Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 300 Savage Questionable Hornady Load

I was looking through the Hornady Reloading manual at the loads listed for the 300 Savage using 150 grain bullets and IMR 4064 powder. It list a maximum load of 44 Grains! In comparison to other reloading manuals, such as Nosler and Hodgdon,that is considerable higher than their listed maximums of around 41 or 41.5 grains of IMR 4064. They claim the 44 grains of powder puts the 300 savage shooting about 2800 fps. That is almost in 30-06 velocity range. Is this a misprint? What is your opinions on this matter? Thanks

That load has been listed in several versions of the Hornady manual. I've never tried it.

Maybe the 41 grain loads are for model 99s and the 44 gr for bolts only?

Hornady 150 grain secant ogive bullets have a long nose and shorter cylindrical
section than other bullets. This equates to less bearing surface and probably allows a greater charge weight.

Nosler data is usually a little more in the other direction, maybe a grain or so less than most traditional manuals (cup & core) like Speer or Sierra.

Bearbuck: In his PetLoad articles, Ken Waters warns about using this load in 99's. There is no reason to wring a few extra fps out of the 300 anyway. It works just fine at 2650!

This is a good question to pose to Hornady. In my opinion it is too hot for a 99 though.

Would most figure then that 41 grains would be ok to use in the Savage 99 without any worry of stressing or beating up on the gun?

Not recommended in a 99 however, I did use 44 grains in a 722 years ago without problems. 40 grains is my max in my 99.

The Hornady 150 having a shorter bearing surface does matter. IIRC, Hornady used RP brass which in my experience with the 300 is thinner than WW. Yes, that's reversed from a lot of other cartridges and these two makes of brass. Put those together and you can use a bit more powder.

That said, I wouldn't put the 44 grain load in a 99. It's pretty stiff in a 700 Classic I have.

I've passed 4064 by in my 300 loading anyway. RL15 is really good in this cartridge. It provides excellent accuracy and velocity, and it flows through a powder measure quite well. There's no need to mess around weighing charges with it.

W-748 is a good Powder in the .300 with 150 Gr. Bullets too .

Varget with the 150gr hornady #3031 is a good choice. If you look in lyman 49th edition you will see imr4064 and varget with pressure data using the hornady bullet