Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Help with 300 Sav. load data

Anyone loaded or used the Hornady 165 GMX bullet for their 300 Savage deer loads? I am planning a west texas mule deer hunt and would like to use my old 99R. I want a heavy bullet about that grain, no more, so i can reach out to 200-250 if needed. I figure that size bullet would be flatter than a 180 grain and still have the whop. Any other comparable load data would be greatly appreciated. I really only want a bullet that retains upwards of 90% its weight if possible, not like a ballistic tip. Thanks fellas!

I use hornady 150gr spire point for elk. It has done the job very well.

A tipped monometal bullet of that weight is going to eat up too much powder capacity, and you may not be able to seat it to the proper length before the ogive goes below the case mouth. If you must use this type of bullet you'll be better served by a 150, or even better a Barnes TTSX of 130 grains.

If you can't let go of wanting 165 grains, then get some flat base Hornady Interlocks.

My go to bullet in the .300 Savage is the Nosler 165 Partition. I load it over 42 grains of RL 15 a WLR primer in a Remington case. According to my chrono, the velocity is 2,600 fps. This load has accounted for mule deer, a bighorn sheep, elk and antelope. The Partition once again performed as advertised on this big cow elk.

Smokey...

I agree with Mathman in that you'd be better served by a 150 grain bullet of your choice for deer. You don't need a 165 grain bullet for deer.

To maintain a high degree of original bullet weight, I'd suggest one of the excellent 150 grain bonded core bullets over 40.8 grains of H4895.

My hunting load (deer) in my .300 Savage is 40.8 grains (40.9 grains is a maximum load) of H4895 behind a 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet sparked by a standard Winchester large rifle primer in Winchester cases with the overall cartridge length with bullet at the maximum lenght (2.60-inches).

The above load gives me a muzzle velocity of 2635 fps out of my Model 99's 24-inch barrel regardless of outside air temperature since H4895 is one of Hodgdon's "EXTREME" rifle powders which is advertised (and I've found to be true) as NOT being effected by air temperature. I.E., your cartridge won't lose muzzle velocity as the air temperature drops.

This load has a point-blank-range of 250 yards wherein the bullet doesn't rise or fall more than 3 inches above or below the line-of-sight if sighted in dead center on a small target paster at 25 yards.

Since a deer's "kill zone" is about 9-inches in diameter, if your rifle is sighted in as recommended above, you can hold "dead-on" the desired point of impact out to 250 yards and your bullet should strike within a deer's "kill zone" from your rifle's muzzle all the way out to 250 yards.

Naturally, you should re-check the bullet strike at 100 yards if possible. Your rounds should "group" about 2� inches high at 100 yards.

I hope this is of help to you... good hunting!


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

no but the 160 ftx works great with 42gr. 4064