Funshooter45
Member
I just received my Lyman dies for 300 Savage and I'm eager to get going. I was recently gifted a beautiful Savage model 99 in 300 Savage. I bought one box of Remington ammo just to see how it shot while waiting for dies. It's a very fun rifle to shoot.
It's interesting to look at the case. It is strikingly similiar to a .308 case, except with a sharper shoulder and tiny little short neck. I didn't compare scientifically, but it appears the case capacity is nearly the same as a .308.
While waiting for the dies to arrive, I did some checking on powders to use. On the Alliant site, they only list RL-15, which is fine, since that is my #1 powder in my .308. They just use less of it to keep the pressure low I guess. But when I checked the Hodgdon site, they didn't even list Varget, which loads up almost 1 for 1 with RL-15 in my .308.
This is going to be a fun endeavor. My goal is not to try to extract maximum velocity out of this fine historic rifle. I just want to be able to shoot it without spending $35/box for factory ammo. If I want more performance, I have a safe full of more powerful rifles to choose from.
Looking at a case like this makes me ponder. We all marvel at the ability of the .308 to give such efficient accurate performance out of a neat little case and we give credit to the people who were so wise to figure it out. Yet, in reality, here is the parent case that was developed 30 years before by Savage. All Winchester really had to do was to understand that metallurgy had advanced so that they could run higher pressures with newer powders. And they had the sense to lengthen the neck a bit. Honestly, what was Savage thinking with that short neck?
It's interesting to look at the case. It is strikingly similiar to a .308 case, except with a sharper shoulder and tiny little short neck. I didn't compare scientifically, but it appears the case capacity is nearly the same as a .308.
While waiting for the dies to arrive, I did some checking on powders to use. On the Alliant site, they only list RL-15, which is fine, since that is my #1 powder in my .308. They just use less of it to keep the pressure low I guess. But when I checked the Hodgdon site, they didn't even list Varget, which loads up almost 1 for 1 with RL-15 in my .308.
This is going to be a fun endeavor. My goal is not to try to extract maximum velocity out of this fine historic rifle. I just want to be able to shoot it without spending $35/box for factory ammo. If I want more performance, I have a safe full of more powerful rifles to choose from.
Looking at a case like this makes me ponder. We all marvel at the ability of the .308 to give such efficient accurate performance out of a neat little case and we give credit to the people who were so wise to figure it out. Yet, in reality, here is the parent case that was developed 30 years before by Savage. All Winchester really had to do was to understand that metallurgy had advanced so that they could run higher pressures with newer powders. And they had the sense to lengthen the neck a bit. Honestly, what was Savage thinking with that short neck?
