.250 Savage SSK Contender

[Larry in SD]

Recently aquired an old friend back again. Several years ago I purchased a SS 14" SSK Contender Barrel in .250 Savage. After having used this barrel for a year or two I let a buddy talk me out of it (foolish mistake to be sure). Well low and behold I was able to talk my buddy into selling it back to me.

While my buddy owned this Contender he had the SSK Barrel Mag-na-Ported (which I didn't think was necessary with the mild recoil of the .250 Savage). At any rate when shooting off the bench this handgun hardly moves under recoil. The scope is a 3x12x Burris LER Handgun Scope set it 3 Burris Zee Rings attached to a Weaver Scope Base.

When I sold this handgun to my buddy I also sold him all the loaded ammo I had on hand, brass and dies. Well when I recently reaquired this handgun there was 300 rounds of Varmint Ammo loaded with 75gr. Hornady Hollow Points, plus several hundred rounds of once fired brass. Sunday I had the good fortune to take a Coyote (called in), and a Badger with this handgun and ammo.

However that is not what this is about. I had to get some ammo loaded for Deer Season. Previously I had relied on 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips loaded with H-322, but always felt that load was a little hot for the Contender. I worked up a new load with H-4895 the other day. As it ended up my accuracy load turned out to be 2grs. under MAX (from the data at Steve's Loading Pages).

Above is the best group I shot yesterday with the 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips loaded with H-4895. Yes there is 5 bullets in this target, the two upper two holes each have two bullets in them. This group measured .508" center to center and was the best group of the day. The worst group of the day measured .746" center to center, and the average velocity of this load is 2558 FPS.

All the Whitetails I have shot with this Handgun using the 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip were under 200 yards, and bullet performance was not an issue. However I am wondering what is the minimum impact velocity the 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip will expand reliability out of this .250 Savage Handgun.

I was so happy to get my old friend back I just had to tell someone.

Thanks

Larry

 

[fishless]

Looks like the SD deer should be scared, good hunting

 

[Reloder28]

Larry,

That is really great to get your friend back. I have a similar love affair with my Encore and its 7mm Wby Stainless SSK barrel. Only difference being, I would NEVER let mine get away from me !!!!

I have talked with Mr. Nolser and his son and they tell me the B.T.'s will reliably expand down to 1400 f.p.s.. I personally believe that Nosler will retain the B.T. line in spite of the advent of the AccuBond, specifically for the handgun hunters like you and me. I have four SSK barrels. Might you be interested in a S.S. SSK 14" Contender barrel in 6.5 JDJ ?

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I have read/heard of BT's expanding down to 1400-1600fps.

 

[LoneStar]

I used a Contender .25 Bullberry barrel, the equivalent of the .250 Savage, on a number of Kodiak Island blacktails with the 100-grain BTip. IME that bullet did not expand enough below 1800 fps to be effective on a lung shot. These are relatively small bullets and need to expand to kill well. The tip deforms and falls off, but the diameter of the bullet does not get much above .257" until near 1800 fps. They work great at 2200-2400 fps. 8)

 

[Larry in SD]

I have not been online since our Major Ice / Snow Storm hit here. We were without electricity for 5 days this past week. As such I have not had the opportunity to get out hunting too much (Public Servant Worker and all). So no I have not had the opportunity to shoot anything with the .250 Savage Contender this year. I do have some 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips (for Deer) loaded up and also some 75gr. Hornady Hollow Points (for Coyotes) loaded up. Our weather is finally straightening out so hopefully this week I can get out hunting again.

However a few years ago I did shoot one Whitetail Buck with the 100gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips out of this Handgun with quite good success. The shot was a little over 200 yards and even though I hit the buck a little too far back he did not go far at all. A buddy of mine (Jerry) shot one Whitetail Buck with the same load out of the same Barrel. His shot was like at 50 yards and the bullet broke apart, fragmenting. His shot was a frontal shot.

No I am not interested in a SSK 6.5 JDJ Barrel at this time.

Larry