During powder shortage which powder for 250 Savage?

[Bulseyetom]

OK, since I am low on IMR 4895 and the prospect is not good to get any soon, I am looking for a replacement for my 250 Savage and 85 grain bullets. I looked on Quickload to see what I have that might work but in reality I was hoping somebody might have used similar powders in the past for similar size cases. My 250 is built on an old Remington Rollingblock and my standard load is 33.0 grains of IMR behind an 85 grain Speer bullet for a pressure somewhere around 36,000psi. I have H322 and IMR surplus military powder very similar to 3031 but I also have pounds of Vihtavouri N133 left from my benchrest shooting days. It looks like the 133 will burn 100% but I have never tried a load that wasn't almost compressed. What do you think, will it work? The IMR 3031 load shoots less than 1 moa in a 110 year old rifle so I hate to tinker but I will be forced to if powder doesn't start getting easier to get. Thanks for any help. Tom

 

[huffmanite]

Sorry, have no suggestion on a replacement powder for your 4895 to help you. But am curious on what Rolling Block action and barrel you used for making yours a 250 Savage. Have a 1910ish model south american Remington rolling block in 7x57 mauser with a bad chamber. Have been thinking of making it a 250 Savage for sometime now.

 

[jonbearman]

Is this a .250-3000,right,and the newest hornady book shows many alternative powders like 3031,blc-2,h4895,a2520,rel-15,IMR4320,h380,IMR4350,win760,h4831. You really need loading manuals to cross reference loads and suggestions.

 

[vtmarmot]

I just checked on Loaddata.com and H414 works with almost everything in the .250 Savage.

 

[Bulseyetom]

H414 is a proven powder in my rifle but try buying some right now. I have about 3/4 pound left and use it in my 243 AI XP-100. I have load books too but for this rifle pressures are a huge issue. My rolling block is a 1901 action. It sports a 24" HV stainless barrel 1/12 twist as I remember. It shoots 85-87 grain bullets lights out and not too bad with 100 grain fb bullets. You have to keep the pressures low so you don't bend the cases. So far I have loaded some as many as 5x with 33 grains of IMR 4895 with no signs of problems. I neck size only with a Wilson die. I am sure I will get 15x loads with the cases if I have any luck. I am going to take some pre-measured loads of V133 and H322 on my next trip out and load at the range to see if I can find anything that will shoot accurately in this old beast. The surplus powder that is similar to 3031 just doesn't work in this rifle but shoots great in my 7-08. This run on powder can't last forever! Take care, Tom

 

[357Mag]

Buleye -

Howdy -

In my Ruger M-77 24" .250 Savage, we had superb results shooting H380 and Fed LR Match;
under Sierra 75HP.

These days, not only H-380 would work, but It' d be interesting to try some stuff like IMR4007,
VV150 and other newer powders in that burn rate range.

IMHO:
Our experience was that WW760 (H414 ) was "slow", for best performance w/ 75Hp in .250 Savage.
WW748, Varget and the like; are on the faster end of powder choice range.


With regards,
357Mag