Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Your preferred 300 Savage bullets for whitetails ??

43-44.5 grs of H4895. I tend to run the hotter in a bolt action and the 43 in the 99.

In the bolt 44.5 does 3k

What does a 99 with the 130 do for velocity at 43 grains. What is a 130 barnes B.C.? Thanks.

I need to order a chronograph. By anecdotal observation I believe the 160 grain Hornady/Lever what ever powder had above the normal performance parameters.

Hornady ftx 160 308 marlin my favorite (the cannulure matches perfectly) and 43 grains lever evolution. This round shoots much higher on the target than my other loads.

130 barnes bc is published at .350

That is not sufficient to prove higher velocity.

I've heard hitting higher on the target is an indication of lower velocity, being the bullet's in the barrel longer during the upstroke of recoil. I wouldn't know, I've never crawled into a rifle barrel during firing to check what's going on.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time for a med change?????????

Probly. What do you suggest?

There are six 300 savage users in my hunting club. The most common load for decades has been factory Rem 180 grain SP corelokts. Now that Rem has dropped the 180s in factory ammo a few may go to the 150 PSPCL, but a couple of us are trying the federal 180 grain factory loads. We seem to be a heavy bullet group for the most part, and not handloaders.

Save your brass. You may want to reload some day. As for bullet weight.............if you like two holes go 180's. If you like to expend all the energy, the 150's generally land under the hide on the far side. I use both and tend to shoot what my rifle shoots accurately.

If you like 2 holes, sling 130gr TSX/TTSX. I have NO idea what expend all the energy means

I agree with Fireball. Lower velocities can print higher due to the rifle recoiling a bit more before the bullet leaves the muzzle. Expending energy, I suspect, means not penetrating the target's mass. If the bullet passes through the target then it does no hit with its full force, having some of it being carried out the exit hole. If it stops in the target's mass it then delivers its full force. Like getting hit with a baseball bat, or a .45 ACP. Which is what made it a great handgun round for its intended purpose.

I haven't got to kill anything with the 130 ttsx yet, but I'm loading it in the 300, 308, 30/06, so I'm optimistic. It should be murder.

Crow, getting back to your original question I like Winchester 150gr Silvertips when I can find them (although I now have a lifetime supply) and Hornaday 150gr Spire points for hand loads. Both seem to work just fine but the Hornadays group a bit tighter.

That's some funny shiet.

The bullet hits with full 'force', regardless if it exits or not.

So what you're telling me is that say one of your fancy Core-lokts happens to push out the other side, weighing 80grs and doing 500fps when it exits, it's wasting all the energy of a 32 S&W. So the deer ain't just been hit with a baseball bat.

If that's the case, a 32 S&W should be a mighty fine deer cartridge, since that about the difference in 'energy dump' you are suggesting, whatever the [bleep] energy dump is.

I know what lots of Field & Stream readers think it is.

Hell, if I hit a 125 pound deer with a bullet that has 3000 foot pounds of energy, why don't the deer just get blown off its hoofs?

You guys are funny

Regardless of full force or not, give me an exit every time and since I like to break shoulders I will take "What is 130 gr Barnes TTSX?" for the win Alex. I don't see how you could design a load to stop just under the skin on the off side every time from different distances and angles.

Steelhead - not funny bleep, just physics. Its a matter of transferring the energy into the target. If the bullet goes through through the target then some of that energy goes with it. That doesn't mean its not enough energy to get the job done given you use an appropriate cartridge. Think of that it like this, if your 32 S&W hits the target with 1000-lbs of energy and does not penetrate then the target absorbs the full 1000-lbs. If it exits the target then the math is 1000-lbs subtract the amount of energy the bullet carries with it down range. Say 1000-lbs minus 500-lbs of energy that is being carried downrange in the bullet. All the target did was to slow the bullet down. It did not stop it. That doesn't mean your "32" isn't sufficient for getting the job done, but it would be better to use a .300 instead. My apologies to all for getting off topic again.

A full metal jacketed bullet that zips through and out the other side living flesh doesn't deliver the same energy and do the same damage as a soft pointed bullet (assuming the bullet stays together) that is stopped and absorbed.

Physics 101.

Not funny, just right.

On the pass through thing, the idea that "total energy absorption" aides in killing big game, in my opinion and with all due respect, is a bit off the mark. The bullet has to hit with enough "energy" so that it expands properly, thereby increasing the potential for internal damage. It also has to have enough momentum, once expanded, to penetrate and disrupt vital organs. When all that work is done, hopefully the bullet will exit and enhance the blood trail. Letting air in and blood out is what kills big game reliably.

After thought; doesn't the whole "for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction" thing suggest that an animal would be effected by the energy of the bullet to the same degree (or less since the bullet losses velocity) as the shooter was to the recoil of the rifle when he fired it. Am I wrong? I've shot some pretty big rifles, but none big enough for the recoil to kill me.

Second after thought: Ever see a deer knocked sideways by a bullet? Neither have I.

Here's a good sized mule deer taken with a .303 Savage and 170 grain Speer flat point that went all the way through. Not much energy to speak of, but it did leave a big ol' hole through the deer and an easy blood trail to follow, all 75 yards of it that is.

You don't need kinetic energy to kill a living creature. Arrows with sharp broadheads kill just fine without hardly any kinetic energy.

A bullet that travels straight through an animal and clips the aorta produces the same result as a bullet that clips the aorta and then is stopped by the animal.

All that being said: the laws of physics still apply as any object that has mass and velocity has kinetic energy as KE=1/2mv^2. A bullet still traveling after it has passed through a living organism has not expended all of it's stored energy, a bullet that has been stopped has, albeit they may well have both produced the same result, that being a mortal wound.

And:

That is a very nice buck and a very cool gun.