The .250-3000 Savage was designed for the Savage Model 99 lever action rifle by designer Charles Newton in 1915. The .250-3000 Savage is better known as the .250 Savage and was an original design from a rimless bottleneck .258 inch (6.6mm) large rifle cartridge. The ballistic performance based off four grain types for velocity is 3,170 ft/s (75 gr), 2,997 ft/s (90 gr), 2,864 ft/s (100 gr), 2,652 ft/s (117 gr).
The .250 Savage was designed to be a light weight bullet that could be fired at high velocity for a medium sized game hunting round. It was to compete with cartridges such as the 30-30, 30-06, and 7mm rifles. At first the round was well received, but after being on the market for a while shooters noticed the 87 grain bullet would fragment prior to entering game muscle tissue far enough to do proper lethal damage.
The 100 grain cartridge seemed to solve the wound on target issue for medium sized game, but in the 1950s the .243 began to replace the .250 Savage in popularity. Remington produces factory loaded ammunition for the .250 Savage. Hand loading brass can be found for 75-87 grain bullets for use with varmint hunting, and 100-120 grain for medium sized game hunting from dealers such as Hornady, Speer, and Sierra.
