Load recommendations for Savage 99 .300 Savage

[Hanzy4200]

Ive had this rifle about a year and tried a number of loads. Nothing is getting me much better than about 2"-3". Most of my loads have been with 4064. What have you guys found to shoot best? I have a pretty wide variety of projectiles. Multiple 150, 165, 180 gr. Varget, W748, 4064 are listed powders i have.

[FergusonTO35]

Both of my Savage Axis .308's shoot great with 37.2 grains IMR 4895 under a 180 grain spitzer, which is in fact a tried and true .300 Savage load. Mebbe your 99 would too? I assume you are talking about IMR 4064, which is a little bit slower burning than 4895 and is accurate in everything I've tried it in.

Every lever action I have, tube or mag fed, shoots best with starting loads or just a little bit above, so I would encourage you to try starting loads for all your powders and bullets and see what happens. A starting .300 Savage load is still .30-30 power level and should make anything go dead no problem

[K43]

My 300 Savage shot best with 150g Sierra Prohunters with max book load of Vihtavuori N140. Consistently less than an inch at 100 yards from the bench, but that was with a bolt action (Husqvarna M46 with a Shaw barrel).
N140 is very close to Varget, so perhaps Varget might get you that little extra over 4064.

[oscarflytyer]

40.0 gr of IMR-4895 with a 150 grn Speer/Sierra/Hornady bullet. ~2550 fps (not chrono'd).

Waters Pet Load from way back. My start/end/go to load.

[NSB]

I have two, a model 99f and a model 99. Both made within a year of each other in the mid 1950’s. Best loads are Sierra Spitzer 150g with 41.0g of Varget, and 39.5g of IMR4895. Groups of 1.25” at 100 yards. For a lever gun, that’s not too shabby. I’m now working of a load for Barnes 130g. Hoping I can find one for all copper.