So, have a chance to pick up a nice Savage 99 in .300 Savage. The gun is strictly a shooter grade as it has been refinished, and some alterations to the stock, including replacing the forend, so collectors value is will. The bore is great and the gun is mechanically excellent. My question is, can this be rechamberd to .308? I seem to remember reading that there as some problems with the rotary magazine, but can't remember where I read that. I know .300 Savage brass and ammo is readily available, but would like to avoid loading for another caliber if possible. Anyway, thanks in advance and anyone can recommend a gunsmith who would do this, I would appreciate it.

That gun was designed for a lower pressure round. Not to mention the issue of getting the rotary mag to feed. If it has a good bore then I recommend loading for it. So what if you have to buy $25 worth of dies if you are already reloading? You'd spend over $200 to modify it.

Mike- 300 Savage is a great cartridge for even a 200+lb deer.
Had an old Arisaka that was re-chambered after WWII and it was great rifle.
Wish I still had it.

Were it mine, I'd buy the dies and load away...

When was the gun made? The early pre mid 50's savages have a different carrier assembly than the later ones. The earlier carrier limits the length of the cartridge to the 300 length, it is not long enough for a 308.

The carrier was changed when Savage started chambering for the 308 series. A 308 will work fine in these carriers.

Pre 1 million serial number savages had a smaller thread diameter and square threads. These are not as strong as the later ones because of this but the factory did make them in the 308 series.

Thanks for all the replies. Haven't seen the rifle in person yet, probably next weekend. Regardless, I think I will keep it as a .300 Savage if I end up with it. Thanks again to all who answered.

someone has already said it - but let me added in -- initially, the internal parts are different per caliber, and a 300 spool won't fit a 308 -- i believe the H model is the changing point -- i do know that if it has a brass round counter, vs silver, it's explicitly designed for that caliber.

the last years of the 99, which the 308, 243, etc dominated, are engineered of stronger stuff, per savage press release then, than the originals.

nothing wrong with a 300 savage, it was considered for the m14, in fact -- if you have 308s around the house, i would NOT recommend making brass from 308 or 30-06 --- brass is readily available, but some of us like to scrounge -- a 300 savage WILL fire in a 308 (or 30-06, depending on the rifle) -- i had 2 boxes of fired brass, that i picked up at carter's country, on the inverse situation ... the owner had a 308 m99, and thought it was a 300 ... but didn't reload, and left his "hulls" on the ground -- as the box said 300 savage, i asked if i could have them .... he said sure, picked up his brass, and handed me the boxes... i didn't look at them till later

good times

Pre-1956 99 actions aren't physically big enough internally to take .308-length cartridges, although certainly strong enough. Externally they're all the same size. They didn't change the metallurgy when they added the .308/.243/.358 to the line up. After the change up they continued offering the the .300 and .250 as well in the same action.

The internal dimensions are enough different that merely changing the rotor won't do it- slightly longer rotor which means altering the anchor points for the rotor. Then there's the automatic cut-off and cartridge guide to contend with. I know a guy who took it as a personal challenge to alter an earlier .300 to .308. By the time he was done with it he swore "never again".

As stated above, just shoot the .300. There's not enough difference in performance to justify the headaches involved in converting it, IMO.

The 300 Savage cartridge is fine for deer. Have reloaded for mine for some 25 years. The brass is available if you shop around. Current load uses IMR4320 pushing 150 Hornady Interlocks. a semi-hot load. Will shoot MOA in my 99 Featherweight if I do my part.

The 308 Win family of cartridges is about the absolute limit of pressure that the 99 can handle, the problem besides being a rear lock up is that the rear of the bolt and the receiver face it rides on is tapered in order for it to unlock so too much pressure it can start to open.

quote:

Originally posted by srt:
The 308 Win family of cartridges is about the absolute limit of pressure that the 99 can handle, the problem besides being a rear lock up is that the rear of the bolt and the receiver face it rides on is tapered in order for it to unlock so too much pressure it can start to open.

Actually, I read an article on the 99 Savage once done by some engineer or another and the way it is designed, with the locking surface above the chamber. Even though the locking surface is at an angle, when you take into consideration of the angle of force, the rear locking lug is actually perfectly square to the thrust. I have never in 35 years of gunsmithing seen a 99 Savage blown up or blown open. I have seen a lot where the case head turned to liquid and squirted brass out all over the place. But I have never seen one give up.

I also have never seen one blown openn; however, I’ve never had one in any .308-based cartridge that didn’t close easily on a no-go gauge. They just won’t hold up to that pressure level, no matter what parts are in them. Keep it .300 Savage and hunt with it—the deer won’t know the difference.

Consider this...EVERYONE talks about CALIBERS...NOT receiver strengths/pressure limits...for the most part...AND forgets about the effect of barrel length on velocity. HOW many times have you heard someone say..."Jezz, it's a MAGNUM" OR "it's only a 243 or something similar"...and you only have to looks at some of the YOO TOOBS to see the mind set

I have many guns in many calibers and barrel lengths so I constantly compare ALL those variables.

My 300 Sav 99 has a 26" barrel...I also have several 308's bolt, SS and Semi auto's with varying barrel lengths...The 99 has a SAMMI pressure spec of ~53KPSI and the 308 is ~62KPSI...the Sav 99 300 Sav 26", even at the lower pressure, beats my 16" AR10 308 and Ruger bolt gun hands down with similar bullet weights...IF you consider velocity only, because I use the same bullets weights/types in BOTH(and my other 30 cals also) and the game hasn't complained once.

The 300 Sav and the 303 Sav have been killing lots of animals that didn't read the gun rags for a very long time BEFORE the 308 arrived on the scene...just enjoy it and forget about the comparing other than how good the steak tastes and the vision of the shot burned into your memory.

Good Hunting

Only the small bores need high pressure to get enough results!

A medium bore 99 in 358 hits hard.