Savage 1920 on the bench.

It's definitely not gonna be a sprayer. These old guns don't surprise me much anymore with how they shoot. Quality is quality and they spent a lot of time back then trying to get things right even though they arguably had inferior machinery to work with.

This gun does have some headspace....loaded up 10 rounds with a false shoulder to headspace off of, to fireform the cases. 87 grain speer with a starting load of H4895.

No matter what, you're still firing a 100 yr old gun. Fired the first one into the dirt while wearing gloves and glasses. Once I counted all my fingers and thumbs and could still see, I set it up on the bench. :grin:

It put 5 shots that can be covered with a quarter at 50 yds. The other 4 are around that with the highest flier 1 1/2" away. Fireformed cases next time along with different powder charges might possibly tighten it up even more or get rid of fliers. But truth be told at 50 yds with iron sights, I can vary an inch easy.

Extremely mild cartridge to shoot. Love this gun.

Looks to be a delight. No surprises makes for joy in a firearm.

That looks very good to me. I don't see any fleas on that rifle or the shooter.

Nice! Told you 250s shoot. :grin:
Really happy for you.
That is flat cool.
Seems like I always grin when I look at a 250 case, it’s just a cool little cartridge.

Dwh7271":150ndwn7 said:

Nice! Told you 250s shoot. :grin:
Really happy for you.
That is flat cool.
Seems like I always grin when I look at a 250 case, it’s just a cool little cartridge.

Click to expand...

Yep you did! And I think it will likely tighten up some overall with the fireformed cases, nevermind I didn't fool with powder charges at all yet.

Complete powder puff to shoot. I figured at 6lbs it would jump a lot more than it does. Gun is balanced well and that 250 case gives minimal recoil.

Now I gotta bring it up a little and figure out how to get that bolt peep adjusted to the right.

I’d think if there’s not a side adjustment on the peep, if it’s dovetailed in you could maybe move there.

And by the way, you got a deal.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/790424190

Glad to see you are having fun with your new to you 250!
nice group with open sights

The 250 is a highly underrated cartridge. A lot of fun to shoot!

Dwh7271":2tc6ik9c said:

I’d think if there’s not a side adjustment on the peep, if it’s dovetailed in you could maybe move there.

And by the way, you got a deal.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/790424190

Click to expand...

Yeah that appears to me the only way to move it, just gotta make sure I take my time that I'm not forcing it.


That 1920 is high, but he might get it. I paid less than half that and it was sitting 15 miles down the road. The problem is if you want one, where to find one, let alone for sale. That 1920 is pretty much a not for sale price, but that's what I'd do with mine now that I got it. If I ever chose to sell it someone is gonna have to pry it away from me.

Shot some big Whitetails and a few Moose with my 250/3000, years ago. And never had a problem. Seams like it killed Stuff exactly my 243 does now no difference!
Have fun with it and I bet if you do your part, it will do its part! I got my "heavest"Whitetail I have ever taken 242lbs field dressed, thats without heart n liver with my little 250/3000.
Good Luck with yours
E

35 Whelen":2gnoq6pd said:

Shot some big Whitetails and a few Moose with my 250/3000, years ago. And never had a problem. Seams like it killed Stuff exactly my 243 does now no difference!
Have fun with it and I bet if you do your part, it will do its part! I got my "heavest"Whitetail I have ever taken 242lbs field dressed, thats without heart n liver with my little 250/3000.
Good Luck with yours
E

Click to expand...

Absolute BRUTE! Doubt they could grow that big here no matter how old.

I'm relegated to the lighter bullets with this one as it's the older 1-14 twist, although it did measure out slightly faster than that. 87 gr hot cor's are light, but I'd say our average buck is 160-180lbs live weight, so as long as I stay off of hard quartering too shoulder shots, it should be fine.

I have been waiting for this post and I’m not disappointed in the least. That rifle sitting on the bags looks amazing and now I’m officially jealous... danged if you aren’t going to love that rifle. Talk about a sweet rifle for taking a walk with!

Never messed with one but hoping to see you get it zeroed up and hunted.

Just me, but I wouldn’t be scared of running that rifle with any charge found in any losing manual. The data was created for M99 Savages so you’re not going to hurt that old girl a bit!

SJB358":22qg097y said:

I have been waiting for this post and I’m not disappointed in the least. That rifle sitting on the bags looks amazing and now I’m officially jealous... danged if you aren’t going to love that rifle. Talk about a sweet rifle for taking a walk with!

Never messed with one but hoping to see you get it zeroed up and hunted.

Just me, but I wouldn’t be scared of running that rifle with any charge found in any losing manual. The data was created for M99 Savages so you’re not going to hurt that old girl a bit!

Click to expand...

You read my mind Scotty, I was thinking that exact same thing. Data was created for lever actions. I'd say in modern bolt guns you could safely run the 250 savage up to 243 pressures, so I should be able to use about any load in the manual that shoots good as it's all well below that.

This gun has one vice if you wanna call it that. By todays standards it has abnormal headspace. They built some big sloppy chambers back then. Reloading wasn't near so common, so often it was once and done with cases.

I ended up necking up in 2 stages to .276 then back down for the false shoulder. Fireformed cases have the shoulder moved ahead substantially compared to new unfired cases. My one buddy is telling me I should have it cut back a thread and rechambered, but I'm gonna let it be for now. As long as you know how to load for it and set your dies, you're good to go.

Yeah, I think a lot of folks probably fire with a bunch of headspace on their first firing and never realized it. There are more chambers that are larger than smaller at least from what I came across with a few rifles. As long as you expand and create the false shoulder it wouldn’t worry me in the least. I’d certainly not touch the gun or change anything about it. With Lapua Brass for the 22-250 out there would’nt be nothing to make cases that’ll last forever at 250 Savage pressures. Once you had 50-100 of them you’d really have to work to wear them out I’d bet.

SJB358":35kfkzlu said:

Yeah, I think a lot of folks probably fire with a bunch of headspace on their first firing and never realized it. There are more chambers that are larger than smaller at least from what I came across with a few rifles. As long as you expand and create the false shoulder it wouldn’t worry me in the least. I’d certainly not touch the gun or change anything about it. With Lapua Brass for the 22-250 out there would’nt be nothing to make cases that’ll last forever at 250 Savage pressures. Once you had 50-100 of them you’d really have to work to wear them out I’d bet.

Click to expand...

Yeah unless I run into a problem I'm not seeing yet, I don't see a reason to as long as I can safely fire form cases. As of now I have no desire to even take it out of the stock unless I'd get water down in there that needed dried out or something.....unlike my other guns, I'm scared to mess with it. :lol:

I stripped the bolt to get a decent feel for the crush fit on the false shoulder, and that even was a little intimidating. No idea if there's something different on a gun like that and if you mess something up you're not getting parts. But it was easy enough to strip down. Same principle as any other bolt.

Shade- glad to see you are enjoying the rifle! I think you've got good advice here re Chamber and throat etc. Once you have cases you are good to go. Ive had a couple 250's and the brass was Not interchangeable, but both were shooters eventually with ther bras and loads they liked. Have you tried any 90 Gr. Barnes TSX? I have some old ones loaded up from before they were grooved. They were shooters but fowled the bore really fast. They might work better in your faster twist. give you a little more velocity, and maintain better accuracy with your 1:14 twist. Maybe... CL Just for fun and accuracy try some 75 Gr v-max's CL