new to the whole cast thing

[dakotasin]

evening, fellas... just registered -finally- been putting it off for too long.

anyway, shooting cast loads are pretty new to me. did some experimentation w/ my 357 and 480, and am now ready to try it in some rifles.

first, i want to try this in a savage 99f takedown in 300 savage. can you give me pointers from mild, powder puff 165 grain loads to a good deer-whacker load?

appreciate any help!

btw... these are commercially cast - i do not cast my own at this time.

[Bret4207]

What powders do you have? And welcome to the family!

[arkypete]

A suggestion.
You can use heavier bullets, drop the velocity but still have a good thump at the target.
I use 208 grain cast bullets in my 30-06 Winchester 95. These loads will ring the gong at 300 yards.
Have a look at IMR or H 4198 using heavy jacketed bullets for the Savage, using the beginning charges.
Jim

[dakotasin]

thanks fellas!

powders on hand... unique, 2400, h-110, rl-15, rl-22, rl-25, varget, h-4831, accurate 2230, and that's probably about all (recent moves really depleted my powder supply).

i need a powder puff load (unique?) to get my daughter started on shooting centerfire. ideally, i'll be able to slowly move her into something w/ a little more thump to it... but, baby steps... her centerfire experience is limited to the ar-15. i want to get her used to working the gun, etc before working on handling recoil.

i appreciate the help, fellas!

edit: i have to stick w/ 165's and 168's - it is all that's available locally for commercial cast.

[buck1]

Welcome! Lyman lists...169 gr cast over 8.5gr unique@1235fps to 13.0 gr unique @1625 fps....Buck

[arkypete]

Have a look at loads using H110, 2400 they will fill more of the case giving better accuracy. You'll get better consistancy.
Make sure you clean out all the copper from the barrel.
Jim

[Bret4207]

8-10 gr Unique. Go for accuracy. Thats your powderpuff. I think with 2400 you'd start around 12 gr and work up for your girls load.

For deer find a jacketed load with your powder of choice and start at the starting load with similar wt boolit. With a 170 gr cast in the 300 anything from 1500 on up will kill deer fine with proper shot placement. Finding a balanced load is the key. Velocity without accuracy is useless. Find a load you can get at least 3 shots out of before leading becomes an issue. If you don't have a deer after 3 shots you ain't gonna have a deer at all.

BTW- If you aren't using the takedown feature of the 99 then why not save some headaches and lock-tite the barrel to the action. I think you'll find it shoots better that way. A little heat from a hot air gun will loosen it if you ever need to takedown without harming the bluing.

Also, some 99's in 300 have a rather short throat. You might not be able to use 180-200 gr designs, depends on the rifle. A 150 will work fine.

[stubert]

Info is from Load from a Disc. 35 grains IMR 4895 with a 200 gr. cast will give aprox. 2000 fps. 36 grains IMR 4895 with a 170 grain cast will give approx. 2100 pfs. that will get you a deer and not bust your shoulder.

[dakotasin]

thanks for the input! i screwed some test loads together tonight. business requires i travel all next week, but i am either going to sneak out for a quick range session before i go, or take the rifle w/ me and locate a range. might have to do both!

again, thanks - i'll update as i go along.

[dakotasin]

shot the cast loads at 100 yards today, starting w/ 8.0 of unique and topping out at 12.0 unique. didn't even get on paper, but it looks like around 10-11 grains of unique and a deep-seated bullet should be lots of fun.

at 8.0 grains, i was getting about 1050 f/s, and a sd of about 115 (which concerns me a great deal), but the giggle factor was very high!

thanks for the help fellas - more to come.

[medic44]

welcome and thank you for looking out for our future