Savage 99G 300 Savage

[JudgeBAC]

I have acquired a 99G Savage take down in .300 Savage. I have no experience with this caliber or with a 99. Any helpful hints on loads, powders, bullets etc. Any favorite molds for this caliber?

[versifier]

Judge,
One note on the takedowns: the threads are very easily damaged. I would reccomend that you resist temptation and not take it apart, especially considering its value, and if you do, take extreme care with it. I have seen three of these over the years whose overenthusiastic owners disassembled just to check them out. One was repairable and is still functional, one is usable but no longer a take-down, and one was so screwed up that its now sobered owner was left with a parts gun (and several of his own footprints on the seat of his pants where he has been kicking himself ever since). :(

The .300 Sav is a great deer and paper punching cartridge. The short neck requires a little more care than one would normally need to take when seating boolits or bullets, but is no big deal to an experienced loader. One of the biggest advantages of the 99 over other lever actions is that it is not restricted to flat-nosed bullets by a tubular magazine. (Like with any other .30cal, I would start with some soupcans and RE-7 and work up from there until you have found what it likes best.) I have so far not had a lot of luck with it using long heavy bullets and usually concentrate on loads with 125 and 150 gr bullets for deer hunting. The owner of the one I am loading for now I have not yet been able to convince to try cast, but I think he's finally weakening. :) IMR 3031 has given me great results in it, along with the above mentioned RE-7 and also IMR 4064 has shown promise, but frankly the results with the first two have been so good that it's been put on the back burner.

[Larry Gibson]

I have acquired a 99G Savage take down in .300 Savage. I have no experience with this caliber or with a 99. Any helpful hints on loads, powders, bullets etc. Any favorite molds for this caliber?

Good info in versifier's post....I've loaded for a couple .300s over the years and found with cast bullets the best cases are those formed of W-W .308 cases. Reason being the formed necks can be trimmed back to just fit the chamber necks of the rifle. Easy to do just FL size the .308 in the .300 FL die and trim a little at a time until the case just chambers. I found they will shorten a tudge on fire forming. Last time I loaded cast I found the RCBS 30-150 FN to be a very good bullet. The GC and lube groove fit inside the "long neck" formed cases and it feeds with no problems through the rotary magazine. I recall getting excellent accuracy in the 1-12" twist M99 barrel with H4227 and 4759 close to 2000 fps. The owner has subsequently got the same mould and relates it works very well on blacktail deer.

Larry Gibson

[JDL]

Judge, That's the same set-up I started with when using cast for rifles in the 1970's and still use. I began using a 311466 mold a friend loaned me, 18.2 grains of H-4227 powder and took 2 deer with it that year. I have also been pleased with the results of 31141 and 44 grains of original H-4831 and 23 grains of Rx 7 with a 165 grain truncated cone flat nose I had made. -JDL

[Ranch Dog]

I had a fellow trade me one of these rifles for a hog/turkey hunt (after he couldn't pay me) and still have it. It was a real beater, it looked like somebody had just tried to unscrew the barrel with vise grips without removing the forearm. The stock looked worse. The gun was very sad looking. Anyway I wanted it for my previous spouse, now deceased, so off to the gunsmith I went.

The barrel had to be cutdown (18 1/2") to save it and the stock was shorted slightly for my wife so that it could accomidate a LimbSaver recoil pad. I also ported the barrel to help this small framed lady stay on target for a follow-up shot. The metal was too pitted to reblue so I had it parkerized. The stock was also refinished because it looked like it had been sprayed with varnish from a spray can.

The end result was a great shooting carbine that my wife enjoyed up until the time of her death. She killed both deer and turkeys with the rifle. The rifle has been sitting a number of years but I am slowly working my way back to it. Just got in a special order mold from Lee for my 30 caliber leveractions and will work with it in this rifle.