Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 20:05:48 GMT -5
A request was made for more stories on another thread, so here is one.
I should mention that this one will appear in the next book in the Luckiest Hunter series.
Enjoy,
The Mutt
I should mention that this one will appear in the next book in the Luckiest Hunter series.
Enjoy,
The Mutt
FINALLY: AFTER FIFTY YEARS, A .250 SAVAGE IS MINE
As a project to get ready for another trip to Deerfield, I decided one day in March of 2012 to purchase a rifle that was advertised on a website I used to visit frequently. It shall not be named here. My friend Ken Snyder who posted as Big Ken was intent upon selling a Savage model 99 in the old .250-3000 Savage caliber. This brought some long-suppressed memories to the surface. Way back in the 1960s there used to be a gun shop on U. S. Route 30 west of Chambersburg. It was called Walker’s Trading Post, and Mr. Walker certainly did have some nice guns for sale. One of them was a Model 99 Savage in .250-3000 caliber, and I wanted that gun. The problem was I couldn’t afford it, being inconvenienced a bit by poverty at the time, so I swallowed my pride and spent the money on other important stuff like groceries and clothing for the kids. On this particular day in March, 2012, I was more able to afford such a frivolous expenditure, so I contacted Ken and told him the gun was sold.
I had no intentions of putting the old Browning A-bolt in .257 Roberts that has served me so well in the past out to pasture, but this caliber and this gun intrigued me. My first chore would be to work up a handload for the rifle, since commercial rounds were largely unavailable. I purchased some brass and bullets online to work with. After experimentation, what I settled on was a load using the Sierra Game King 100 grain boat tail bullet. I have had great results with Sierra bullets, especially in my .257 Roberts. For deer-sized game, this loading should be the cat’s meow. Due to having injured my shoulder, and having surgery to repair the damage the first week of April, sighting in the rifle with the new handload had to be put off for awhile. “Awhile” stretched into nearly five years, as the project got put on the back burner, but I digress.
A bit of history of the .250-3000 cartridge is in order here. Way back in 1915, a gunsmith by the name of Charles Newton designed a cartridge which he named the .250 Newton. He based the round on a necked down and shortened .30-06 cartridge made to fit the lever action Savage model 1899. Savage bought the idea and began turning out rifles chambered in this caliber, and loaded an 87-grain bullet to leave the muzzle at the then unheard-of velocity of 3000 feet per second. At the time, it was the fastest thing a hunter could buy, and it was potent whitetail deer medicine. While the round has been used to take nearly all North American big game, it is best suited to deer sized critters.
The original rifles had a 1 in 14 twist to the rifling, and did not stabilize heavier bullets than the original 87 grain loading, but later rifles after the 1940s used a 1 in 12 or 1 in 10 twist, which stabilized bullets of 100 grain quite nicely. Due to the shortness of the cartridge, bullets heavier than 100 grains must be seated too far into it to allow sufficient powder, so it seems that the ideal round would be one with the 100-grain bullet. I checked to be sure my rifle had the faster twist by putting a patch on a cleaning rod and marking it so I could determine when the rod had made one revolution, then measuring the length. Mine has the 1 in 10 twist.
Later in 2016, I decided to remove the old scope that was mounted on the rifle, and I replaced it with a Williams receiver peep sight. This will limit the rifle to shots within a hundred yards or so. Since most of my deer here in Pennsylvania are taken with shots in that range, the rifle should be fine. The goal will be to save at least one tag and use this rifle to take one deer this year.
September, 2018, rolls around pretty soon. The rifle is ready to hunt with. Now, what is needed is for me to do some target work with it. The range at Camp Rip-N-Tear will get some use these next few weeks. This project gives me another excuse to go there and spend some quality time. (Ms. Doris doesn't think I need any more excuses.) We can set up targets at 30, 50, 80, or 100 yards. I will start with the closer targets, and as my confidence in the rifle improves, move out to the longer ranges to see what I am capable of with it. Wish me luck.
As a project to get ready for another trip to Deerfield, I decided one day in March of 2012 to purchase a rifle that was advertised on a website I used to visit frequently. It shall not be named here. My friend Ken Snyder who posted as Big Ken was intent upon selling a Savage model 99 in the old .250-3000 Savage caliber. This brought some long-suppressed memories to the surface. Way back in the 1960s there used to be a gun shop on U. S. Route 30 west of Chambersburg. It was called Walker’s Trading Post, and Mr. Walker certainly did have some nice guns for sale. One of them was a Model 99 Savage in .250-3000 caliber, and I wanted that gun. The problem was I couldn’t afford it, being inconvenienced a bit by poverty at the time, so I swallowed my pride and spent the money on other important stuff like groceries and clothing for the kids. On this particular day in March, 2012, I was more able to afford such a frivolous expenditure, so I contacted Ken and told him the gun was sold.
I had no intentions of putting the old Browning A-bolt in .257 Roberts that has served me so well in the past out to pasture, but this caliber and this gun intrigued me. My first chore would be to work up a handload for the rifle, since commercial rounds were largely unavailable. I purchased some brass and bullets online to work with. After experimentation, what I settled on was a load using the Sierra Game King 100 grain boat tail bullet. I have had great results with Sierra bullets, especially in my .257 Roberts. For deer-sized game, this loading should be the cat’s meow. Due to having injured my shoulder, and having surgery to repair the damage the first week of April, sighting in the rifle with the new handload had to be put off for awhile. “Awhile” stretched into nearly five years, as the project got put on the back burner, but I digress.
A bit of history of the .250-3000 cartridge is in order here. Way back in 1915, a gunsmith by the name of Charles Newton designed a cartridge which he named the .250 Newton. He based the round on a necked down and shortened .30-06 cartridge made to fit the lever action Savage model 1899. Savage bought the idea and began turning out rifles chambered in this caliber, and loaded an 87-grain bullet to leave the muzzle at the then unheard-of velocity of 3000 feet per second. At the time, it was the fastest thing a hunter could buy, and it was potent whitetail deer medicine. While the round has been used to take nearly all North American big game, it is best suited to deer sized critters.
The original rifles had a 1 in 14 twist to the rifling, and did not stabilize heavier bullets than the original 87 grain loading, but later rifles after the 1940s used a 1 in 12 or 1 in 10 twist, which stabilized bullets of 100 grain quite nicely. Due to the shortness of the cartridge, bullets heavier than 100 grains must be seated too far into it to allow sufficient powder, so it seems that the ideal round would be one with the 100-grain bullet. I checked to be sure my rifle had the faster twist by putting a patch on a cleaning rod and marking it so I could determine when the rod had made one revolution, then measuring the length. Mine has the 1 in 10 twist.
Later in 2016, I decided to remove the old scope that was mounted on the rifle, and I replaced it with a Williams receiver peep sight. This will limit the rifle to shots within a hundred yards or so. Since most of my deer here in Pennsylvania are taken with shots in that range, the rifle should be fine. The goal will be to save at least one tag and use this rifle to take one deer this year.
September, 2018, rolls around pretty soon. The rifle is ready to hunt with. Now, what is needed is for me to do some target work with it. The range at Camp Rip-N-Tear will get some use these next few weeks. This project gives me another excuse to go there and spend some quality time. (Ms. Doris doesn't think I need any more excuses.) We can set up targets at 30, 50, 80, or 100 yards. I will start with the closer targets, and as my confidence in the rifle improves, move out to the longer ranges to see what I am capable of with it. Wish me luck.
I think I'd nickname him, "Do It All Dave". 
