I can almost just buy loaded ammo to get the brass. I can only find it for about $35/50, at least for the same headstamp. Almost thinking about rechambering this 300 into a 308.
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I can almost just buy loaded ammo to get the brass. I can only find it for about $35/50, at least for the same headstamp. Almost thinking about rechambering this 300 into a 308.
How old of Model 99 rifle? If it has the brass rotary internal magazine it is old, I was told the hardening of the receiver was softer than the newer rifles and stretched the brass after 2 or 3 shootings. My 99 I tracked back to the early 40's so I left it alone. A lot of new brass now is up to $1.00 each but at least .300 Savage is available new. I make my .260 AI out of .243 or 7mm-08 brass.
That's the price you have to pay when you want to play around with older cartridges that are on the cusp of being obsolete. I'm in the same boat with my .250 Savage, but it's not like I'm out shooting it all the time to where I need to load up lots of ammo or will be reloading smaller batches frequently. When I want to do a lot of shooting I bring rifle better suited for that like a 22LR or .223 or .308.
You rechamber a 99 from 300 to 308 though you'll ruin any value it has.
$35 bucks for 50 cases is cheap. Try buying brass for any caliber made by Lapua or try buying some 26 or 28 Nosler. Now that stuff is pricey.
Well, first I was kidding about rechambering it into 308. It's a takedown 99G made in 1921 in real good shape, about 85% or better. Yeah, it's not like I'm going to be out doing competitive shooting with this thing, but it's really the only centerfire I have that I can put a scope on for my ancient eyes. I have a perfectly good M1A1, but it's got the peep sights and is heavy as the dickens with the Bishop stock and bedded/screwed to the action. I should get rid of that and get a modern 243 or similar for my deer/coyotes. I doubt I'll be doing competitive shooting any more. Also have 30 carbine but that's like shooting a 30 cal 22 and again hard to get a scope on. Then there's the 112J in 220 Swift but it's single shot and again heavy as the dickens.
I've read about making 300 sav from 308 cases but I wonder about how that would really work out. I've got 308 brass out the wazoo. Once I work up a good load for the thing, I doubt I'll be needing a lot of brass, I guess I should just spring for some new brass from Midway. A lot of the reasonable priced stuff is all mixed and I don't want that.
Midway is out of stock, Graf and sons has one box of fifty! Just buy three or four boxes of ammo, that should be enough brass to last a long time. That's the problem with trying to feed a classic!!
Converting .308 to .300 Sav is super easy.Quote:
Originally Posted by DogT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuXE2EF35HM
Makes sense! Looks like the .300 Savage is the parent case of the .308!
https://www.chuckhawks.com/300savage.htm
Can you open-out .22-250 brass that far?
Good video. Looks simple enough. I'll have to figure out a way to easily trim it. Or like said, just buy a couple boxes of 150 grain 300 Sav. I did that with my 220 Swift. The brass was expensive for that too so I found Midway had some 55gr V-Max on sale and I bought 5 boxes of the stuff. Shoots good too. I got the 99 with a box of 180gr round nose Rem. I unloaded 5 of them the other day and replaced it with 42gr IMR4895 and Speer 125 gr TNT. Going to be 60° tomorrow, maybe I can try them out. The 110gr didn't do so hot on the target but they got 2700fps. Same 42gr IMR4895.
When I was shooting competitive, I was loading the 308 with 41.2gr IMR4895 and 168 Sierra Match. Never did measure the fps, but that M1A1 will shoot 1" groups at 200 yds if you can hold it and your eyes can see through the competition mil sights, custom rifle McMillan SS barrel. I was shooting in the 480's at Fairfax HP, but that was almost 30 years ago. I was high Expert for a few years.
When I look through the peep now, I see lots of circles that block the target. Sure it's cataracts, I need to get them worked on. Now the wife is back on her feet from her ankle replacement I'll get it done.
Thanks for all the info.
Had it out today in the nice 65° weather. I only had 5 rounds of handloaded 125gr Speer TNT behind 42gr IMR4895. But 2 of them were with the original Rem primers and the other 3 with newer Rem primers. The 2 were near 2800fps and the other 3 were closer to 2700 and I got a couple erratic shots from the chrono, but they all grouped about an inch left and half inch high compared to the 110gr bullets. Pretty inconclusive. I did order some 150gr Hornady SST loaded ammo from Midway. We'll see how that works out. At this point I may just buy the ammo if it shoots good. I do enjoy working up a load if it works out however. Been my experience lately it's hard to beat the factory ammo for standard deviation.
While they're not Savage rifles, I reload and shoot both 250 and 300 Savage (Ruger 77 and Remington 81) and know the trials and tribulations as far as brass goes. I won't buy factory ammo due to the cost, but I keep my eyes and computer fired up when in the hunt on online outfits. Graff's, Natchez, Midsouth, Midway, and even Brownell's. If in stock and you have the right timing many times it can be obtained on sale. Most if not all of the time it's Hornady brass. Around the 1st of the year I bought 100 rds each of Hornady 250/300 Savage at Brownells on sale for around $34 per 50 and they happened to have free shipping that day. I usually keep checking all the sites until available when in need. Rarely see Win, Rem, and Fed available. I keep on the look at Gun Shows.
I have taken commercial .308 brass and resized them in my 300 Savage resizing die with no problem, only problem is alot needs to be trimmed from the neck. I'd stay away from military brass, it's a lot thicker, be tougher to resize and you'll lose internal powder volume. If using a fast trimmer such as a Crow or other available trimmingwouldn't be a problem, but I use a Forester hand crank unit and since I detest trimming with a passion, I only did around 50 rds. Trimming is my PIA part of reloading I hate, other than that I love to reload. If I had a rig like in J.Baker's post to trim with, I'd be a happy camper. Also as he (J.Baker) penned it's part of the price we pay for shooting older calibers that aren't real popular. Good luck in your search.
Remington 81 in 300 Savage? Lucky dog . . .
I may have some commercial 308 I could press into service. But most of what I have is mil. I figured it wouldn't be appropriate. Yeah, the chop saw is a real treat, I've been thinking about how to easily whack off the neck and the best I can come up with is a hack saw and a jig. But that may be too brutal. I wouldn't mind having a hundred or so 150/110 gr bullets available for the 300 Sav. I too love to reload. I seem to get a lot of satisfaction from it, along with the workup. A couple years ago I loaded up maybe 500 rounds of 30 Carbine. When I was shooting the MiA1 competitively, I think I enjoyed loading the ammo more than the shooting. Strange but true.
While they're not cheap, Midway has Hornady 300 Savage as of this date (Feb 28 at 0747 hrs Central) in stock for $37.69 per 50. Pricey compared to more popular calibers, but I found when starting to reload for both 250 and 300 Savage sometimes ya gotta pay the sellers price if ya what the caliber, unless ya can find em on sale, find used, reform .308, or better yet get em free from some Good Samaritan. I'll be danged if I'll go out and pay $35 per 20 for factory ammo just to get the brass. Just check all of my other sources and they're all out of stock. Must be waiting for Hornady to manufacture a batch. Just passin along.
Yeah, I saw those Midway brass. I wanted to try some factory 150's anyhow and 2 boxes of 300 Sav may be enough for me as much as I use it, but I also may just spring for another 50 of the empty brass, just to have enough around. I'm just not used to spending that much on brass, I can usually pick it up pretty reasonable, but any of the reasonable stuff in 300 sav is mixed stuff and I'm not going there. It's always nice to know what the factory ammo is doing, at least for me. Soon as it warms up a bit I'll get it down the range and try out a few things. I've got the chrono set up so all I have to do is move the tractor, set up the seat/bench, put a target on the frame and try it out. I got tired of setting up that chrono all the time so I found a place in the barn I could leave it. Works better inside with it's own lights anyhow.
Midway was back ordered already, so I found some at Bud's it was a bit cheaper, same stuff, but probably not with shipping.
As of this date and time (March 26/4:58 PM Central) Midway has Hornady 300 Savage brass in stock and on sale for $31.99 per 50. Free shipping with $49.00 or more order. I did a cart order for 200 to see if in stock and it didn't indicate they were out of stock (as of order time), then deleted order. Don't need any right now, but at that price should.
March 27th Update--300 Savage brass still on sale and available (as far as I can determine), but free shipping ended last Tues nite at 11:59 PM.
I already got the stuff from Bud's. Actually had the 99 out today and with some 125gr Hornady Hollow points with 42gr IMR4895 they had a real good group at 50yd. I shot some of the 150gr Hornady factory SST and it was not nearly as good. Less than 1" for the 125 HP and 2" for the 150 factory. The chronograph was not working great today so I didn't get much in the way of fps on them. Those 125 HP also have a good ballistic coefficient. I got about 2715fps average with the 125's. The 150's I only got one match and it was 2637fps (2740 claimed). I'm using the chrono inside and I think I need better lighting for the detectors.