Gonna keep this party running !
I have always wanted a Savage 99 in 250 Savage.
I would have preferred a later model with the 1:10 twist, but the GB prices seemed stupid high for a rifle that everyone claimed was shooting an inferior round, and of the later models, one just sold for over $1,300.00.
Way more than I would ever pay for one.
I ended up finding one at an FFL who was doing a stock repair for my Schmidt-Rubin 1911.
He parted with it for $650.00.
It was made in 1935, was in super nice condition, was drilled and tapped and came with the Redfield base that uses the Leupold one piece scope mount, 11 rounds loaded with 100gr bullets, a new box of Speer Hot-Cor 87 grain, an open box of 85gr bullets (Sierra if I remember correctly), a new box of Hornady 75gr Vmax bullets, and 150 pieces of virgin brass.
I was not gonna cry. Nope. Not one tear shed over this score.
I purchased the correct mount and a Leupold Vari-X III 3-9X40, loaded a couple dozen of each bullet, mounted the scope, and went to the range.
I was initially disappointed because no matter how high I set my elevation, I was still shooting 2.5" low, but you could cover the holes with a dime.
That, and that the 100gr bullets didn't keyhole made me smile a little.
A quick shim under the rear of the scope base and another trip to the range a week later, and I was hitting center bullseye at 100 yards, again with all 5 shot groups inside a dime.
I was super excited to hunt with this one.... so I did.
On opening day this season, I popped a big doe at about 25 yards.
I though I missed because she galloped off about 40 feet behind some brush and I didn't see her after that.
I waited about 20 minutes and went looking for her because now my curiosity got the better of me.
I found her right behind the brush.
Very small entrance wound as would be expected, but also a relatively small exit wound with very little blood surrounding it.
She was certainly dead, but my instinct told me to get back in the stand because sometimes bucks will wind the urine of a dead doe and come looking.
I was in the stand for about 10 minutes when I caught another doe to my right about 40 yards out.
She saw me turn so we played a little game of hide and seek while she cautiously progressed out of behind the brush she ducked behind.
Sure enough, she gave me a shot, but this one literally flipped on her back, kicked three times, and stopped moving.
Already impressed with this little "cartridge that couldn't" according to the naysayers, I set to the ugly part of hunting...
Inside the first one, the larger of the two, the heart and lungs were jelly if not liquified. She literally hemorrhaged internally and it was a bloody mess. I also noticed that the rears of her shoulders were bruised and clotted internally and that from inside the rib cage, the exit wound had a 3" bruise around it.
Now I was super impressed.
Turns out ditto for the smaller one.
While the entry and exit wounds had little story to tell, the 87gr pill at a clocked average of 3,045 FPS created an incredible shock wave and did exactly what the 250 Savage has been doing since the early 1900's.... killing deer effectively.
I will eventually find one of the more modern ones with the 1:10 twist so I can bump up to 115/117gr bullets, but I'm in no rush at this point.
I can't wait til next season already !
