Re: 250 Savage
SDWhirlwind,
I know what you mean. I could've bought a dozen or so for less than a $100 bucks when I was a kid. They sat on the end of the gunracks with no one even thinking of buying one. Until a few years ago they became "The Collectable" of the month or year or week or whatever "Non-Shooters" do with their irons.
Josh_Danger,
What you have is a pretty hot little round there. How heavy of bullet you can use depends on the twist of the rifle. Those rifles came in three twists, that I know of: 1-10", 1-12", and 1-14".
You can do the twist test by inserting a patch in the barrel (rear of the barrel if it's a takedown). Get a good ballbearing rod like a Dewey. Insert patch then measuer distance from either a marked point or the rod to the barrel. Mark top center(tc) on the rod. Push the rod with the patch through noting that the tc mark is rotating smoothly. When it comes full turn to top center again, measure how far it went (10", 12" or 14"). There's your twist.
When the round first came out the magic of it was it went 3000 fps. Which for 1912-1915 was really, really good. Then people wanted the 100 gr. and...to stabilize the old RN 117 gr. rounds fired from the Rem 25. The 1-12" did that. When the public wanted 117-120 gr. Spitzer bullets like the .257 Roberts (and the military) had they needed to go to a 1-10" twist. Thus the three twists of this rifle. Remington model 8's, 14's, 81's and 141's in .25 Rem were in 1-12" twist shooting 117 gr. RN's.
Mine is a 1915/1916 version takedown that I load with 75, 85 and 90 gr. bullets. It has a 1-14" twist.
My main powder I use is 4895 (or derivative, i.e. AA2495):
38.5 gr. of 4895 behind a 75 gr. bullet @3225 fps.
37 gr. behind a 85-87 gr. bullet for a velocity of 3000fps.
I also use VV140. I didn't chrono it but the trajectories were better.
Another note here regarding this round. It was considered "most favorable" of the rounds and configurations of rounds tested in both the '20's and the late '50's (from post WWII). The powers that be didn't like it either time and the round was rejected both times. Anyhow, I think a lot of mine...and now It's not for sale with the rest of my stuff....
