Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 165 Grainers 300 Savage

In the various 99s in 300 Savage I've owned over the years, have played around with 150 and 180 grain projectiles, few different powders. It just occurred to me I have never tried 165 grain anything in my 300s. Nine times out of ten, they like 150 best, but wonder if I'm missing something by overlooking the 165s. Feedback would be appreciated on subject.

I have only shoot 150 grain bullets in my 300 but I wish
165 gr round nose bullets were still offered by Speer.

Doc

My main hunting EG really, really prefers 180gr over 150gr bullets. But I prefer the velocity on the 150's. 165gr made a nice compromise on that gun and worked quite well.

Hornady 165 flat base shoot great out of my 300 EG. I load them on top of imr 3031>

I've always wanted to experiment with 165-grainers in the .300. Give em a try and let us know how they work.

oldotter,

When I was shooting the .300 Savage a lot, probably my favorite load was the 165 Nosler Partition and, as I recall, 42 grains of Reloder 15. I chose the Partition because of elk here in Montana, and RL-15 because my Speer manual listed it as producing the highest velocities with 165's.

Their present manual lists 44.0 grains as maximum, at 2614 fps from a 20" barrel. In the 99EG I used the load in, 42 grains got around 2650 fps with excellent accuracy, which I figured was fast enough--and was.

Might find a bullet your rifle really likes, then it'd be worth it. After reading about actual performance capabilities of individual .30 cal bullets http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.300+Savage.html I figure the 165gr Speer BTSP should be a good place to start for mine and I've recently picked up a box.

At present, 165 gr Partitions are on my shelf. That report sounds encouraging enough to give it a trial run. Thanks MD and other enablers.

I've thought about trying something 'heavier' than 130gr Barnes, but then I realized that I'm under 60.

yea, I remember when I knew it all to. My opinions were the ONLY ones that conuted and meant something.......then I grew up, and realized opinions are like azzholes... everybody has one

Some people think that only the most expensive bullet on the market can kill a deer. Free country.

Man, you girls are so sensitive.

Maybe I'll switch to those inexpensive Nosler Partitions. Thanks for adding humor.

Here in the heavily wooded East, I load 180 round nose bullets. My rifles like 41 grains of WW748 with about any round nose 180. I still have some Remington Core-Lokt 180s saved away. The Sierras shoot especially well in my 99s.

$13.50 for a 50 count box of 150gr Nosler 2nds.

$33 for a box of 50 Barnes?

For a retired guy, you have so many opportunities still to learn useful things in life once you figure out how much you don't know.

While I am enjoying the general tone of the discussion and the direction it's headed, I'll +1 on the 130 Barnes. There's no downside for as few hunting bullets as a guy shoots in a year. Less recoil, more speed, great penetration. If you want to practice alot there are 125 Nosler ballistic tips 2nds or even lead slugs.

Steelie and I have been arguing the 130gr Barnes battle for years now. I don't care what he uses, I'm glad he has something that works for him and he's confident with. But I personally have no urge to use a long for weight bullet whose downrange ballistics don't do better than a 150gr. The one thing that Steelie doesn't do is change, so I'm sure this bantering will continue for years to come. My go to is the Partition, but I'm not dead set on it. Used a Hornady 150gr a couple years ago, deer took 2 steps and keeled over. Used a 165gr Ballistic Tip this last fall - deer don't go far when the bullet goes through the heart. The 300 Savage velocities are practically perfect for standard cup and core, it's not rocket science.

I ain't 60 yet but am getting much closer than I care too....

Don't particularly like change either though.

I know one thing...about my 99F. It loves the 180 grain silvertips, I don't notice the recoil and my 2 longest shots at 230 yards each, the deer didn't seem to notice the lack of speed. Both ended up tasting mighty fine.

There's no wrong answers, only some better-n others. I also shoot some old 150 gr semi-roundnose in one 300...

Heck, where I hunt whitetail in the NE Minnesota woods any hunting bullet between 150-180 is going to do the job. My longest shot over 50 yrs was only 165yds with the vast majority under 75. l just want accuracy of 2.5" or better at 100 yards = dead deer.