SPORTS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A8
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
ON TO STATE
Contributed Photo
The .250-3000 Savage has enjoyed enduring popularity with
hunters.
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
The .250-3000 Savage
is one sweet load
I
n my family, the Savage stubby roundnose 100 grain
Model 99 lever-action
bullets with an arched trajec-
riﬂ e, in various calibers, tory failed to impress most
to this day holds a very spe- Western riﬂ emen. I’m sure
cial place in every-
Mr. Newton may
one’s hearts. The
have had to wash
Savage designs
the “I told you so”
were quite modern
from his tastebuds
for their time, and
with something a
though initial proto-
little stronger than
types were rejected
Coca-Cola.
at military trials,
The twist was
Dale Valade
the 1895 and 1899
eventually amended
models found success as
to 1-10” but not before the
commercial riﬂ es. Hunters
advent of the .243 Win-
especially found the mod-
chester cast a giant shadow
ern cartridges in the unique
on sales of the original
lever-action design to be
high-velocity cartridge. So
very eﬀ ective in the ﬁ eld.
great was the demand for the
Savage strove to hire the .243 that Savage oﬀ ered the
greatest minds to engineer
cartridge in its own riﬂ es,
new cartridges on a reg-
and eventually the .250 was
ular basis, providing cut-
retired by the very company
ting-edge technology that is it had made rich and famous.
viable even 100 years later.
Although you don’t hear
The hammerless design fea- much about the .250-3000
tured a rotary magazine and these days, those who own
a side-ejecting bolt which
them know what they have.
enabled the use of spitzer
Most of them are well-
bullets and ease of mount-
used and well-loved. Many
ing optics. Although the
a youngster was handed a
Chicopee Falls engineers
mild-kicking .250 Savage for
created many innovative
a ﬁ rst-year deer riﬂ e and just
cartridges, they truly out-
never decided to buy any-
did themselves in 1915 with thing larger.
the design of the .250-3000
Many folks own a .22-
Savage.
250, the very successful and
Although Charles New-
more popular progeny of
ton advised that a 100 grain the old .250-3000! Even the
bullet at around 2,800 feet
bewilderingly popular 6.5
per second would’ve been
Creedmoor is dimension-
most suitable to deer hunt-
ally the .250-3000 Ackley
ers, Savage’s market-
Improved necked up to .264
ing team knew the selling
caliber.
power in speed. The .250-
While either an 87 or 100
3000 is thusly named for
grain bullet is marginal for
being the ﬁ rst cartridge to
larger deer like elk or cari-
ever hit 3,000 feet per sec-
bou, the .250 still sees fre-
ond of muzzle velocity.
quent use for these animals
Against Newton’s advice, as well. The .250-3000 Sav-
the .25 caliber cartridge was
age is most at home shooting
loaded with an 87 grain bul-
coyotes and chucks, deer and
let and given a relatively
antelope in deadly accurate,
slow 1-14” twist rate, perfect lightweight lever action and
for stabilizing these light-
bolt action riﬂ es.
weight speed demons. And
But if you’re lucky
boy, did these riﬂ es sell!
enough to already own a
While it is doubtful that
riﬂ e thusly chambered, I’m
an additional 13 grains of
not telling you anything you
bullet would have given
don’t know. The little Sav-
dramatically better perfor-
age is one sweet load.
mance, the frangible cup and
Are you a fan of the .250
core, thin-jacketed bullets of Savage? Write to us at shoo-
the day did cause some out-
tingthebreezebme@gmail.
cry when on occasion game
com and check us out on
animals would require fol-
Facebook!
low-up shots to anchor.
Dale Valade is a local
Demand for a heavier
country gent with a love for
bullet circulated, but due to
the outdoors, handloading,
the slow 1-14” riﬂ ing twist,
hunting and shooting.
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Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie City’s Eli Wright (31) evades Jordan Valley defenders Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, during the High Desert League District tourney
at Grant Union High School.
State
Continued from Page A7
on four 3-pointers, ﬁ ve 2-point ﬁ eld goals
and six free throws to lead Prairie City.
Meanwhile, teammates Kaitlynne Ash-
ley and Jaycee Winegar combined for 22
points, and Brooke Teel poured in ﬁ ve
points.
Wilson, who was named Player of the
Game, said she thought the Lady Panthers
played well as a team and kept the inten-
sity up throughout the whole game. Typ-
ically, she said, the squad’s intensity falls
oﬀ in the third quarter, but that was not
the case in Saturday’s game.
“(Saturday’s game) was probably our
best game of the season, in my opinion,”
Wilson said.
Wilson said it is pretty special to be
heading to state afer losing last season to
COVID-19.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie City’s Brooke Teel runs the ball down the court Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, against
Adrian at the High Desert League tourney.
Prairie City boys
Like the girls team, the Prairie City
boys routed Four Rivers 72-53 to kick
oﬀ the competition on Thursday, Feb. 17,
then suﬀ ered a 62-41 setback at the hands
of the top-seeded Crane Mustangs on Fri-
day. However, in what was universally
regarded as their best game of the season,
the Panthers bested Jordan Valley 67-51
on Saturday.
Doyal Lawrence, a junior, put on
another clinic in shooting, nailing ﬁ ve
3-pointers and a 2-point ﬁ eld goal for
a team-high 17 points. Fellow junior
Eli Wright, who was named Player of
the Game, chipped in 15 points, hit-
ting six 2-point ﬁ eld goals and going
three for eight at the free-throw
line.
Senior Marcus Judd knocked down
four 2-point ﬁ eld goals and was six of
nine from the free-throw line for 14
points. For his part, John Titus scored 11
on three 2-point ﬁ eld goals, a 3-pointer
and two free throws.
Prairie City coach Bo Workman said
he was worried about facing Jordan Val-
ley, having lost twice to the Mustangs in
the regular season.
“(Jordan Valley) had a number on us,
but our kids played hard,” Workman said.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City faithful cheer on the Panthers as the squad closes in on a victory and a
state playoﬀ berth Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.
The Mustangs, Workman said, ran
into some shooting diﬃ culties in the ﬁ nal
quarters of the game.
“(The Mustangs) hit their shots (and)
it’s a tight, tight game,” Workman said.
Workman added that another factor in
the game was that the Panthers’ bigger
players, like Judd and Wright, started pro-
ducing points in the paint.
Wright said Jordan Valley was a
tough team the entire game. But, he said,
what made the diﬀ erence were halftime
adjustments.
“We just made our adjustments,” he
said, “and knocked down our shots.”
Cole Teel, Wes Voigt and Tucker
Wright combined for 10 points to round
out the scoring.
Grant hoops teams take tourney losses
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
PENDLETON — Grant Union’s bas-
ketball teams have both suﬀ ered losses in
the Blue Mountain District tourney at the
Pendleton Convention Center.
The girls team fell to Heppner 46-34
on Friday, Feb. 18, in the Lady Prospec-
tors’ ﬁ rst game of the tournament.
The girls season ended at the tourney.
The Lady Pros ﬁ nished the season with
an 8-15 overall record and were 5-7 in
league play.
On the boys side, the Prospectors beat
Weston-McEwen 56-41 Friday in the ﬁ rst
game of the competition but lost to Union
64-27 the next day.
The boys season ended at the tourna-
ment and they ﬁ nished with an overall
6-19 record and were 3-9 in league play.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Grant Union’s Paige Weaver (right) chases down
a loose ball. The Heppner Mustangs defeated the
Grant Union Prospectors 46-34 at the Blue Moun-
tain District Tournament Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, at
the Pendleton Convention Center in Pendleton.
Grant Union’s Parker Neault (5)
drives toward the basket. The
Union Bobcats defeated the
Grant Union Prospectors 64-27
at the Blue Mountain District
Tournament Saturday, Feb. 19,
2022, at the Pendleton Conven-
tion Center in Pendleton.
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