savage 99 30-30

HI riflejohn here iam new to this forum .Has we get older we return to the past,my first rifle was a Savage 99 that I order thru the mail back in the go old days pre-1968. I just resently purshased a 1917 99 model A in 30-30 it has a 24inch barrel with what looks like very good rifling.I also bought a RCBS 30-150-cm mold and iam looking for help with alloy mixture i have hod-4198,Accurate5744. This mold is the cowboy non-gas check type. So if any one is shoting a 99-30-30 and can share with so loading info would be a big help. thanks Riflejohn

Neither of those powders will do well with a PB'd 150 gr bullet; they are too slow burning and probably by the time they get to burning efficiently the velocity will be too high for the PB'd bullet, especially of that lighter weight. Those 2 powders might work ok with a much heavier bullet PB'd though. They will ork fine with GC'd bullets.

I suggest finding a powder between Bullseye and Unique in burning rate to use with the 150 gr PB'd bullet.

Larry Gibson

Welcome John,
Most of my shooting is done with PB bullets. In my testing for 30/30, I've found that one of the best powders for PB in 30/30 is 14.0 gr 4227. Go + and - .5 gr and you should find your best accuracy. Chamfer the case mouth and flair (if you have a 3 die set or a 30 cal "M" die). Set your seating die to just close the neck enough to chamber. That will help center the neck in the chamber.

Use 20 to 30/1, lead/tin and seat your bullet to engrave the rifling. You'll get about 1400 fps with that load.

Frank

14.0-15.0 grains of 2400, 8.0-10 grains of Unique, 8.5 grains of Herco, 15.0 grains of IMR 4759. These are all loads that I have worked with heat-treated plain base boolits, 311-245 and 311-241. Now if all you've got are the afore mentioned 4198 and 5744, you might try 17.0 grains of 5744. The fly in the ointment is avoiding leading. I got my best groups with 2400 and 4759, but both leaded up fairly quickly and required significant clean up. The lighter 311-245 worked well with 8,5 grains of Herco, or Unique.
I did not have leading and killed several squirrels and a cotton tail with the Herco Load.

Frank knows.

Riflejohn-

Looks like you've gotten some sound advice from folks here. I'd just offer one you probably haven't thought of. I am using lots of "plain based" gas checks lately, and they work great. There are several gentlemen who are selling them on this website at very reasonable prices. Not a "fix-all" or a wonder load, just "food for thought". (I'm also applying the PB checks to my 45 ACP handloads and 45-70 too).

HV