Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Saturn rifle/300icl magnum

Picked up a somewhat unusual one again. FN Mauser built by Saturn guns in Nevada.Chambered for 300 ICL magnum. Read a little how to form brass from 300 H&H, any loads you know about appreciated. Was thinking using 300WBY data, working up from bottom and checking for pressure?

There is data in Ackley's Handbook for the ICL line.

Nice rifle

dang, that's nice,....'cept for that appurtenance on the muzzle end.....

Ackley's book shows two 300 ICL magnums.

The Saturn version is not described in detail but it looks like an Improved 300 H&H with a 45 degree shoulder.

Fire formed a few yesterday from 300 H&H.
L-R is standard 300 H&H, blown out 300 ICL ,and 300 Weatherby.
I'm not crazy about the brake either, it is also marked Saturn , and read that they work well.

Be careful with that stuff.

I second that statement, his loads are on the high side.

If you get tired of that Saturn, let me know, I would like to buy it!

Beautiful rifle, as many said.. Read of them when I was much younger.. Enjoy..

Junke brothers from AZ, right?

junke bros from Nevada I think. Maybe Reno?

Saturn Sports, Inc. Sparks, NV. According to my company literature.

AZ, NV...same same for a CAROLINA boy.

Nice rifle and a piece of history.

I can't tell for sure it could be just the photo but it looks like something is going on at the neck shoulder junction of the fire formed round. May go away with a full power load but it may be the start of the dreaded "doughnut". I would check with a caliper or at least a paper clip for any thickening in this area of the neck.

I wouldn't use any of the Ackley loads and would be careful with ICL loads as some of them had a crazy amount of free bore that varied from rifle to rifle. Weatherby data should be fine.

I traded this rifle to a friend of mine some time back, and he called me the other day and said he was going to sell it. He had hopes of having it rechambered to something else, but never got around to it.
What would be a fair price for this, minus scope.
Thanks,Ken

You have the dies to go with it? They aren't exactly found behind every tree.

A Lee collet die for a 300 Weatherby should work but the seater and FL sizer would be a custom proposition. Expensive unless you already had the reamers. With the venturi shoulder your on the "C+" list of special dies.

Probably less expensive to set the barrel back and go 300 Weatherby but then you've erased the history and nostalgia of the rifle.

Will have to ask him tonight about dies, but I think not. Seems like we priced them at the time, was about 150.00 I think from RCBS?
What about chamber to 300 ultra mag?

Funny thing about this rifle, is he has owned it twice. He originally purchased it from Cabela's in Reno, then traded to me, then traded back to him, yada yada! Its getting handled alot, but not shot!

I have the Ackley version of this. If you just buy a set of 300 weatherby dies. With your fireformed brass just use the weatherby sizing die, set to not touch the shoulder. It will give you usable bass. Or you can just use Weatherby brass. Here are a couple of the loads I have tried in mine. 165gr Ballistic tip, Rem9 1/2M, 82gr IMR7828, 3320fps OAL 3.590" 180gr Accubond, rem 9 1/2M, 85gr H1000, 3179fps, OAL 3.550" These are near max loads in my rifle, using the weatherby die to resize neck, with minimum body contact. My barrel has a standard throat. Not the long weatherby freebore type. Also my barrel is a 1-12" 6 groove.

Thanks for the info!!

Midway had 300ICL brass in the clearance a few days ago. might still be there.

They are still showing 3 boxes. Dies are special order but are available from RCBS for $151.00.

I thought about buying a box just to test chamber fit in my rifle. As far as I can tell the only difference between the Ackley version and the ICL is a slight shoulder angle change. Both have the same capacity +- 1 grain and both can use 300 weatherby brass

What you think you're seeing is the original crease in the brass from the the H&H round.
This is also evident when I fireform 375 H&H brass to 375 Weatherby. It disappears with a full house load.
Donuts only occur when using bushing dies. My 338-06 has a definite measurable 'donut' at the neck when formed in the die, after firing, it's gone and doesn't re-appear.

Cheers.

CH4D makes your dies, I know my 8mm Gibbs dies were $87...

Thanks for the info. Found out I can use my 300 WBY dies to neck size, seems to work fine!

Midway had 60 300 ICL magnum brass in clearance. Kept dropping the price. When it dropped below $28 per 20 I ordered the last three bags. Interesting brass from Quality Cartridge www.qual-cart.com Bases are stamped 300 ICL. 1 bag had 20 300 weatherby round shoulder sized brass, 1 bag had 10 300 weatherby round shoulder, 10 300ICL sized brass. 3rd bag was all 300 ICL. two pieces of brass where trimmed and case mouths chamfered. Match type prep. One piece had a hole in shoulder. one piece had a small crack in neck. Brass seamed to be fire formed. (bullseye/cream of wheat style) Not hydraulic formed. I ordered this for my 300 weatherby Ackley magnum. Mostly out of curiosity. The 300 Ackley chamber is slightly larger at the shoulder .010 and the point of the shoulder is slightly shorter .005 I did have to run most of 2 bags through the 300 weatherby full length resize die with full cam over sizing to set back the shoulder. Anyway I now have 58 new brass with the 300ICL headstamp sized to 300 weatherby. Which work perfectly in my 300 Ackley. 300 weatherby brass will also work in a 300 ICL grizzly chamber "BUT" you may need to trim the OAL. The 2 fully prepped pieces of ICL where 2.805"

are you needing more info on your Saturn I.C.L. ammo or the rifle? I worked for Arnold Juenke. on the 300 ICL if you get ahold of 8mm rem mag brass it's alot easier to reload and rcbs still has the die available last I looked.

Well, bringing up a couple of questions again on this Saturn rifle, as its mine again. Was going to sell, but the workmanship,checkering, wood to metal fit is supurb. Feels so comfortable to me, not very heavy. Was a little opposed to the strange looking muzzle brake, but it works! Recoil not bad at all. Have shot 300 H&H brass to fireform, then loaded some 180 gr accubonds 87.8 gr-H1000. No pressure signs. Only has a 22" barrel,so probably loosing much velocity, but thinking it still might kill deer, elk, etc! (lol) First question is , is this considered the 300 ICL Grizzly, or the 300 ICL magnum,(as printed on barrel)? I have read conflicting reports,etc.Are they the same. Would kinda like to get some brass stamped as Quality Cartridge Co has some avaliable marked 300 grizzly. Also does anyone have any magazine/gunbook articles on these Saturn Rifles?
Thanks
http://imgur.com/a/zYTIV

I'm about 9 years late to this thread but want to say that in addition to being able to accurately fire .300H&H, you can also fire .300 Weatherby just fine.

[quote=kenster99]junke bros from Nevada I think. Maybe Reno?[/quote


Junke Bros were from Reno NV. As a kid 50 or so years ago we'd ride our bikes down to their shop on Glendale Ave in Sparks NV and ask all kinds of stupid questions. It was a really modern show room for the time with 40 or 50 of their beautiful rifles on display. They were works of art! Who in his right mind would want a Weatherby? Vern and Arnold were great guys, always kind to us kids. As I look back the ICL cartridges velocities were a little optimistic, but who cared they were magic! Deer and Elk died at the sight of them! I lusted for one of the rifles. Could have cared less about Model 70's or 721's.s

Back then gun stores were a lot different and better, kinder! Not so much anymore with the big box stores. A different and better time! No wonder our kids are turned off by the shooting sports. The day dreaming times are gone.

Not so in my experience.