Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 300 Savage on big whitetail

I live in southeast Nebraska and it is not uncommon to shoot deer that go close to 300 lbs on the hoof. Had a .300 in a 99R and found that it was very effective, but longest shot was 150 yards. Foolishly traded that rifle to a friend, but at least I know its in good hands. I now have a .300 in a Remington 722 with a 22" barrel. I was just wondering what the effective range of this cartidge is compareed to say a .308? I really like the .300 because of its light recoil but am not sure if it will get the job done if that old big boy steps out at 300 yards.

It will do the job if you do yours.

If you're handloading the .300 Savage in a bolt-action it can be loaded up safely within a gnat's hair of the .308. The water capacity of a .308 case with a 150-grain Hornady Spire Point seated to the cannelure is about 50 grains. The .300 Savage's 47 grains.

The .308 thus has about a 6% capacity advantage--but this only translates to 1/4 of 6% in muzzle velocity. Thus if the .308 is capable of 2900 fps with a 150, the .300 Savage is capable of about 2850 fps.

150-grain .300 savage factory loads are a couple hundred fps slower than that, but still retain close to 2000 fps at 300 yards, plenty for bullet expansion and penetration.

Load a 130gr TTSX to about 3K and watch fur fly.

Calhoun from the campfire hunts in NE with M99(s) and has taken some impressive whitetails. Based on his experience I'd say you're in good hands.

[I was just wondering what the effective range of this cartidge is compareed to say a .308?]

A few steps closer to your game with a .300 Savage will give parity - IOW, not enough difference to make much of a difference.

I'd rather hunt with an effective gun/cartridge that I liked a lot, ILO one that's "popular".

.

Foolish indeed to trade off a fine rifle like a 99R Savage. The Skelton vs Jordan thing lives on. Talk at ya later Skeet.
Bil.....er
Dan
Now about that 4 inch model 19.

The 300 Savage did its job well 90 years ago and it still will. Just do yours and it'll work just fine.

Do you have whitetail bigger than this in your area?

I say no worries!

We have some "almost" that big.

Depends on how much over 300 pounds those whitetails go- A while ago, I had to help a friend butcher a buffalo that weighed about 800 pounds that he had killed with his 300 Savage- As I remember, he had about 4 feet of penetration on the frontal shot that dropped it in its tracks.
So, judging by that performance, I would say as long as your whitetails don't go much over 1200 or 1500 pounds, you will be served well by the 300 Savage-
P S He was using mild loads for his old M99 Savage- With loads you can run through a modern bolt action, I'd up the weight to 2000 pounds or so.

Royce

I read a lot of Hunting Articles about Indians in Canada shooting Moose with their Model 99's in 300 Savage out of canoes. In fact, I got tired of reading all of them, there was an article every month about the same thing. That was 60 years ago.
No flies on the 722 in 300 Savage, I have one and it shoots 125 grain Nosler BT's very well. Our Deer don't go to 300 pounds here.
Here's a pix of my 722-300Sav with a Leupold M8 3x on top and a target I shot with it a year ago.

I am a big fan of the .300 Savage. My uncle and father both shot 99s. My dad wasn't an enthusiastic hunter, but would take the .300 with open sights and a hatchet and go get a Christmas tree and a deer on the same weekend...last one of the season. He thought it was serious medicine.

My uncle was an avid hunter. He bought the .300 in the mid-1950s, put a K4 Weaver on it in Montana mounts (an obsolete quick detachable system), and slew whitetails, mule deer, and antelope with it till he died in 1984. He was deadly with that gun. He sighted in at 300 yards, held low if they looked close, and, it seemed to me, never missed. "Hold behind the shoulder" he told me, and those 150 grain Federal factories dropped those deer. Incidentally, the only time I think he ever detached that K4 was when I was small, and he showed me how it worked. He liked the scope, for short and long range work, and left it on.

In it's time, the .300 was considered a pretty hot deer cartridge here in eastern Montana.

I started out with a .308 M99A, but scoped Dad's .300 in my early 20s (I know, but I wasn't thinking collector then; I wanted to hunt with a .300, and Dad's eyes weren't what they had been, so he was all for adding a scope by then). I used that .300 for 15 years or so, and was always impressed by it's ability to quickly put down deer. I used handloaded 150 grain cup and core bullets at about 2575 fps. They were always enough. I sighted in 3" high at 100 yds, and held high if the shot looked like it was over 250 yds. I never could learn to hold low at closer ranges like my uncle, and I didn't shoot at game over 300 yards away.

I graduated to a .260 Remington in the late 90s, and love it too. But I still pull the old .300 out now and then. It's good for 1.5" three-shot groups at 100 yds with a 4x scope, and it still feels good. And on deer, I do not feel undergunned.

A cup and core bullet of 30 caliber and 150 grains at 2600 fps or so is a very effective deer round. While I didn't always knock them down in their tracks (neither did a friend of mine with a .300 RUM a few years ago) they always showed visible evidence of being hard hit, and they didn't go far, and they left a blood trail.

If you reload, the 300 Savage becomes (like most cartridges) a more flexible cartridge, but the factory ammo runs about 190 fps less then the 308 with 150 grain bullets (per Winchester/Olin) and about 220 fps less than the 308 with 180 grain bullets (per Federal).

IOW, a little less than the velocity difference between the 30-06 and 308 180 grain Federal factory ammo.

Is there an actual difference? Yes.
Is there a practical difference when shooting medium game? Probably not for the vast majority of shots that the average hunter should be taking. With the 180 grain bullets, there is a trajectory different of 2.5" at 300 yards with a 200 yard zero. (per Federal)

BTW, if you have a factory specs Remington 722 with a 22" barrel in 300 Savage, it is a very scarce late production gun, as the number of 722s chambered in 300 Savage dropped off steeply after the 308 was introduced in 1955. Out of 16756 722s chambered in 300 Savage, only 386 were made after 1954 and only 68 were made after the barrel configuration was changed in 1958. (per Lacy)

Jeff

You have a good hunting rifle there as is.
You should have little trouble finding a hand load for a good 150 grain bullet at speeds very close to 2700 FPS or mabye a little faster.
If you wanted too, I have seen quite few 300-722s that had been been rechamberd to .308.
I would not do it were it me. It hurts collector value and the gain is minimal.
But I might consider having it rebarreled to .257 Roberts or 6mm Rem.
Its a fine rifle as is and probably a better round for strictly big game hunting , but I don't think there are any elk in your neighborhood.
The Roberts or the 6mm make great deer antilope and praire dog rounds and you could go with a longer barrel.
...tj3006

The 300 Savages that I have loaded for, and others I have been around for the past fifty or so years, just plain work. They have an excellent reputation in our area that is justly deserved.

Hell, I'm having a 300 Savage built at the moment. Love the 130gr TTSX in it.

the 300 savage is a great cartridge and is the parent to the 308.

I load for my hunting partners 99 300. We are getting an average of 2610 fps with a 165 using published data and RL15. It works very well.

2600 with a 165 closely approximates the LC M852 match round for the 308. It will do quite nicely.

The Remington 721 / 722 series were really strong and accurate rifles. You've got a beauty there! Hang on to it.