This time with a levergun

[FLINT]

Rifle season now and in my county, you have to kill a doe before you can kill a second buck. This morning this 1.5 year old doe gave me a good shot so I took it.

This was the first deer taken with the 250 savage I got a couple years ago. I worked up a load with Speer 87 grain hot cor over 3031 shooting right at 3000fps. Always neat to kill a deer with a cartridge you load.

I was curious how the little bullet would do on deer. I'd heard they will work. The doe was about 50 yards away. When I shot there was no question that I hit her. The impact reaction was pretty dramatic. She ran about 50 yards very quickly and was done.

The bullet broke a rib or two on the way in, did a good bit of damage to the lungs and apparently disconnected the heart. When I reached up in the chest cavity, I heart came right out in my hand, nothing was holding it in place. The bullet then broke a rib or two on the off side and traveled forward through the opposite shoulder muscle and stopped against the hide. Or actually, that's where I found the jacket. I'm not sure where the lead is. I guess the processor will find it. I should have poked around more but didn't realize there wasn't any lead in the jacket when I pulled it out until I cleaned it off.

So, I guess not bad for an 87 grain bullet traveling that fast. I'd liked to have seen the actual lead core of the bullet, but its too late now.

Should be a nice tender, good eating doe though.

A few minutes after I shot her, a little fork horn came sniffing around looking for her. He did little circles all over that field trying to figure out where she went.

I'll probably not hunt deer much with this gun in the future though as I have plenty of options with more substantial bullets, but I did want to give it a try. This gun does shoot very well and has very little kick at all, which I might appreciate more in another decade or two. In the mean time it will probably be great for coyotes.

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[.45colt]

Just Awesome! I'm Happy for You. I had an Old Friend "Mr. Williams" who collected 99's for about 60 years. He had a whole bedroom with racks on the walls full of them. The .250 seemed to be His favorite. Enjoy.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Very good!

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

Nice shot, right where it counts. Nice deer, should be great meat.

I've shot a couple of deer with the 250, but with 100 grain Sierra's. Similar results, but they do hold together and mushroom nice.

[LeverGunner]

Very nice, congratulations.

[mnmarlin]

Looked for years for a Savage 99 in .250 for my wife to hunt with, they were just too expensive at the time for my pocket book. I thought it would be a fine caliber and rifle combination for whitetails in our area as the majority of shots are under 75 yards. The Marlin 1894 in .357 kind of fills the same niche now, although I don't think its as effective as the .250 would be.

[FLINT]

yeah, the 250 would be perfect for a lady. Recoil is way less than any of my 30-30s. At least it feels that way. Not sure if there is something about the shape of stock on the 99s, because I also have a 99 in 300 sav and that doesn't feel like it kicks any more or even as much as a 30-30. could be that the rifle is a little heavier.

[horsesoldier03]

Definitely a classic combo there with that scope!

[FLINT]

Yes, that's an old weaver K3. Have an old weaver K2.5 on the 300

plenty of magnification out to 100 yards which is as far as I've ever shot at a deer.