.300 saturn

[BLACK-N-TAN]

Anyone ever heard of this round? My buddy has a rifle left to him by his late father in law that is chambered for the round. The rifle (Bolt Action) was custom made by a smith in Reno NV that is no longer alive. However the gun smiths brother told him to shoot .300 H&H rounds out of it and reload the brass. Once the brass is shot it will expand to fit the chamber to a tighter spec. Anyone ever heard of this before? It was used on a big game hunt in africa and then stored since the early 70's. Very gorgous rifle with a sweet muzzle brake.

 

[db_tanker]

Lazzeroni makes a 9.53 Saturn (wants to be diffrent...actual caliber size is 375) but that is the only Saturn I have heard of...

D

 

[JesseL]

Ditto on db_tanker. Also, AFAIK, the 9.53 Saturn is only about 10 years old.

If it is a 9.53 Saturn, brass could not be formed from 300 or 375 H&H brass, because all the Lazzeroni magnums are beltless.

 

[Gordon]

Ummmm, NO guys! The .300 Saturn is another blown out mag from the 70's I believe. I am not 100% sure the parent case is a .300H&H, but it may be. I am gonna find out , though and be back.

 

[BLACK-N-TAN]

thanks man, I would really like to get my buddy some info on this thing so we can shoot it.

 

[JesseL]

This thread is now the top result on a google search for "300 saturn".

I'm curious about what this turns out to be. We already have a 30 caliber cartridge based on a full length blown-out 300 H&H, the 300 Weatherby. Was there much left to be improved from there?

 

[BLACK-N-TAN]

Im not sure Jesse, the .300 H&H round seem to fit the chamber decently, but they drop in just a little too easy.

 

[atblis]

Take a chambering casting

Best bet would be a chambering casting.

 

[db_tanker]

SUCCESS!


What you have is an 300 ICL Magnum Improved.

According to PO Ackley's 2nd volume Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders it is on pgs 197-198. Even gives some reloading data, but this information is circa 1966...so I will only post it if you wish me to.

The chambering is done by Juenke Saturn, INC of Sparks, NV.

There doesn't seem to be much else as far as info goes.

BTW, Gordon, you be right, sir.

D

 

[GooseGestapo]

The .300 Saturn is very similar to the .300Weatherby Mag. Just a conventional 30deg shoulder and a slightly shorter neck. (At least what my old references show.

I had a specimen of a cartridge case that was stamped .300 Remington Magnum I aquired from a quantity of brass that came through the gun shop I was sweeping the floors at after school in the mid '70's.
The brass came from Ft. Benning, and I was told that it was an experimental version of the .300 Saturn that Remington was working on developing in conjunction with the Army Marksmanship Unit at Ft. Benning. Of course, Remington didn't pursue anything of this sort until it came out with the even larger capacity .300RemUltMag.

The firing of .300H&H is "ok", but it would be preferable to contact RCBS regarding some dies, and use some Remington .300 WeatherbyMag brass to size and load.
For the price of 3 boxes of .300H&H, you could buy dies, brass, and bullets for 100rds. Then you could load second 100 for about what it cost to load .30/06 ammo, plus a little extra for the extra powder.

If you intend to reload and shoot it, I suggest you look into some of the surplus .50BMG powders that are available. I bought some WC-860 from WidnersShooterSupply for $25.00/8lbs. It works fabulously through my .300RemUltMag.
I would suggest using starting data for the .300WbyMag reduced about 12% and work up slowly. The chamber dimensions are custom and proprietary, so could vary substantially.
A chamber casting is definetly in order.
Should be interesting !!!

 

[BLACK-N-TAN]

I sent my buddy with the rifle a link to this post so he could read everything you guys are talking about and he informed me the gun was made in 59' and last shot in 62

Thanks for all of the info! This should be exactly what he needs to get started.

 

[RudyE]

Hello
I have a pre 64 70 300 H&H rechambered ICL. I shoot 300 weatherby ammo to fire form.
There are several versions of the 300 ICL. One based on 7mm Rem mag another on the 300 Win Mag. Yet another based on the 300 H&H, there may be others. The one base on the 300 H&H is called the 300 ICL Grizzly, I think the Win mag is called 300 Grizzly Cub and the Rem mag version is 300 ICL Magnum. These are RCBS designations but verify. I have a CH sizing die in 300ICL that works for my rifle.
As previously stated a chamber cast is recommended.
I think my rifle was built in the early 60’s possibly by Arnold Juenke. I beleave he had his Saturn gunshop in Santa Monica early on. My rifle has a Custom stock, 6X Kollmorgen turret-less scope on Leupold adjustable mounts-rings, Canjar set trigger, and a SHA- Cut compensating devise.

RudyE

 

[Jimi]

What I suspect you have is a custom rifle from Saturn Gun Works (or Werks, I'm not sure) out of Reno. This was a top shelf shop that built beautiful rifles around the ICL line in the '50s and '60s. The .300 ICL Grizzly was indeed based on the .300 H&H, and you can safely and accurately fire .300 H&H and .300 Weatherby ammunition, though the casings will indeed get blown out. You can reload these casings, though they will have a tight fit. It is definitely better to get a proper die.

While the quality of the stocks tend to be stellar, it is the Saturn (Muzzle) Brake that helps set these rifles apart. Even though the ballistics of the Grizzly fall between the .300 Weatherby and the .30-.378 Weatherby, the Saturn Brake provides relief such that felt recoil is no worse than a .30/'06.

I am collecting these rifles so if you are interested in parting with it, please contact me. My favorite one has a Manzanita stock that is an absolute dream to shoot.

 

[esheato]

Intriguing. Could ya'll post some pics so we can see these unusual guns?

Thanks,

Ed

 

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300 saturn

I had a 264 icl (improved chamber length)made by same gunsmith in reno.I had to fire form 7mm brass and neck down to 264