly hand-me-downs, yet I didn't know any better and I enjoyed them; well mostly.
Kinda like the avid collector who turns his nose up at a some what worn 1916 D dime. On the other hand the news boy who found it in his paper collection money thought he had found a treasure,and did . Nuff said and no offence taken roger

Roger First, let me tell you that there is no other contributor at AR who I respect more than you. You are a good, experienced, smart, practical, nice, and helpful guy, and one of 4 to 6 here I would trust with darned near anything I owned and whose advice I would absolutely take on your assurance it was so!

They ARE fun guns, very small, very light, and very handy to carry on walking, woods-loafer, type hunts. There I certainly agree with you.

But for a guy who may want to make a serious semi-custom which may end up costing him a bunch of his hard-earned bucks...especially if they are his only rifle in a particular chambering., I don't think they are really a preferable donor (or rifle).

If he can do much or most of the improvement work himself, and has something else as a primary rifle for that round, then fine. He'll have fun, and lots of opportunities to improvise and show his skills.

But, much fun as they are as a sort of advanced toy gun, I know that one of the reasons they didn't sell well and were discontinued is because of their serious flaws as a long term reliable, primary hunting rifle.

What with no internet or that kind of thing in those days, I wasn't able to read the comments from the day when they were new on the shelves until years after I got mine. Later I learned they got a lot of the same sort of review as mine above, clear back in the 1920s in outdoor magazines.

BTW, IIRC, they were one of the first post-war bolt action smokeless powder commercial sporters ever made In America by a long established manufacturing company, beginning in the year 1920. That alone is a good reason to own one each in both .250 and .300 Savage...just not as a primary core rifle for a particular cartridge like the .250 for frequent field use.

Best wishes, A.C.