Cast bullet loads for the 300 Savage

[earlmck]

Fellow levergunners, the recent unpleasantness in our data base wiped out a bunch of stuff. We may need to reconstitute some things.

Bill in Oregon seems to have acquired a Savage 99 /300 Savage and was asking about good cast bullet loads for plinking type use, as I recall. Somebody (seems to me it was Big Sky) had some info, somebody else said this "should be interesting", and I had reported the modest results of my one small trial of 3 cast loads from a few weeks ago. And then it all disappeared into the "corruption".

So I'll start over: Here's my lever (not photobucket pics so just mouse click them for full size...)

300Savage.jpg

Here's a group fired with Lyman 150 grain .309241 and 10 grains of Green Dot (Note that .309 sizing fits perfectly in the throat in my rifle for the very best cast bullet accuracy -- or at least that has been my theory) Yes, not very impressive I'll admit.

150a309.jpg

And here is the 120 grain Lee GC bullet sized .309 for that "perfect fit" and the same 10 grains of Green Dot. Hmmm -- also not very impressive.

120a309.jpg

So when I size bullets larger than .309 (in this case .311) they don't fit into the throat very well and I have to seat them deep to achieve easy chambering. So here we go, 120 grain Lee GC seated deep so the bullet has to jump a long way to find rifling, same 10 grains of Green Dot. Yes, this load looks promising: so much for Ear'ls "perfect fit" concept for cast bullet accuracy

120a311.jpg

[BigSky56]

Earl my Lyman 45 manual lists 4 powders for cast unique,2400,imr4227 and 4198 and a accuracy load for a 155 lyman 311466 of 20 grs of 2400 for 1850 fps. Lee has a 155 wGC that casts at 312 its meant for the russian 30 caliber. danny

[457121]

I use the RCBS 30-150 FN sized .310" in my 1927 99G. My rifle has a little slower twist than the normal 1-12" and didn't like either my LBT 170gr. LFN or my LBT 170gr. LCFN. I shoot them at 2300+ fps

[Mainehunter]

Thanks for reviving the post earlmck... I'm eager to see if anybody else will chime in. I'm just finishing off a Savage 99 that I started to piece together end of last summer, here is a sample pic.





I really want to try out some cast loads this spring but after slugging the barrel and chamber cast, it doesn't look too promising . Just have to wait and see.

Mainehunter

[44-40]

After finding a good "meat" load for my 99, I've shot quite a few low / midrange loads for plinking & range use using Unique. Trail Boss gave good results, but never gave accuracy quite as good as Unique. The most accurate cast bullet load I've come up with is a 162 gr. RN/GC over 8.5 gr. of Unique. Out of my '50's vintage peep sighted 99, I get 1,290 fps and always less than 2" groups - some much better depending on caffiene level.
I've seen other 99's that didn't like bullets that heavy, but based on my experience, it's a direction worth trying.

[earlmck]

The most accurate cast bullet load I've come up with is a 162 gr. RN/GC over 8.5 gr. of Unique. Out of my '50's vintage peep sighted 99, I get 1,290 fps and always less than 2" groups - some much better depending on caffiene level.

Have you tried that load without the gas check to see if it still does as well? I'm going to continue working with my plain-base 150 grain bullet until it shoots in the 300 Savage because this bullet shoots so well in my 308. I'll start reducing from that 10 grain/Green Dot load and I'll bet I find accuracy, maybe down around your 8.5 grain level.