Heavy Boolit in .308 Savage 99?

[Ed in North Texas]

Any body have experience with heavy boolits in the Savage 99 .308 Win? A .308 is joining my .300 and .250. I'd appreciate whatever you can tell me as to weight, boolit mould, etc.

Ed

[Bret4207]

What do you mean by heavy? I shoot the RCBS 30-180FN in mine. It drops about 190-192 grs. I'm just using my standard field loads at about 16-1650 fps (IIRC 13.0 RD, been a while since I chronoed). No probs.

[Ed in North Texas]

What do you mean by heavy? I shoot the RCBS 30-180FN in mine. It drops about 190-192 grs. I'm just using my standard field loads at about 16-1650 fps (IIRC 13.0 RD, been a while since I chronoed). No probs.

That is what I was looking for. Just wasn't sure about any magazine restrictions on length (haven't picked up the rifle yet).

Ed

[M99SavNut]

Am waiting for a response to Ed's question - there's a Savage 99 in .308 in my nutiness, so any good help/advice will be appreciated! Have some heavy-bullet .30 cal. molds in my possession, but am just begining to cast so don't know how they'll work in the magazine of the M99. Thanks, guys.

[Lizard333]

I'm using the 311299 in a buddies 308 savage. Very accurate. More accurate than he could ever get with jacketed rounds. They weigh in at 200 grains.

[atr]

I shoot a savage 99 in .308......using a 180 gr boolit.....good results #311291...which casts at 180 gr. sized at 0.309 ....
I am going to start experimenting with Lee C312 -185 which also casts at 180 gr. and size it to 0.310...

[Rico1950]

C312-185-1R shoots well in my Mark X .308 and beagled in my Yugo SKS.

[Ed in North Texas]

C312-185-1R shoots well in my Mark X .308 and beagled in my Yugo SKS.

Not trying to belabor the obvious, but neither one of those weapons is a lever action with an internal rotary magazine. What I, and M99SavNut (at least the 2 of us) are looking for is what boolits work in this particular rifle, fit the magazine, etc.

Ed

[Rico1950]

If you crimp the C312-185-2R in the crimp groove it's overall length is within spec. Therefore it fits the magazine.

[atr]

when using the C312 boolit I ingnore the location of the crimp groove and "crimp" at the location where 1. it fits the magazine and/or 2. just touches the lands. I say "crimp" because I give it just enough to smooth out the bell at the mouth of the case. I also find the C312 sized to 0.310 a very tight fit in the neck of the .308 case.

[Bret4207]

Not trying to belabor the obvious, but neither one of those weapons is a lever action with an internal rotary magazine. What I, and M99SavNut (at least the 2 of us) are looking for is what boolits work in this particular rifle, fit the magazine, etc.

Ed

Ed, I never really checked the mag length or seated my boolits for the 99 specifically. IIRC I loaded them for my FR8 and they just happened to fit the 99 fine. I usually seat so the boolit just kisses the lands, but I haven't checked in the 99. Anyway, in my particular 99 the RCBS 30-180FN from my mould will work through my 99 with the boolit seated at the crimp groove. YMMV.

[Larry Gibson]

My older 311041HP drops 'em at 177 gr so that's a decent "heavy" to me and worked very well in the M99 .308W I had. The 311299 also worked very well. With the 12" twist of the M99s I pushed both to 2200 fps with very good accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[Ed in North Texas]

Thanks to all. Nice to know I won't need to buy new moulds.

:drinks:

Ed

[Lizard333]

All this lead you to find out is you don't have an excuse THIS time time to buy a new mold. But, who needs an excuse?

[Ed in North Texas]

All this lead you to find out is you don't have an excuse THIS time time to buy a new mold. But, who needs an excuse?

I didn't want to buy a new .30 caliber mould because I just picked up a .338 Federal barrel for my Encore and I need to buy new moulds for that!

[M99SavNut]

I'm glad for Ed that he doesn't have to purchase any new molds - me, I'm not so sure. I have a Redding/Saeco duplicate of the RG4, a Hoch 195 GC, a Lyman 311291, an RCBS 30-180-FN, and am in the group buy for the 311041.

(I haven't tried any of these in my .308, but know the 311291 won't feed in my M99 .30-30 due to its straight nose profile; the "cartridge guide" is the culprit there. Hopefully the tapered nose of the 311041 will solve that.)

Back to the .308. I very much appreciate the input here, as my observation has been that the .308 is an amazingly versatile cartridge. I'd like to put some venison in the freezer with it, using cast boolits, and am glad to have your perspectives and experience to help me accomplish that.