Info, lowdown, good or bad on 250 Savage round?
OK, I have the chance to buy a Jap military WWII rifle that was rechambered by a very skilled gunsmith in the Savage 250 round. The rifle is an early war model that was made rather well and the gunsmithing work is excellent. How does this round stack up, what is it comparable to, good hunting round, is it a decent round to have as an odd ball? It gets harder each year for me to find a round that I do not have or something odd enough for me to want. What would this rifle in this round be worth in ballpark figure? The rifle is in excellent shape, custom hand made sporter stock, and scoped. I can pick it up in the $250 to $350 range or maybe less. I believe the rifle was a 6.5 originally but not sure. Any comments would be helpful. One last thing, is ammo readily available? Thanks for any info.
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The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
Rita Mae Brown
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"DEPENDS" IF the rifle was rebarreled with a 250-3000 barrel, you're OK.
If the original barrel was just rechambered to take the 250-3000 cartridge, necked up to 6.5mm, you got a can of worms on your hands. As this is strictly a wildcat proposition, your going to have to get the proper dies and load your own.
Ballistically there's nothing wrong with the above wildcat, as it's in the same league as the 260 Remington or the 6.5 Swede. It just going to be expensive pita to load for, if you don't have the proper dies.
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Walk away from any Japanese service rifle unless you're a collector of them. There are too many good used American bolt action rifles out there. These conversions were made when there weren't. 0 -
Ammo is available in 100 grain load only. Factory loads are sort of on the low pressure side and it can be boosted a bit over factory loads with handloads. With the right powder and 100 grain bullet it will reach the 2950-3000 FPS velocity in a 24" barrel. Good varmint and deer cartridge. Been looking for one myself for sometime now.
AlleninAlaska
Delta Firearms & Supplies
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aglore@gci.net0 -
I have been shooting the 250 Savage for many years and it is my favorite "smokeless" cartridge. Started with a Savage 99, now shoot a Ruger 77 bolt and also have a barrel in a Thompson Contender. Both are very accurate. Ammo is still commercially available and good deals can be found at gunshows on older ammo (have 6 boxes found at a good price at the last one). 243 Winchester is probably the closest comparison although it has a larger powder capacity and is a bit faster. The 250 Savage is great on deer, but you may want to stay away from grizzlies and such. [:D]
max
load the old ones with the old tools.....<P>
http://www.picturetrail.com/blackpowdermax0 -
Mr. Mitchell;
as Mr. Snow mentioned, check bore diameter.
following WW-II there was no ammo or brass avalible for the 6.5 Arisaka so many rifles were rechambered to take the 257 Roberts
case necked up to 6.5 mm. I would strongly advise having a 'smith
do a chamber cast & slug the barrel before firing such a rifle.
for anyone to put too much time & trouble into an Arisaka rifle, especially the expense of a custom barrel, is very rare indeed.
"all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" Robert Fulghum
anyone who says "nobody needs a full auto" has never been in front of a brown bear charge0 -
LIKE THE ABOPVE POSTERS SAID, MAKE SURE THE RIFLE IS CHAMBERED (REBARRELED)FOR .250 FIRST. THEN, EVEN WITH FIRST CLASS WORK, VALUE WOULD NOT BE MUCH MORE THAN $100. 0 -
I've used a .250 all my life from back when they were still always ".250-3000." Began with my grandfather's 99F and now use a custom Ruger #1. It is an excellent varmint round and a good big game round within its limitations. You need good bullet placement on big game--there's no room for sloppy shooting or stretching your shooting ability by shooting at running game unless you're a superb shot on running game (Rare, in my experience--I'm sure not one.).
But it's at least as good a whitetail or blacktail deer/antelope/javelina rifle as a .243, which is used successfully by thousands of hunters. With excellent handloaded bullets and a little more pressure in a strong rifle, you can stretch it to mule deer and wild pig-size game. I killed a spike elk with my grandad's 99, but that was only because it was the only rifle I had at the time--would have much preferred a .300 Sav. or a .30-06. Load was a factory Winchester 100 gr. "Silvertip". Took two shots.
I also regularly load my Ruger down to .25-20 specs with 75 or 60 grain bullets. Great load for small game/short range varminting; not much more noise than a .22 LRHV.
As other posters noted, an Arisaka with a rechambered 6.5 barrel is something to avoid. An Arisaka action with a good .257 barrel chambered in ".250-3000" would be a rifle worth having--one of the strongest actions ever made in a great ctg.0 -
The above posts state several of the problems that you will face. If the rifle has been re-barreled and chambered in 250/3000 the tasks of reloading will be simplified to some degree. However, if it has been re-chambered instead of rebarrelling, the cost reloading just went up dramatically, and you will need to reload since I don't know of anyone who manufactures 6.5X250 ammo. If you have reloaded a lot, that helps, but you are into "wildcatting" now and that is a whole nother matter. A great reloader is a babe in the woods when it comes to wildcatting. Wildcatting is a hoot and you will learn a lot about dimensions, expansion ratios, the law of dimenishing returns, etc. but if you are not interested in engaging in problem solving on a large scale, my advice would be to go on to something else. 0
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