Forming 300 Savage

I have found myself the proud new owner of a Savage Model 99 in 300 Savage. Now, I've got to find a way to feed the thing. I haven't had much luck finding factory 300 Sav brass. I have some 250-3000 brass, but I'm holding onto that in the hopes that I can find a 250 Savage rifle for a reasonable price some day. I probably shouldn't hold my breath on that...

My second thought was to convert 308 brass, but I'd rather not since I have a 308, and the two rounds are very similar in size. Having them both have the same headstamp might not be the best idea.

I thought about 7mm-08, or even 22-250. Well, those are just as easy to find as the 300 Sav brass, so that's not going to work. I could buy some 260 Rem brass though.

Finally, I remembered something while I was writing out this post. I have a box of 6mm Creedmoor brass that I had bought with the intent to convert to 6.5 Creedmoor when high quality 6.5 brass was hard to come by. Well, I found some before I converted it, so the 6mm brass just ended up shoved into some dark, dusty hole under my bench. I'm about 90% sure it's still there.

Is there any reason I couldn't use it to form 300 Savage? The rim and base of the 6mm is about 0.001" smaller than the 300 Sav, though some sources state that the 6mm rim is 0.473" and not 0.472".

Attachment 302978

Attachment 302979

A .001 among friends in this instance don't mean nothin'.

I've never done this conversion, but I've done a dozen or so other making something into what it ain't.

So this is my insight into how I'd do it.

A quick look at the two drawings, it looks like a perfect candidate for fire forming.

8-10 grains Unique, a quarter sheet(or less) toilet paper on top of the powder. Next corn meal to fill the case. I use old candle wax to seal the case mouth. It will compress the corn meal.

My wax is recycled church candles that were given to me. I melted them down, then poured the wax ~3/16" thick in an old bread pan.

I push the wax sheet down on the case and cut/force a wax plug into the case mouth.

Next step is fire the round vertically, vertical seems to help with uniform expansion.

Next, anneal the necks, you should now be ready for normal loading.

Hopefully someone who has done it will chime in.

Good luck and post if it works.

(For the don't waste primers and powder on fire forming crowd, personally I've got bunches of recycled primers and 50's-60's vintage Unique just for fire forming. This is how I'd do it. YMMV)

The 6.5C is NOT a perfect case for fireforming. The shoulder junction is shorter than the 300S case. Your best bet would be to form a false shoulder by expanding the 6.5C then fire forming it. I would just use 308 brass, maybe nickle for the 300S and regular brass for 308.

I just use the 308 for forming mine. I run the 308 into a 300 file trim die and trim to length, then into a 300 size die and they are ready to load and shoot. Annealing first makes everything easier.

Hello am44mag,

I used military brass when I formed my 300 Savage.
I did some with 308 and a few from 30-06.
I can't remember if neck turning was required.

AntiqueSledMan.

I don't shoot 300 Savage, but I do form 30-06 brass to make a different cartridge. When I'm making a different cartridge I use military brass because it doesn't have a cartridge designation on the base: just two or three letters and a date. I suggest that you use 7.62x51 NATO brass to make your 300 Savage rounds. The brass may be a little thicker, so reduce loads and work up from there.

I concur with the use of .308 or 7.62x51 brass for the conversion to .300 as I have made lots of .300 for my Rem. Mod 8 and Sav. 99 rifles. Use much reduced loads in the converted brass, especially in the military stuff. A max load in converted brass may be as much as 10 grains below a published max. Pressure can rise quickly.

Years ago I used once fired 30-06 to make a bunch of .300 Savage.
I would have trued up the necks before loading for Ol' Nevermiss anyhow so turning to make the neck wall the right thickness was no extra thing.

22/250 & 250 Savage are probably least work. But any longer .473 case head can be made to work.

Buy Imperial sizing wax.

Use only CLEAN, CLEAN BRASS.

If making from longer cases, expect to need to neck turn your cases.

CW

Thanks fellas for the suggestions. Another member reached out to me and offered me some 300 Savage brass he was willing to part with, so I should be good to go on reloading for it now. :D I think the 6mm Creedmoor brass would work, so I'll hold on to that idea just in case I ever need some more in the future.

I agree on using 7.62 military brass to prevent confusion.
For those suggesting 250 or 22-250 I wouldn’t do it. Both those cases have radical case taper, and the 300 has nearly straight case sides. The 250 has so much taper that it’s stated it benefits more from the AI conversion than any other cartridge.

If you think you might have a 250 sav. in your future save the 22-250 & the Creedmoor brass. They are the best to use in that conversion.

308 Win. brass is everywhere and is a snap to convert to 300 Sav.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stubshaft

The 6.5C is NOT a perfect case for fireforming. The shoulder junction is shorter than the 300S case. Your best bet would be to form a false shoulder by expanding the 6.5C then fire forming it. I would just use 308 brass, maybe nickle for the 300S and regular brass for 308.

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I guess I have to ask why a straight forward fire forming wouldn't work.

I've done 30-30 out to a short 38-55, a number of different belted Magnums out to 458 Win Mag, granted those are both going bottleneck to straight wall cases.

I know I've done similar bottleneck to bottleneck fire forming, blowing shoulder forward and expanding the neck.

Or at least I think I did, can't remember which one(s). And I'm too lazy to go out to the shed and dig through my loading notes binders to jog my memory.

I like the idea of using the nickel plated brass. If you don't use nickel for anything else, perfect.

when I had a 300 Savage I just used 308 win. brass
if your worried about the headstamp you shouldn't, you will be able to tell the difference between the 2, 308 and 300 savage

.308 military is cheap and easy to acquire, why go looking for more work ?
Just cut your powder back and work up to your accuracy load ?
Or find some nickel .308 and you are all set, this would let you ID them easy.

I made a bunch (150+) of 300Savage brass for a shooter/hunter friend.
I resized 7.62Nato, 308, 243 and 250 brass for the job.
Annealing first, It all went just fine. All assorted mfgr, headstamps, ages.