For those handloaders out there, what is your favorite cartridge to load for and why?

Is it for accuracy, an increase in velocity and efficiency, or just for the fun and satisfaction that handloading brings?

My favorite cartridge that I load for is the .250 Savage. Back in 1984, Remington offered their annual 700 Classic in the .250 Savage. To say that there wasn't overwhelming enthusiasm for this rifle/cartridge combination, would be an understatement. Factory ammo in .250 Savage is quite anemic due to the limitations of the Savage 99 lever action rifles for which this cartridge was chamber for in abundance. This has pretty much condemned the cartridge to a second fiddle roll among the cartridges in its class.

I was in the firearms business at the time that the Remington Classic .250 Savage was offered. After looking through all of the reloading manuals at my disposal, I began to realize the potential of this cartridge in a strong, modern bolt action like the Remington 700. I purchased one of the .250 Classics in 1985 at a ridiculously low closeout price, and began collecting components to reload for it.

The load that I've settled on, is 37.0 grains of IMR 4320 with a 100 grain Sierra BTSP. This load is listed in Lyman's 46th and 47th edition reloading manuals, and the velocity is shown at 3115 fps out of a 24" barrel. I've chronographed my loads at a five shot average of 3109 fps. Surprisingly close to the published velocity. The .250 Savage is one of the least finicky I've loaded for in terms of powders. Its accuracy doesn't seem to suffer much regardless of the powder choice.

As a deer cartridge, it's fantastic. It has not been any less effective as a deer cartridge in my experience than the .270 that I used for many years. The deer don't seem to notice any difference either. Add to that the mild recoil of the .250 Savage, and its about as close to an ideal deer cartridge as any I've ever tried.

Well, that's my favorite and why I like it so. I'm curious to hear about others.

The 6.5x55mm is my favorite. Easy to load, good selection of powders and bullets. A real tack driver of a cartridge.

KBL, I'm green with envy. Neither the Rem Classic or the Ruger 77 in 250 Savage is cheap any more! I keep bugging Browning to come out with their Micro-Hunter in 250 Savage as the ideal Youth/Ladies rifle. No soap.

I can't whittle down my list to one favorite cartridge to reload for. I load for more than 15 and like 'em all.

I started w/ 8x57. I also load for 15 calibers, so if it comes out of a Mauser, I would say those are my favorites. Jim

It's easier to name my least favourite, the .303 British. That's because the brass is only good for 3 firings, due to the oversized Lee-Enfield chamber.

Bye
Jack

KBL, I'm green with envy. Neither the Rem Classic or the Ruger 77 in 250 Savage is cheap any more! I keep bugging Browning to come out with their Micro-Hunter in 250 Savage as the ideal Youth/Ladies rifle. No soap.

I can't whittle down my list to one favorite cartridge to reload for. I load for more than 15 and like 'em all.

Well, if I ever come accross one down here, I'll keep you in mind, Rocky.

BTW: Very impressive resume, Rocky. Living a couple miles south of the Cape for the last 35 years, makes me wonder how many times I might have heard your voice...

Like you I too enjoy loading for the .250-Savage. While I don’t write about them much we have two of the Classics in .250-Savage and they are indeed wonderful rifles.
For medium capacity .25 caliber rifles I agree there are very few powders to equal IMR 4320.
The bullet for the .250-Savage for either deer or pigs is the 100-grain JSP and I prefer the flat base bullets due to case capacity issues.
General Vernon E. McGee wrote several articles for the American Rifleman and the Gun Digest on the .250-Savage. The article for the Gun Digest covers the Ruger M-77 and higher pressure loads for the modern bolt action rifles. McGee wrote an earlier article for the Handloaders Digest covering the Savage Model 99, both are interesting articles.

The interesting aspects of wildcat and improved cartridges hold my attention and prevent my life from becoming routine.
While I enjoy loading all cartridges for pure enjoyment the .38 Special, .44 Magnum, .375 Winchester and .444 Marlin are easy to load accurate ammunition for and are well suited for either cast or jacketed bullets. We could add the .45 Colt and .45-70 to the list but the first four certainly are a lot of fun.

KBL, from 1976 through 1985, my name and voice were so well known down there that I could cash a check in any 7-11 from St Augustine to Miami!

We now return this thread to our regular posters...

I've loaded a dozen or more calibers and the easiest to load is the 30/40 Krag;the hardest was the 22 K Hornet.
Frank

Like Kragman I load for a dozen or more calibers and like them all. The one I disliked worse than any to load was the 357 Herrit. I got a Thompson Center Contender and with it a 357 Herrit barrel. Making that case out of 30-30 cases was a pain in the, well anyway. Boy I grew to hate making cases for that gun. Not only that, but barrels were only 10 inches long and recoil and muzzle blast were terrible. Anyway that's my most un-favorite.

the 6.5 swede is probably my favorite to load for because it makes me look like a whiz. i especially like the A.I. version that i'm shooting these days, looks cool as ****!!!
i would love to find a classic in .250 savage, i have resigned myself to the fact that i'll probably have to build one. thats o.k. another neat option would be to build one on a winchester classic fwt.... i love the lines of that fwt stock!

So far, the three easiset to relaod (easy being not only the reloading itself, but the results) have been;
1. 38 Special...if there is an easier round to reload and have at least good results, haven't found it yet.
2. 30-06. Not much "new" you're going to be able to do, but that round has always been so easy to load for good accuracy, I'm hard pressed to think of any otehr round that give such immediate reloader-happiness.
3. .250Savage. this is a round that WANTS to please you...with just a little extra effort, it's often so well improved over factory loads you wodner if it's the same rifle.

For medium capacity .25 caliber rifles I agree there are very few powders to equal IMR 4320.


I do believe that IMR 4320 is a very versatile powder. I can load from .223 to 7mm Rem mag w/ it. It may not be a barn burner, but it is a very good powder. Jim

The 32-20. Partly because I enjoy shooting them by the thousand. Partly, I suppose, because I get a smug satisfaction from how easy I find it to load them after reading so much about how "tricky" they are.

Starline 32-20 brass seemingly lasts forever and with cast bullets it costs very little to shoot.

Big Dan, if you get tired of looking - as I did - just get yourself a barrel chambered in 25-308. It falls between the 250 Savage and 257 Roberts in power (not a bad place to fall!), cases are a snap to find (260 or 7-08 are easiest) and it shoots like a house afire.

My two favorites are the 45-70 and the 221 Fireball, one big, one little, both very accurate. I think the liking part is tied to how I work the brass and the die sets more than anything else. The 25-06, 7mm Rem Mag, and 243 Winchester don't seem to be as challenging but there's nothing wrong with being easy to load. :)

Its a tie between the .357 and .44 Mag... I didn't mind my .204 until today, when i got two stuck cases in a row, I just gave up... my case remover got one out okay, the second time it pulled the threads out... I said some foul words...

the .204 was the most difficult in the past due to the small necks, I finally found some Win 748 data so I was going to switch to that. I had to go to the gun shop to get the stuck case remover, and wouldn't you know it, they have had 748 on backorder for 6 months... arghhh

My favourite cartridge to reload for - the .257 Roberts. Light varmint bullets, deer bullets, cast bullets for practice and plinking. All easy to do, and accurate.