The Woodsmaster, Remington Model 81

[41mag]

Just wondering if any of you all might have one of these fine ol rifles and might have any favorite loads for either cast or j-words in a 300 Savage.

I somewhat inherited mine which belonged to my mothers uncle. He was a hunter plain and simple and considered this his "cannon", as it always put the deer down on the spot.

I am REALLY itching to put some loads together for it and have even considered picking up a few boxes of factory. I think it would be a great hog gun in the areas I hunt, even though it weighs a ton compared to my little Ruger Compact 308.

Anyway if you have something please feel free to post it up, as well as anything I should be careful about with it. I am by no means looking for anything considered to be hot rodding for sure. This rifle is VERY sentimental and I am simply looking to give it a breath of fresh air from the back of the vault.

Thanks,

[ktw]

I have one in 300 Savage. I had difficulty with the short neck and the semi-auto action. I found it difficult to seat cast bullets securely in the case without seating them with the check well below the neck. Even then they often moved deeper on chambering. You'll want to find a bullet with a short bearing surface.

I did have some luck with 311466. I believe the Lyman 311414 was intended for this application but I don't have one and have not tried it.

I don't actually shoot the rifle that much. I have a supply of 170 grain jacketed 30-30 bullets and tend to load those for hunting.

-ktw

[Fishman]

I have one in 300 savage as well and they are interesting rifles. Pull the trigger and lots of things happen. Sorry I can't help with loads, I've just shot a few factory loads to try it out.

[square butte]

No loads for you here - But I inherited my grandads 81-B in 300 sav. I had to pack that thing around in the woods when I was 9 years old. Man was that thing heavy. And I can tell you, now that I'm 60 - It's back to being just as heavy as it was when I was 9. It's a beautifully made gun and shoots very well. The B version is slightly fancier with checkering and figure in the wood. Mine is fitted with a side mounted Weaver K-V.

[41mag]

Well like I mentioned I somewhat inherited the one I have. It also has the side mounted on it, but to be honest I haven't got a clue as to the brand or what the power even is on it.

I have some 150gr RN CL's that came with it and figured since I also have some of the bulk 30-30 versions I would try and duplicate the factory velocity using some H-4895.

Like I said I know it isn't a powerhouse, and if I wanted that well I have plenty of other critters to drag out. I simply figured it would be neat to have it up and running again and from the looks of it, the oldest grandson would LOVE to put a few rounds through it, especially if pointed at a sounder of hogs.

In fact I am thinking the same thing. I just set up a 15' two person stand within 30yds of a hanging feeder this past weekend. My initial hopes were to get one of the sounders that is crossing our property under it and then open up on them with 00 buck. One bunch has 13 in it and the other has 9, and appears from the pics I have of them to be a bachelor group of young boars. In thinking back to when I patterned the 00, 35yds would be right at the max effective spread with the old Savage I have up there. Having the 300 up there with me would let me have quick follow ups on what ever is trying to make a get away.

Just have to try a few loads and see how she shoots. Hopefully it will be a quick session, and I will have it ready to hunt before rifle season kicks in.

[texassako]

Have you been over to: http://thegreatmodel8.net/ ? Lots of good info on the M8 and M81 over there. There is at least one forum member that discuss a lot about loading the .300 Sav in his Model 81. There was one fellow that had problems with getting .30 Rem w/ cast to cycle the action. You might need to go heavier than 150 gr since it operates on recoil and not gas, but then that short neck might give you problems. The magazine then gives you problems if the boolit hangs out to far. I don't have one in that caliber yet, or I might be able to help more. Interesting rifles to load for at times.

[Fishman]

Keep in mind that Jacketed 150's in the 300 Savage will nip at the heels of the .308. For it's day it was a powerhouse and semi auto too. I would not feel undergunned with mine.

[gnoahhh]

I had an 81 in .300 Savage for a while, until recently. The only loads I shot in it were 39gr. 4064 and 150 Sierra spitzers. Accuracy was good, recoil was, well, strange. Kind of like shooting a pogo stick (as a wag on another forum put it)! The weight of the gun, plus the weird balance and disconcerting recoil (to me) was cause enough to trade it off on something else. It was a very well made gun though, and even with all that I kind of hated to see it go.

[Stonecrusher]

Have you been over to: http://thegreatmodel8.net/ ? Lots of good info on the M8 and M81 over there.


Thanks for the great link. I have an 81 in .30 Rem and based on the website info it is an early FBI model with smooth barrel jacket Lyman 41 receiver sight and all the markings together in the middle of the receiver. Its great to learn something new. I have not shot it yet, but have several boxes of factory loads. Need to try it out.

[ktw]

I dug out my old load notes

I am currently using 39.0 gr of IMR4064 under a Speer 170gr jacketed flat nose

In my cast bullet experiments I found that, in between the light loads that don't work the action at all and the higher power loads that consistently do, there is a middle ground where the action only partially functions and often as not the case smokestacks and the necks get badly bent up.

18.0 to 18.5 gr IMR 4227 shot reasonable well with Lyman 311466 but wasn't enough to work the action. 18.5 - 19.5 IMR4227 worked the action enough to smokestack the cases. 28-31gr IMR 3031 was enough to work the action but didn't group all that well.

I came to the conclusion that there was probably a good full power cast bullet hunting load out there for the rifle, given a design with a short enough bearing surface to fit the neck and a short enough/small enough bore-riding section that wouldn't put up much resistance to the vigorous chambering of the semi-auto action. I didn't really have that design in inventory and didn't see any with a flat nose in anyone's catalog. Given the low number of rounds I put through the rifle, I shelved the cast bullet project in favor of others with a greater chance of success and stuck with the Speer 170 FN load for occasional hunting use.

I think an 81 in 30 Rem or 32 Rem would offer a better chance at cast bullet success than one in 300 Savage.
-ktw

[41mag]

Thanks for the info on both cast and j-words. To start with I think I will just keep it simple and go with the CL's I have on hand. I know they work well on hogs and deer at the lower velocities as I have used them in reduced loads from my little Ruger Compact.

As fr the link to the site, yes I found that shortly after I was presented with the rifle and was looking up histories and such for it. That said I also upgraded my browser and lost a ton of links when I di, and that was one of them. I simply haven't had the several years of browsing I spent gathering them up previously to get them all back. (I have now made several backups).

I am looking forward to working with this one, and even if it isn't a tack driver nor a powerhouse, it will be a fun adventure. Also in looking it over I realize shooting it will be a new experience as was mentioned in a few post I read over on the other site. There are a LOT of things which go into motion on this one. In my mind I can only compare it to my 10mm with the 7" barrel. A friend asked how it shot shortly after I got it, and as best as I could describe it was "it's like shooting a freight train that is coupling up with a new car". You break the trigger and you have a whole handful of sliding and slamming going on when compared to something like a 1911. The added length, weight of the SS slide, and recoil of the full power load, lets you know in no uncertain terms you have touched off something with authority.

I did look over my inventory of 30-30 type bullets and found I also have the 170gr as well as the 150's. So between the two I figure I will find something that should thump a hog really well. I doubt seriously I will be using this one for much if any stalking but who knows, I only have a hundred or so acres on my place and my friends place I only hunt about a 50-100 acre area so there is always the possibility.

[lotech]

I no longer have a M81 .300 Savage, but I had particularly good luck with bullets cast from the the RCBS 30-180 FN mould using Lyman #2 alloy (15-16BHN). My notes don't indicate what I sized these bullets at, but it was probably .310". The gas checked bullet must be seated below the neck, but as long as the gas check is crimped on, it works fine.

Powder charge was 29 grains Accurate Arms #2230; muzzle velocity was 1925 fps. OAL was 2.56". As I recall this load would shoot into about 3" at 100 yards, pretty good considering the coarse bead on the front sight.

[2152hq]

I don't have a 300Sav, but do shoot and reload for the 25, 30, 32 and 35 Remington in Model 8's.

The mag decides the OAL of course and use as much as you can to get smooth feeding.
Any standard weight cast lead boolit in the above calibers except 25Remington have worked well for me. Nothing fancy, just loads right out of the Lyman books.
I haven't tried any cast loads in the 25 and don't know if I will. It's a recent aquisition and just getting around to making up the brass has been a chore for me.

One cast bullet load that will not function is in my 32Rem caliber Mod 8. I load a 102gr Nambu pistol bullet over RedDot for a 50m plinking and fun load. You have to manually operate the action of course but it's a very accurate load at that range. Saves crawling around looking for the precious brass too.
I finally found a use for those Nambu bullets bought at a gunshow that would be good for something someday.

They are fun rifles to handle and shoot. Not the fastest to reload if your fingers are gnarly w/arthritis like mine, you happen to have some of the charger clips for them or your rifle is fitted w/a Kreiger detachable magazine conversion.
I've got my eye on one of those Kreigers in 300savage,,that'd make a nice addition.
Already have the dies too.

Have fun..!

[gnoahhh]

I found that an M14 stripper clip worked well in my 81. Springfield '03 stripper clips didn't.