Stupid 300 Savage....

So I have been talking about this Remington 722 in 300 Savage for a while now, I finally got my grubby hands on it. The stock has been chopped/unchopped (not the best work I have seen), some minor rust spots here and there on the rifle nothing major. The action is soild and the bore is amazing nice and shiney, and the redfield peep works with easy after a few drops of 3 in 1 oil, trigger isnt a lawyer trigger breaks clean at around 3 pounds with no over travel. It should be a fun project.

It is stupid because my dad and I went to the range for our Sunday afternoon shoot like always, I threw together some light loads with a standard 10.0gr of Unique, common starting load for all my cast bullets, 173gr GC Ideal mold 311413 pointed bullet, with a tuff of pillow stuffin over the powder just because. 50 yards with the open sights from a bench the dang thing shot a 1.5" group for 6 shots. Thought to myself "self what is going on here", went back to the line and started shooting again, went and check the group, *** here I am thinking I will have a fun rifle to spend alot of time on making a load that will shoot good, but I have a rifle that will shot 1.5" at 50 yards with open sights with a "trash" load, just something I threw together.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2.../300savage.jpg
Might as well sell it I can already tell this rifle isnt going to be any fun.

Things to come for this rifle:
Target Globe front sight,
alot better stock,
and refinishing of the metal and general clean up.

Heck of a rifle for $200, all week I was thinkin about how if it doesnt shoot well I am money ahead because I could always make a custom target rifle built on the action. It will stay a 300 Savage if it keeps up with the groups I am getting with it.

.300 Savage doesn't do anything for me, I'd probably do something stupid like rechamber it to .308 Win or even rebarrel it to .358. You do know that any barrel from a Rem 700 will screw right in, all you have to do is headspace it. A .22-250, .243, .260, .7/08, .308, .358, there's some mighty attractive options there...

Didnt think the 300 would do anything for me either, already have a 30-30, 308, and 2 30-06's, what do I need a 300 for but the price was right, and I am pretty happy with the accuracy for just throwing something together.

I was joking earlier about it not being any fun...accurate rifles are always fun, I can tell this one is going to be a good shooter for me. Might even make a good cast bullet hunting rifle.

I cant wait for the weekend to get here so I can get back home and do somemore shooting with it....I am going to need another gun locker pretty soon, my 2 are full right now, I am running out of room to stack all these rifles.

If you need more room for your newer rifles I could take a few of the older ones off your hands for ya :0 :drinks:

Given the fact of how much longer it's been around, I think it likely that the .300Sav has dropped a lot more deer than the .308, and at real ranges, is every bit as effective at dropping them. No dead deer has ever made his opinion known on the issue of a few hundred fps, however, at least not the ones in my freezer. [smilie=1: The only drawbacks to it that I know are the dwindling supply of Sav99's and the tight chamber issue in some requiring sb sizers. They are non-issues with the Remington. That rifle is a freezer filler, and should be good at it for a few more generations. I would really think about stocking up on the brass now while it's still readily available, stash a couple thousand cases for posterity.

I dont know if I will be hunting with it that much, maybe a few days of the season, just have to carry binoculars with me.

I am going to pick up 100 pieces of brass, after that I can always make it out of 308 brass, maybe LC match brass.

I do need a good mold that will throw a 165-160gr hunting style bullet, any suggestions?

There are enough different .30cal moulds that you'll have a lot of choices. I would start with whatever you have for .30-30, .308, -06. Depending on the throat, it should handle anything up to 200gr. I would start with Lee moulds to see what weight range it favors, unless you have some others already. The most popular loading for deer and bear was 180gr, so I would look for FN designs from 150-200gr. I have had good accuracy with Lee 150 & 170FN's in the one I load for, but the owner doesn't shoot it as often as I'd like.[smilie=1: It's a m99 but doesn't have the real tight chamber:-D , and he (and the rifle) like Sierra 150GK's best. He is slowly warming up to the idea of shooting cast.

I have shoved a 311291 down everything from a thutty-thutty to a swiss slap-and-smile, with some M-numbers in between. The point? Seems like that slug works in anything that can claim to be in the 30-cal family. My main mold is about 40+ years old but just keeps going..

If it were mine I wouldn't mess with it at all. I'd just put a hex on it if it did and it would never shoot well again.

I have used the 31141 and 44 grains of H-4831 for deer in my 99G .300. Does as well as about anything I've used, putting 2" holes through the lungs. Only drawback is the top lube ring is above the case mouth but, the base is at the neck/shoulder junction.
Hey, if you really want a "fun" rifle, I've one that I'll trade! :-) JDL

Forgot to add, the 311466 does real well in the .300 using 4227. I used 18.2 grains of it to kill my first 2 cast boolit deer.

I have a few .30 cal molds, but nothing I would want to use for hunting, either to light or to pointy. I think I need to find something 170-180gr fp with a gascheck, possible a softnose or hollow point bullet....I know dont need that but I like those 2 styles of bullet.

If you decide to restock, it is a pretty simple task to put a 722/721 into the appropriate length 700 stock. I strongly recommend the BDL type. You can use your present trigger guard.

I am going to re stock it, I just dont know with what yet, the 722 stock feels really nice, although it looks like a squirrel chewed on it I might try to find another one and keep it "original". I was going to put a 40x stock on it but not sure now, I dont know what changed my mind but it is not top priority now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fourarmed

If you decide to restock, it is a pretty simple task to put a 722/721 into the appropriate length 700 stock. I strongly recommend the BDL type. You can use your present trigger guard.

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Just an opinion but I'd rather go with the ADL type stock because the sheet metal trigger guard/floorplate on the 721/722 was one of the ugliest things about it AND just about the only thing that was changed in the transition to the 700. There was a short lived Model 725 in between...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dk17hmr

I have a few .30 cal molds, but nothing I would want to use for hunting, either to light or to pointy. I think I need to find something 170-180gr fp with a gascheck, possible a softnose or hollow point bullet....I know dont need that but I like those 2 styles of bullet.

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There is no end to good .30 cal bullet molds but I'll nominate the RCBS .30-165-SIL or the RCBS .30-180-FN.

Doug, I just listed a couple of boxes of new factory primed Winchester .300 Savage brass for $17 if you are interested.

Versifier... IMHO the Savage 99s did not have large chambers. The 99 is a wonderful rifle but has it's quirks. The lockup consists of the entire breech block caming up and being held in the receiver front and rear.

To maintain reliable function in the field, this lockup is a little loosey goosey. This allows the cartridge case near the head to expand more than in other rifles. It is for this reason that a small base die is often needed for cases fired in the Savage 99. The chambers are standard dimensions.

About 45 years ago, I barreled a 99 to 22-250 while this round was still a wildcat. It was built for long range coyote shooting on the costal mud flats of South Texas and did a wonderful job at that task. However, I quickly found I could not use top end loads due to the aforesaid case expansion at the case. There were no 22-250 small base dies, so I just reduce the velocity a couple of hundred fps and that took care of the issue.

Buy one of LEE's 150-170gr FN bullets and try it with your rifle. At worst, you'd be out about $20. At best, you got a nice bullet with a wide meplat to drop a deer with.

Bruce

right now, Lee has all of their single cavity molds on sale for $14.00. It is a good way to pick up a mold to try a bullet out. The charge $4.00 shipping no matter how few or many items you buy. They are shipping me 80 six cavity mold blocks for $4.00. Now that is the shipping the molds are costing four grand.

Scrounger, I have done it both ways, and the ADL has its advantages (like stiffness), but it does cost more, since you have to buy a new trigger guard. With the BDL stock, you can sandblast the old TG and cold blue it. Gives a very attractive and durable matte finish. You do have to relieve the area around the front action screw slightly.