An experiment with .300 Savage

[26Charlie]

I have to preface this write up with a little explanation - been shooting the longer range guns at 300yd. with jacketed bullets to sight in; haven't been shooting much cast - someone lent my wife an Armalite with red dot sights, very light weight, so she had to have the exact same thing for herself. The deal shook out so she got the rifle, and I ended up with an 8-lb jug of Vihta-vuori N-133 powder, which is the go-to powder for the .223 with 55 gr. bullets. I loaded some with 24.5 gr, which were quite accurate at about 3300 fps.

So, I'm looking at my powder measure all set up for that charge, and thinking to myself that N-133 is close to IMR 4198 burning rate, which I use in 30 calibers with a cast bullet at about that charge. Inspiration strikes; I have some 153 gr. CBs handy - a Loverin design RNGC out of a Belding and Mull mould M-311-910. So I loaded up some rounds in .300 Savage brass.

Results are passable. In a M99 Savage the first shot was lost, but the next 9 gave a 3.85" group at 100 yards. In a Remington 722, all 10 were there, but gave a 6.8" group with three outliers, the seven good-shot group giving a 2.7" group. Groups are at 100yards; sights on both rifles are aperture rear and bead front.

The groups are higher on the paper, and the sound and few wide shots tell me the powder charge is too high - I'll reduce it a couple of grains and try it.

[nagantguy]

Load some up ladder style , and find the sweet spot, some times flyers can be a pain to track down, worn crown lose screw, barrel that just puts the first one low or high, and on and on. I have no knowledge of the powder you speak of, it may not be the best choice for what your doing or it may be the very best.

[26Charlie]

I dropped this .300 Savage load to 22.0 gr. of the VV N-133 powder and the M-311-910 153 gr. bullet. Results were very satisfying - the Savage M99 and the Remington M722 are shooting to point of aim, and there were no outliers or lost shots. The M99 put 5 into 2.9" at 100 yd., and the M722 put 5 into 3.5" at 100 yd., with both high aand low shots called. The front bead on this rifle is ivory, and it can be difficult to see in sunshine ( although very good in dark woods.) At age 75 with iron sights, I'm satisfied with this load.

It is useful to know that the powder I got an 8-pounder of is good with cast bullets. Bulk .223 ammo is so cheap I have got enough to keep my wife going for quite awhile, and don't need to load the .223 really.

[JDL]

In 1976 I started experimenting with cast in rifles. To be exact, a model 99 Savage in .300 with 311466 as the projectile and 18.2 grains of 4227, which gave a velocity of 1724 fps. That accounted for the first deer I took with cast and many hours of pure fun on the range. I never had to take but one shot to bag a deer with this load but, thinking that a flat nose would work better, I switched to 31141 and 44 grains of H-4831. That is a sho-nuff killer!
My latest load is with a custom 165 grain truncated cone using Rx7 giving almost 1900 fps.
BTW, this rifle, a takedown, has never given the accuracy using jacs as it does with cast.