Here is the deal.

I am setting up some rounds for my father in law's old Savage 99 in 300 Savage. Going by the Hornady book, I loaded it up with (I am work so I might be a bit off) 43 grs of IMR 4064 with a 150 gr SST. That is a good couple grains off of max.

My question is the IMR website and 2006 IMR reloading manuel state 40 grs as the max. Now I set up 20 rounds for my father in law, and haven't had a chance to give them to him yet. When I ran across the IMR data on their website over lunch, I am wondering which set of data to believe. The IMR manuel was using a Savage 99, while the Hornady listed a Savage 110 as the test rifle.

Any suggestions? Should I pull them all and reload with say 38 grains?

I will edit this when I get home and can look up what the actual charge of 4064 I was using. I do know that it was at least 2.5 grains off of "book max" though.

EDIT Called my wife and the load I uses was 41.5 gr of 4064

You mean that you loaded 20 rounds without firing a sample first, much less seeing if your reloads would actually chamber in the rifle, or if your die is much shorter than the rifle's chamber, setting up a situation of excessive headspace?

The powder charge is probably not excessive, since most data for the .300S is conservative to begin with; but the powder charge may be the least of your problems. You must ALWAYS have the rifle for which you are loading available as you are loading, and you must test-fire your loads before making a production run.

I made up a dozen "dummy" rounds (no powder or primer, bullet seated to length) and shipped them to my father in law to make sure that the OAL was right. He said they all cycled fine and that there were no magazine problems.
I also had a number of once fired cases from the rifle, so I checked to see if there was any amount of excessive neck growth (there wasn't and no triming was required).

I made up the 20 rounds one night because I was thinking that they were coming out that weekend, but then it snowed a few feet in South Dakota.

It was supposed to be a surprise for him (he has built me a really nice reloading bench), so I couldn't grab the rifle first.

My book shows 44 grains as max.

Hornady's manual adheres to SAAMI specs unless they specifically say otherwise
In this case they do not say it's for the bolt action and not to be used in the Savage 99.

I looked at the IMR data and yes....as you stated....they list 40 grains as max.....I see your confusion!!!

All I can say is that I'd not shoot them in my savage 99.......

Did a little more checking and called my wife.

The load I used was 41.5 of IMR 4064.

But just about every other site I see out there lists 40 gr for max with a 150 gr pill, and quite a few have the max about 38 grains.

Probably will pull the bullets and toss the cases. Not a huge deal, I have plenty of bullets and can order some more brass.

Kind of odd that the Hornady book had a charge listed higher than the IMR manuel, but

No reason to toss the cases.....just reduce the powder and reseat the bullets in the same cases.

Takes a bit of time is all.

<I>No reason to toss the cases.....just reduce the powder and reseat the bullets in the same cases.

Takes a bit of time is all.</I>
Good point. Will have some time this week so I will probably do that.

I also emailed Hornady about the max charge listed in the manuel to see why there is such a big difference.

.300 Savage with a 150 bullet has a wide loading range:

IMR-4064 From 34.6 grains to 44.0 grains
Remington 9-1/2 Primer

Hey NEJack, Be sure to check those once-fired cases for Insipient Case head Separations(ICHS) with the old "L-shaped" Feeler gauge.

The M99Sav is very bad about ICHS due to the way the action locks up.

PLEASE REMEMBER: the propellant companies usually have significantly more conservative data because they RARELY specify what exact bullet is being used for the data.

Also the Propellant manufacturer is the one who invariably gets named in any lawsuit when some idiot blows themselves to kingdom come.

IMR probably publishes the data for whatever bullet reached SAAMI max with the LEAST propellant.
because this covers them when they get sued

I'd go by the projectile mfg's recommendation.

And if you are well off that published max I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

It's a Savage 99, not a trapdoor springfield.

AllanD

I tend to agree with the IMR website that 40 grains is near max for the 300 Savage.

In my experience IMR's website is not as conservative as a lot of others.

yeah, speer for instance, the bullet mfg that goes the conservative route....

AllanD

Waaal, I just looked in the Lyman 48th edition and they used a Savage 99 and they quote 42.2 as the max.
I'd load 'em up and shoot 'em.

You need to work up from a starting load. Make up some more three cartridge lots starting with the begining loads of 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 grs. Write on each case the load with a felt pen.

Keeo the 41.5 gr loads for now and shoot the lightest load first. At any sign of excessive pressure stop the work up.

The 99 Savage is a strong action but it will spring some. We don't know now if the headspace is good or not so after firing the handloads and before loading any more fired brass check inside each case near the bottom sidewall for a little ring that will form there if the brass getting an insipinant head separation.

Those 99's are sweet guns. If treated right it will still be shooting well into this century.

quote:

Originally posted by Savage99:
You need to work up from a starting load. Make up some more three cartridge lots starting with the begining loads of 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 grs. Write on each case the load with a felt pen.

Keeo the 41.5 gr loads for now and shoot the lightest load first. At any sign of excessive pressure stop the work up.

The 99 Savage is a strong action but it will spring some. We don't know now if the headspace is good or not so after firing the handloads and before loading any more fired brass check inside each case near the bottom sidewall for a little ring that will form there if the brass getting an insipinant head separation.

Those 99's are sweet guns. If treated right it will still be shooting well into this century.

Might just do that.

My father in law's 99 is a nice gun. One of those old rifles that have probably taken a pile of deer, but go put into the safe a while back and hasn't had much done to it since.

I have checked a few cases with a paper clip to see if there is any seperation. Didn't see any, but I will check the rest this week. Might order some new brass also (might as well as I need some more .223 brass also).

Had a chance to try out the reloads this past weekend. All cycled (as expected). Started with the 36 gr load and walked up to 38. Some primer flattening there, so will step back a bit.

Glad I didn't take the Hornady book's listing as true. Of course this means that I have to pull some bullets, but that isn't all bad.