Reproduced from the October 2008 issue of GUNS Magazine.
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Reproduced from the October 2008 issue of GUNS Magazine. |
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| A True American Classic Savage Model 14 .250-3000 |
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| That wonderful year was 1958. Ike was still in the White House, Khrushchev came to power in Soviet Russia, the Yankees beat the Braves in the World Series after losing the first three games, and a young fellow by the name of Arnold Palmer won his first Masters Tournament. Teenage girls all over the country were heartbroken as Elvis was inducted into the Army and Jerry Lee Lewis was singing “Goodness gracious; great balls of fire.” For me, 1958 was a supremely important year as it was 50 years ago this month I met the girl who was to become my wife less than four months later. This was also a most important year for Savage Arms as they introduced the first Model 110 bolt-action sporter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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To celebrate the golden anniversary of the Model 110 Savage is offering 1,000 special 50th Anniversary Models with a high-luster blued barrel and action, special checkering pattern on a high-grade walnut stock, high-grade hinged floorplate, special scroll pattern on receiver, embossed recoil pad, 24-karat gold-plated double barrel bands, and also a 24-karat gold-plated AccuTrigger. This custom Model 110 comes chambered in the historic and legendary .300 Savage. |
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Savage’s revolutionary AccuTrigger is fully adjustable by you, the customer, for weight of pull. John found the trigger a delight to use. |
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| Since that now classic cartridge was the first to attain such a high muzzle velocity, it became known as the .250-3000. Currently produced brass from both Remington and Winchester is head stamped “250 SAVAGE”. When I called the local reloading shop to see if they had any .250-3000 brass they informed me all they had was .257 Roberts and .250 Savage and I told them I thought the latter would work just fine. I needed the 250 rounds of .250 brass they had as well as several boxes of Remington and Winchester ammunition for the testing of a new rifle from Savage. The 50th Anniversary Model in .300 Savage retails at $1,724 and the 1,000 units produced will be quickly snatched up by collectors if they have not already done so. To celebrate Savage’s milestone I conferred with editor Jeff John and Bill Dermody of Savage. I wanted something accurate and easy on the shoulder and a little out of the ordinary, so we settled on the non-catalogued .250-3000 chambered in a Savage Model 14 Classic. When I was a kid, I read all the adventure, hunting and exploring books found on the shelves at John R. Buchtel High School. Our wonderful librarian kept those shelves well stocked with just the right books and I set about to read every one of them I could find. One of the heroes I found in those books was Roy Chapman Andrews who explored exotic regions such as the Gobi Desert for the American Museum of Natural History. I bring him up for the simple reason he used both a Savage Model 99 as well as a bolt-action Savage Model 1920 chambered in .250-3000. It has taken more than half a century, and I’ve never chased whales in the Pacific or found dinosaur eggs in the Gobi as did Andrews, however I finally have a .250-3000 Savage and a dandy rifle it is! Along with shooting this new .250-3000, it seemed appropriate to re-read Andrews’ autobiography, Under A Lucky Star-A Lifetime Of Adventure as well as Charles Gallenkamp’s 2001 Andrews biography, Dragon Hunter. I feel like a kid again — almost. In the 1980s, Savage Arms was going through tough times and on the verge of bankruptcy. Ron Coburn was named CEO and he began the long path back for Savage. Today the Savage Model 110 is recognized as one of America’s finest production rifles, and Savage offers several other bolt-action rifles in sporter, varminter, target and tactical versions. All of these are equipped with one of the major breakthroughs in rifles in the latter part of the 20th century, namely the AccuTrigger. This revolutionary design gives new meaning to having a fine trigger on a rifle and it is interesting to note other rifle manufacturers are now looking at putting better triggers on their production rifles. The Model 14 Classic in .250-3000 Savage is my first encounter with an AccuTrigger and the first time I actually fired this rifle I uttered an audible, “Oh My!” as my experience was nearly spiritual. I wish every rifle I owned had an AccuTrigger! The AccuTrigger is easy to recognize with an integral AccuRelease in the face of the trigger. Savage says “The AccuTrigger gives the shooter flexibility to set the trigger pull to individual preference without having to pay a gunsmith to adjust it. Even when adjusted to its lowest setting, the AccuTrigger is completely safe and cannot accidentally discharge during normal use from being jarred or dropped when used properly and maintained and adjusted as intended. The AccuTrigger is designed with an integrated AccuRelease that must be completely depressed or the rifle cannot fire. When pulling the trigger, the AccuRelease is intentionally depressed, which unblocks the sear and allows the rifle to discharge.” To adjust the AccuTrigger requires the removal of the stock and the use of the special tool provided. Adjustments from approximately 2-1/2 to 6 pounds are possible on Savage’s centerfire hunting rifles. In addition to the safety offered by the AccuTrigger, the Model 14 also has a tang-mounted 3-position safety. |
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John found the lightweight Classic Savage easy to shoot.
He long desired to own a rifle in .250-3000 and now has one pert near perfect. |
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| We are offered a wide proliferation of production rifles today as well as many high dollar custom guns, however Savage is doing something which, to my knowledge, is not being offered by any other rifle manufacturer. That is, Savage allows the individual customer to order a custom rifle without having to pay high custom prices. The short-action Model 14 Classic is offered in eight standard chamberings and if one looks at the cataloged cartridges, the old .250-3000 is not to be found. However, Savage offers this rifle in any chambering they happen to have a reamer for even if it is not a cataloged cartridge. Customers also have a choice of iron sights or simply tapped and drilled for scope mounts with no front sight, a regular or Monte Carlo stock, a high-gloss or oil finish and a box magazine or hinged floorplate. I went with the clean look of no sights, hinged floorplate, and an oil finished Monte Carlo stock. It took less than two months for my rifle to be finished and delivered. A classic rifle deserves a classic scope. Leupold recently celebrated their 100th anniversary by offering the Century Limited Edition Golden Ring Anniversary Model. This 40mm scope is a 3-9X variable and guaranteed fog-proof. Decades ago, scope manufacturers began filling scope tubes with nitrogen to fight moisture. Leupold has now taken the next step by using Argon Krypton in their scopes. Along with the scope I also ordered Leupold rings and bases to fit the Savage Model 14. I have used many variations of Leupold scopes on both rifles and hard kicking handguns and have found them to be extremely rugged as well as providing very clear optics, optics which in this case provide the ability to pick up 1/4" holes in the target at 100 yards. This anniversary model comes packed in a special tin container along with a Leupold commemorative coin as well as a Leupold hunting knife and sheath. I normally set the power at 6X for deer-sized critters in open country and 9X works very well on varmints. Tory at Buckhorn Gun and Pawn performed his usual excellent job of scope mounting and bore sighting before I took possession of the Savage .250-3000. The first shots at 100 yards were in the black and I only needed minor adjustments to move the elevation up 1-1/2". Several years ago I must have had a premonition I would someday have a .250-3000 as I picked up a set of Lee Reloading dies. Along with the 250 rounds of new Remington .250 Savage brass, I ordered 75-, 87-, and 100-grain bullets from Sierra to go with the 100-grain bullets I already had from Hornady and Speer. While cleaning my reloading workshop I found another 250 rounds of brass tucked away during some long forgotten moment. More extensive reloading experiments will take place when time allows, but for now I settled on IMR 3031 and Hodgdon H414 along with Winchester’s Large Rifle primers. Both powder and bullet selections proved excellent choices as my first reloading efforts gave well above satisfactory results. It is rare for me to ever be able to test-fire firearms without having to fight the wind. In this case crosswinds were in the range of 10-15 mph and it was interesting to compare its effect on the three bullet weights. At 100 yards, compared to the 100-grain bullets at approximately 2,900 fps, the 87-grain bullets at 3,100 fps moved 1/2" to the left while the 75-grain bullets at 3,200 fps moved approximately 1-1/2" left. I left my “know everything stage of life” more than 50-years ago, the invincible period disappeared nearly 20-years ago, and I am now in my stress-free time of life. To aid in the maintaining of the latter I prefer to give myself a mulligan when test-firing any firearm. That is, I always give myself and the gun being tested one throwaway round, so all groups were shot with four rounds with the best three being measured. It makes for much more relaxed shooting, and it surely works as I never have indigestion and I also sleep well. There was no such thing encountered as a bad group with any of the two factory 100-grain Remington and Winchester loads or the six handloads tested. Complete results are in the accompanying table and it looks like at this point I will probably settle on the Sierra 100-grain SP over 38 grains of H414 as my standard load. Speer’s 100-grain SP with the same powder charge also performs as well, however I have plenty of Sierras on hand, and at least at this point. Both loads, with the Sierra at 2,975 fps and the Speer at 2,950 fps group three shots in 3/4" at 100 yards. Anyone who has encountered more than a few sixguns, semi-automatics, and rifles comes up against that grand moment when the firearm being experienced just feels right. Most shooters find this wonderful situation with such classics as the Colt Single Action Army, Colt 1911 Government Model, and the Smith & Wesson Combat Magnum. They fit my hand, perfectly and when shooting they point so well they are an extension of my arm. It almost seems as if the bullet can be wished onto the target. This feeling is also encountered in rifles. For me, everything about the .44-40 Winchester Model ’92 is just plain right and the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight 7x57 is just a joyful bolt gun. Picking up this Savage gives me this same feeling. It is a keeper. I wonder if Savage has reamers for the 6.5 Swede? |
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This column is sponsored by: www.kimberamerica.com Taurus www.taurususa.com |
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