I have read the bit on Mike Bellm's site about the TC Contender and his ideas on a 300 Sav AI. I'm thinking if I get lucky enough to get drawn for an antelope tag this month, to go ahead and order a 300 Sav AI from Bellm. I know others, such as SSK and MGM, offer straight 300 Savage barrels for the Contender, but some say pressure can make cases stick. Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the 300 Sav or the AI version in a Contender? Info in shooting 125 and/or 150 grn bullets and twist rates would be very useful. Thanks.

Seems like mental gymnastics to me. The 300 Savage is about as close to being an AI without being an AI.

Agreed, but Bellm claims the extra angle takes enough pressure off the frame to ensure safe firing. Otherwise, a straight 300 Savage can have pressure issues, sticky cases for example.

I follow now.

This isn't the same but MGM made me a 30/40 k barrel for my Contender and it shoots. I don't hot rod it though.

I shoot .308 Bellm,30-30AI,&375 JDJ and love 'em all.
Couldn't find stats for 300 Savage AI @ AmmoGuide but here's results:

Ballistic Comparison Summary Results (averages)
#[email protected] Cap.
1........300 Savage.....2543.....2196.....156...........52.2
2........308 Bellm.......2528.....1910.....135...........60.3
3........309 JDJ.........2010.....1346.....150...........62.0
4.........30-30 AI.......2641.....1935.....133...........45.5

My choice is 30-30 AI. more for less! Antelope are not elk.
...but Mike knows Best. That is No question.
Jimmy

Who'da thought a 300 Savage AI?!

what about a 250 savage AI? Antelope are not big at all.

250 sav ai crossed my mind, but I know if I go that route I'll wish I had the 300 to push it for mule deer and cow elk. Cow elk would be in close over a stock tank, but I would still want to do it sooner or later. A 150 Accubond out of a 300 sav should have over 1800 ft lbs at 6000 plus feet elevation out to at least 100-150 yards.

Much easier to find a .308 barrel for modification. I have a 308 Bellm, and feel Mike is knowledgeable and a good guy to deal with.

Good luck on your hunt, my antelope trip with my son was one great hunting experience. Hint, it is really cool to be seeing animals and pick one to try for!

SAAMI pressure on a .300 Savage is only about 46K, less than a .375 Winchester and some other cartridges for which T/C made factory barrels. I don't see why sticking would be a problem. In fact, part of the reason for tapered cartridge cases is to make extraction easier.

A .300 Savage generally uses 1:12 twist, fine for bullets from 110-180 grains. Same as a .308 or .30-30. The .30-06 and .30-40 usually run 1:10 so they will stabilize 220 gr. bullets. But they have trouble stabilizing bullets under 125-130 grains. So, for your use, I would go with 1:12.

I 2nd the vote for Bellm chambering...any of the triad. http://www.bellmtcs.com/BellmTriad/BellmTriad.htm
There's also a lot of 375 JDJ barrels out there. Heck, at nominal ranges use an re-bored 44 mag to 444 marlin...just handload to specs.

The benefit of the Bellm chambered 300 Sav Imp, would be being able to use off the self ammo. With a nine month old, reloading has been pushed way down the priority list. Plus I'll need all my "spare time," keeping the wife happy if I'm drawn just to go on the hunt. Brother has a 375 JDJ, great round, but more than needed for antelope.

I hear that. When my boys were tykes, I hardly had time to shoot, much less load ammo. Factory ammo it is.

Since Bellm knows more about it than I do (a lot more, actually) you should just disregard what I said above and buy a .30 cal barrel for him to work his magic on. I think you will really like the .300 BTW, it works great for me in a Savage 99.

Congrats on the little one, and good luck on your hunt!

Hogeye: Taper on a case does indeed make feeding and extraction easier on conventional actions. However, in the Contender a tapered case is a detriment because it increases case head thrust. That is why you can shoot a .223 in a Contender at 55,000 psi but cases with a .473 head diameter should be limited to 46,000 psi to avoid stretching the frame. A straighter wall case grips the chamber a little more strongly at firing than a tapered case and reduces the force on the weak (compared to bolt action)lockup of the under lug Contender action.

Bob, thanks for that info. I hadn't thought about it that way.