Anyone shooting or reloading .300 Savage?

[Ddubs20]

Have loaded some for my dad's savage 99. Imr4895 or Imr/accurate 4064, with 150 grain pills. Haven't tried 8208xbr yet, but will some day. Last time I saw remington corelokt at the store it was $59.99, and I believe they only run it in batches, not all year round.

 

[87TT]

Hornady makes a .308 bullet specifically for the 300 Savage. My father reloads them for his 760, but his loads wont even begin to chamber in my 7600. So make sure to test chamber one before you make a ton.

Hornady ammo is loaded with the SST bullets.

 

[Chuckybmd]

I have an old Remington model 8 that belonged to my great grandfather in 300 savage. I believe it is the parent case for 308, so definitely had its time in the sun, but the 308 became so much more common.

 

[WyoKid]

No doubt. Had that happen one time. My brother, who taught me how to reload, always said not to reload more than 5 for testing so as not to waste the time and resources if something went wrong.

 

[35WhelenAI]

I have an old Remington model 8 that belonged to my great grandfather in 300 savage. I believe it is the parent case for 308, so definitely had its time in the sun, but the 308 became so much more common.

From my understanding you're on the right track with respect to it being the inspiration, so to speak, for the .308 being developed by/for the US military. I don't believe it's the true "parent case" of the .308 however. The .308 is the parent case of the 243 Winchester, 7mm-08, 260 Remington, 358 Winchester, 338 Federal.

The 300 savage was developed, and most likely developed around the marketing that it would push a 150 grain bullet to 2700 FPS, which is what the 30-06 was advertised as doing back in the early days. It left the 30-30 in the rear view on ballistics, and for a woods rifle it still is as good as the day it was first chambered.

I have gotten 2700 FPS from a 20 inch barrel M99E with 150 gr bullets (150 CoreLokt, Speer Mag Tip, Hornady 150 Spire point, original Barnes X) with IMR3031, IMR4320 (discontinued) and Varget.

Felt really guilty doing 2700 fps... 2550-2600 fps with a 20" barrel and that rifle felt a lot better on my conscience. No issues, but I got over the quest for every last fps right then and there during load development. I don't know there was ever published data for Varget, however extrapolating from loads with those powders in my other rifles and crosschecking load data with similar cases, I started low and worked up.

 

[Chuckybmd]

From my understanding you're on the right track with respect to it being the inspiration, so to speak, for the .308 being developed by/for the US military. I don't believe it's the true "parent case" of the .308 however. The .308 is the parent case of the 243 Winchester, 7mm-08, 260 Remington, 358 Winchester, 338 Federal.

The 300 savage was developed, and most likely developed around the marketing that it would push a 150 grain bullet to 2700 FPS, which is what the 30-06 was advertised as doing back in the early days. It left the 30-30 in the rear view on ballistics, and for a woods rifle it still is as good as the day it was first chambered.

I have gotten 2700 FPS from a 20 inch barrel M99E with 150 gr bullets (150 CoreLokt, Speer Mag Tip, Hornady 150 Spire point, original Barnes X) with IMR3031, IMR4320 (discontinued) and Varget.

Felt really guilty doing 2700 fps... 2550-2600 fps with a 20" barrel and that rifle felt a lot better on my conscience. No issues, but I got over the quest for every last fps right then and there during load development. I don't know there was ever published data for Varget, however extrapolating from loads with those powders in my other rifles and crosschecking load data with similar cases, I started low and worked up.

Sounds like you know a heck of a lot more about it than I do. My only background knowledge comes from the Wikipedia page. I was reading about 308 a noticed that the 300 savage is listed as its parent cartridge.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Lol, I was leaving some wiggle room because I don't know everything, that's for sure. I chose the words carefully of "it's my understanding", "don't believe its a true parent case".

The .308 being the parent case of those other cases has same shoulder angle, similar overall length, same diameter at the shoulder. The 300 Savage has that short neck, steeper shoulder and slightly less diameter at the shoulder, despite other things being close.

 

[87TT]

What I heard and found;
In 1944 the US military used the .300 Savage as a base for assault cartridge research and design, eventually resulting in the T-65 cartridge which we know today as the .308 Winchester (1952) and the 7.62 NATO (1954).

 

[35WhelenAI]

That's what I have seen as well. Stops short of calling the Savage the parent case of the .308, and from the difference in dimensions I think that's probably about right.

 

[87TT]

All this made me want to go out and shoot the old 99. When I was given it, it had an old Weaver K4 scope on a Bueler base and rings. It shot great and I killed a Muley at 195 yards offhand. (probably a little luck involved) Shot went where it was supposed to and the buck took two jumps and lawn darted in the dirt. Anyway, I wanted some newer glass for my old eyes. Problem was the Bueler base and rings were too wide for newer scopes. The older 99's weren't drilled for scope bases. The holes that were drilled on my rifle didn't fit other bases. A gunsmith friend of mine redrilled it for a Leupold base. I had a Vortex 3x9 Crossfire scope on the shelf, so we mounted it. After bore sighting and a few test shots, it shot great. I shot two three shot groups at the 100 that all three shots were touching. 125 gr Sierra SP 43 gr IMR4895

 

[Rokbar]

I have an old 99 takedown in .300 savage dad gave me. Old enough that its not drilled and tapped. I found a ftunagentleman that makes a nice mount that goes in the dovetail front sight and runs back to the holes behind the indicator pin. Unfortunately this does away with the take down version. I have shot it and does good enough to hunt with. As I mentioned before, when I get some powder, I will try some 165 gr. BT's I have.

 

[87TT]

I have an old 99 takedown in .300 savage dad gave me. Old enough that its not drilled and tapped. I found a ftunagentleman that makes a nice mount that goes in the dovetail front sight and runs back to the holes behind the indicator pin. Unfortunately this does away with the take down version. I have shot it and does good enough to hunt with. As I mentioned before, when I get some powder, I will try some 165 gr. BT's I have.

Midway had the Leupold base and rings. It's a simple job for a gunsmith to drill and tap the rifle for them. If you buy the rings, get the offset ones so you can fit a modern scope.

 

[Rokbar]

Midway had the Leupold base and rings. It's a simple job for a gunsmith to drill and tap the rifle for them. If you buy the rings, get the offset ones so you can fit a modern scope.

I have considered D & Ting the take down. Some people would consider it a sin to do soas they say it will cut down on the value of the rifle?

 

[87TT]

Mine is a shooter as are almost all of my guns.

 

[83cj-7]

My first center fire rifle was given to me by my grandmother. It’s an FN deluxe chambered in .300 Savage. The rifle was ordered from the Sears catalog by my grandfather. Anyhow, the only handload that I have ever tried is Hornady 165 BTSP over IMR3031. Not super fast, but it’s a deer killer and stupid accurate! I can get you the exact load if your interested.

 

[eaglemountainman]

I have an old 99 takedown in .300 savage dad gave me. Old enough that its not drilled and tapped. I found a ftunagentleman that makes a nice mount that goes in the dovetail front sight and runs back to the holes behind the indicator pin. Unfortunately this does away with the take down version. I have shot it and does good enough to hunt with. As I mentioned before, when I get some powder, I will try some 165 gr. BT's I have.

That would be Mike Watson, and his Lightfoot mount. Beautiful and precision crafted mount that preserved the original factory condition of the older untapped Savage 99s.

Unfortunately, as of about 2 months ago, Mike has decided that he's had enough, and has stopped taking orders for them.

 

[eaglemountainman]

Anyone tried any all cooper bullets? My guess is that there may be expansion problems given the velocity at longer ranges. While 150s and 180s cup and core are the go to pills, has anyone tried 130 gr?

I dont like to hotrod them in a Savage 99, but a 130 TTSX with a MV of 2600, is still carrying about 2000 at 250 yds...Plenty enough for expansion. I believe Barnes recommends a minimum of 1800 for expansion.

 

[FLS]

I’d like to have a Model 7 in 300 Savage. Seems the a perfect combo.

 

[jjwise97]

Anyone tried any all cooper bullets? My guess is that there may be expansion problems given the velocity at longer ranges. While 150s and 180s cup and core are the go to pills, has anyone tried 130 gr?

I don’t have a 300Sav (yet, working on it) but I shoot a lot of copper bullets in other guns. For the Barnes TTSX they’ll expand down to about 1800fps, but full expansion requires closer to 2000fps. With a normal 150gr load that should get you to 200yd or so with full expansion. Most of the people I know in WV and NC rarely need to make shots even half that distance so no real concern there but obviously other’s situations vary

 

[Rokbar]

That would be Mike Watson, and his Lightfoot mount. Beautiful and precision crafted mount that preserved the original factory condition of the older untapped Savage 99s.

Unfortunately, as of about 2 months ago, Mike has decided that he's had enough, and has stopped taking orders for them.

I was lucky then. I got my early last fall. It is a piece of craftsmanship!