It's still a fine choice for deer. What is your favorite bullet and load for a 99 in .300 Savage? I have some loads put up with the little Nosler 125-grain BT just for fun, but would like to work up an accurate load with a heavier bullet -- 150 or 165 grains -- for mule deer, and there are just so darned many fine bullets these days.

I don't own a 99, but I've shot several dozen deer with a .300 Savage handgun. The Nosler 150 Ballistic Tip at 2400 fps over W748 has given me excellent results. I only recovered two bullets, both from deer hit at over 200 yards. One entered the brisket and was found in the pelvis. In a rifle barrel you can speed them up to over 2600 fps, don't know how that bullet will perform then.


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Its no great trick to get 2700 to 2800 FPS with a 150 gr. bullet in a 300 Savage mod. 99..A number of book loads will do that..A few loads in some articles I have read got 2900 FPS, but I think I would regulate that velocity to a bolt action..

I have used the 150 gr. Sierras, Hornadys, and factory silvertips and corelokts on Mule deer they all worked..The old work horse is easy on bullets and it will work with about any 150 bullet..

I think the 300 Savage due to its lack of powder capacity works best with 150 gr. bullets as you can get good velocity with that weight and if you use a 150 gr. Nosler partition or a premium bullet it should work just fine on elk.

My family members shot a lot of elk with factory 150 gr. Peters and Rem corelokts and they sure worked, but I would feel better on elk with a Nosler partition or some premium bullet..but hey, I'm sold on premium bullets for hunting, its good cheap insurance.

A 150 gr.,In a 99, will come within 100 FPS of a .308 Win. with good handloads, and thats high praise..I like the the 300 Savage. I like all the 99's!

As to the 300 Savage caliber itself, its most wonderful attribute is often overlooked..It walks on the heels of a .308 and 30-06 with good handloads if you must, but even in factory persuasion it kills like an 30-06 and recoils like a 30-30, and thats the best part.

Ray, we have so many fine bullets these days. I am thinking a 140- or 150-grain TSX would be very effective within the practical range of the Lyman aperture rear sight.

At 300 savage velocity,
Usually about 2600 to 2700 fps, I would just use whatever 150 or 165 grain bullet you rifle likes. A speer 150 grain hot core a sierra game king , just about any will do fine.
...tj3006

I shoot 165gr corloks in mine I get 2400fps with Bal-C2

It is 1 gr under max kills deer very well my longest shot has been 221 yards measured.

If I need more speed I move up accordingly 308 30-06 300wm.

There is nothing wrong with a 300 Savage.

Back in the day 150gr bullets were for deer, and its 180gr bullets were for elk, moose, and bears, even the big bears...

No need to load it "hot" factory ballistics/pressures are plenty good enough IMHO.

NE 450: My late Uncle Paul Doe, who died at 95, thought the Savage 99 in .300 with 180-grain bullets was finest tool he could slip out of a scabbard as he slid off his horse to kill an elk.

Bill,
For Mule Deer and Whitetail, I would bet the 125 gr Barnes would sizzle and perform as well or better than a cup and core 150 gr. as to penetration..I often thought of trying that in a 300 or my .308, just never got around to it..

BTW, the 180 corelokt in the 300 Savage works wonders on elk and deer..I witnessed this in my mispent cowboy youth as my dad, uncles, brothers, and cousins, all invaded Colorado with a truck load of saddle mules every year, stayed until all filled their tag, then sold the mules to packers at the end of the hunt.

Ray, that was a hell of a great hunting program your kin worked out with their mules!

It seems to me a travesty to shoot a 125gr Barnes in a 300 Savage 99....
You should be "string haltered and gil fluted"
or what ever Ray Atkinson usually says...

If you are going to do that, you might as well use a Phase Plasma Rifle, in the 40 Watt Range.

Thats "gilflurted" you left out the r


Bill,
It was for a fact, the old guys just jerked us out of school and away we all went, got a little flack the first year in High School, but a visit from dad and his three brothers settled that little ruckus..We did that from the time I was in about the 7th grade until age took its toll on them about my 3rd year of college. Dad said he didn't get to old, just ran out of mules!

But is does seem sacrilegious to use a modern bullet like that in an elderly classic like the model 99. Espcecially since the Rem Core Locts work great anyway.

Thanks Ray, I need to remember then rrrAHS.

Anyhow, I don't see using a modern bullet in an old gun changes much but its effectiveness, changing the stock or metal would go against the grain, but c'mon changing a bullet ain't that big a deal, just don't tell anybody and you won't get "stringhaultered and gilflurted!"

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
It's still a fine choice for deer. What is your favorite bullet and load for a 99 in .300 Savage? I have some loads put up with the little Nosler 125-grain BT just for fun, but would like to work up an accurate load with a heavier bullet -- 150 or 165 grains -- for mule deer, and there are just so darned many fine bullets these days.

Bill,

I like to use Milsurp 308 brass to form 300 brass for a M-99. That way you minimize the dreaded case head separation so common with that combo, and your brass lasts longer.

Any powder that works well in a 308 will also shine in a 300. Try some Rlr 15 and 165 gn slugs. I think you'll like it!

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
NE 450: My late Uncle Paul Doe, who died at 95, thought the Savage 99 in .300 with 180-grain bullets was finest tool he could slip out of a scabbard as he slid off his horse to kill an elk.

IMHO THAT would still be a good combination for any elk hunting under 300 yards.

The 300 Savage is a true classic.

I never could figure out what a best bullet was in a 300 Savage on elk or deer. Even as a kid I was a bullet digger and recovered many for my collection but those old cowboys usually had a 150 gr. silvertip, a 180 gr. corelokt, 165 gr. Peters, and some were silver and others copper, Technolegy was out the door and everything must have shot to the same POI...

That still hasn't changed much back home, load'em and shoot'em, don't discuss ballistics or anything else you can't spell around the campfire, talk about cow prices, bronc horses,good mules, hair goats, you know the interesting stuff.