“Wyo. Coyote Hunter
Re: rebore a 22-250 but to what?
« Reply #13 on: Today at 01:46:26 PM » Quote
________________________________________
;)Siskiyou, you mentioned using the .300 Sav. and reloading for it....is it a 99?....I have a nice one, and have used it on mulies, antelope, and whitetails...I really like the little rifle as a change from my bolt guns....BUT I have never done much loading for 99's...had trouble with cases seperating with the 250 Sav., and don't use it much so just shot factory...my 358 does well with handloads, better than the .250...with the little .300 if figured to just shoot factory ammo. but came across a set of used dies, so now I have them...the little .300 was very popular when I first came here 40 years ago, but are seldom seen now...what is your favorite powder for the .300 Sav. I am pretty much stuck with traditional powders, h4895, i3031, and I 4350...I figured it is too slow for the little case...haven't really looked at the data, but figured when I had a man with experience infront of me why not ask...thanks......”I thought I would bring this over to Handloading for Rifles and Handguns before getting the boot.
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,209112.msg1099111044/topicseen.html#msg1099111044I started out loading the 300 Savage with 4320 and worked my way up to the Factory Recommended load in my Lyman 44th reloading manual years back. The load was accurate but I was seeing pressure signs a few tenths of a grain over maximum in my rifle.
My rifle is a Remington 722 with a 24-inch barrel. I believe the two extra inches of barrel make up for case capacity when comparing it to the 308 Winchester.
For years Hornady has had the same maximum charge for the 300 Savage using IMR4064 with the 150-grain and 165-grain Spire Point. I load at the Hornady published maximum with the 150-grain, and three tenths under with the 165-grain. My notes suggest that I go to the maximum because there are not issues. Speer #12 manual has a lower maximum.
I am satisfied with the Hornady load in the bolt action Model 722, but I should note the Hornady test rifle was a Model 99 Savage with a 24-inch barrel in Handbook Vol.II, and a Model 110 with a 22-inch barrel in the Seventh Edition.
The reason I went to the 165-grain bullet was the “Dinner Bell” black bear. At the time we were hunting an area with a large bear population in which the Bear season did not open until a couple weeks after deer season opened. This was causing conflicts between Mr. Bear and Deer hunters. The bears were indentifying a gunshot with the dinner bell. Our theory was the area had been hit by poachers from the reservation weeks before the season opened. This was reinforced when we came across a couple of natives heading down the hill with an untagged deer in the back of their pickup.
I tried the 165-grain bullets because I had them on hand for the 30-06 otherwise I would have loaded 150-grains for a lifetime. I wanted the 165-grain bullets for deeper penetrations. I fired the 165-grain bullets across the Chrony at 6700-foot elevation and found that I was getting higher velocity than the published numbers. Of course the next step was to compare computer software performance of the 150-grain bullet and the 165-grain bullet using Sierra Infinity software. At 195-yards the velocity of the 150-grain bullet dropped below that of the 165-grain bullet. The 165-grain bullet produced more energy starting at muzzle until they hit the dirt. The same program showed the Nosler Partition was more efficient than the Remington 165 and the Hornady 165.
I did have a bear make a run at me, but the motion of the rifle coming to the shoulder and me saying get cause it to turn and go the other direction.
IMR4064 hits the sweet spot in the 300 Savage for me. It gives me good velocity, and accuracy. The 300 Savage is an efficient case and I get a lot of loads from a pound, compared to loading the 270 or 30-06. It gives me a good bang for the buck.
In the past I have bought two pounds at a time with the same lot number. My mistake was not buying 8-pounds. I open a new can a while back and performance appears to be the same as an earlier purchases. When I ran out of 4320 for the 30-30 last year I did not touch my stock of IMR4064. I went out and bought for the 30-30.
When I first started loading for the 300 Savage cases were hard to get. I started using 7.62 NATO Case which I bought in bulk. I had purchased a set of RCBS Small Base Dies off the sale counter. I lucked out because it is recommend that Small Base Dies be used to resize 7.62 brass fired in a machinegun because of the large chambers. I use a Lee Decapping Die to de-cap the crimped primer. To make resizing easier I run the case into a 30-06 full length die which reduces the case walls, I then run the case into the full length 300 Savage SB die which sets the shoulder back slightly to the 30˚ angle or the 300 Savage case from the 20˚angle of the 308/7.62 case.
The part I hate is trimming the 7.62/308 length cases back to 300 Savage length. I started using a Lee case trimmer attached to a powder screw driver.
Gun Runner helped me out with some cases a while back.
I went into the case production because I was asked about finding 300 Savage cases yesterday at a gun store. It seems that it is currently hard to find. As long as the loader can come up with 308 or 7.62 brass he will have a good base for .300 Savage brass. I have not tried it but I suspect 30-06 brass could be used. The 300 Savage is an easy round to load, but the work starts when case have to been made from another source.
Do to Handloading my Dad’s rifle is a little different than the one he gave me. I rather suspect that velocities published by the manufactures marketing department for factory ammunition must have been from a very long barrel. I test fired some “old” factory loads across the Chrony at the same location, on the same day as I fired my handloads. The factory loads did not come within a 100 fps published velocity.
Long time ago a brother gave me the most of an 8-pound jug of AA2015BR powder. It did not take much to work up an accuracy load with this powder and 150-grain Speer, Hornady, and Nosler Ballistic-tip bullets. The same brother picked up a used Remington 760 in 300 Savage. He tried the AA2015BR with Nosler Ballistic-tips and stopped his load development with those two components.
I think the only primers we have used are CCI 200
When we were kids a brother used a Savage 99, a couple of times I thought somebody was using a full auto. I guess he was getting ready for a tour in Vietnam a few years down the road.
