Help me understand this gun/ammo pressure situation

[FLINT]

Hi all. I just saw something that made me question everything.

I'm a huge fan of the 35 rem and the 300 savage.

I can't tell you how many times I've read that the potential of the 35 rem is held back because of the relatively low pressures that it's loaded to due to the fact that it was originally chambered in the Remington model 8 autoloader which could not take higher chamber pressures. SAAMI for the 35 rem is 33,500 psi. In recent history, the 35 rem has probably been most popularily chambered in the Marlin 336 which is obviously also chambered in the 30-30 whos SAAMI pressure is 42,000 psi.

Ok, that's all fine. And that's been my understanding for many years.

Until tonight.

I was just on Gunbroker, which is usually a bad idea and happened across a Remington model 8 autoloader. Chambered in..... 300 Savage !???? What the ??!!

The 300 savage is loaded to a SAAMI pressure of 47,000 psi

Now, after doing a little research, i can't tell if the model 8 was ever originally chambered in 300 savage (some sources say yes, some say no), but it appears that for certain many were rebarreled with factory supplied barrels and even some original barrels were rechambered to 300 savage.

So how can the Rem 8 handle the pressure of the 300 savage but yet also be blamed for keeping the 35 rem pressures so low? Have we been lied to?

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

I'm a fan of the 300 Savage also. I don't own a Model 8 but have shot one and helped a friend put one back together. I don't think they were offered in 300 Savage. I think a later model that was very similar was offered in 300 Savage, but it was supposedly modified for the 300 Savage and maybe some other rounds with pressure similar to the 300 Savage.

Where the Model 8 operates with two different springs I wonder if the springs were the modification made to the later model. I guess similar to how folks modify AR's with buffer weights and springs and also 1911's.

My guess would be the rifle was capable of the pressure but needed modified weights or springs to function with the 300 Savage. Head size is similar so that shouldn't be an issue.

The government wasn't involved, so I don't think we were lied to It just may have been an misunderstanding of why the 300 Savage would not work in the Model 8.

[44shooter]

My understanding is that the subsequent model 81 was offered in 300 Savage but not the model 8. I don’t know for sure without doing some research nor do I know the differences in the two rifles.

[FLINT]

Thanks guys,

I think I'm just questioning whether the 35 rem chamber pressure is/was really dictated by the model 8 remington as is so frequently touted.

[earlmck]

I owned an 81 in 300 Savage for a while, definitely factory original. Probably there was some metalurgical improvement made between the early model 8's and the later 8's and 81's and I have no idea about springs. The 81 I had handled the cartridge fine but I didn't own in long enough to tell you if it could stand up to thousands of rounds running through it.

[Ray]

This is entertaining.....

https://thegreatmodel8.net/

Controversy re. Capt. Hamer's rifle.....

https://thegreatmodel8.net/?page_id=434