I have a Savage 99 in .300 Savage that I inherited from my father. It appears to have been made in 1946 based on the serial number and was given to my father by an older friend. It's a cool rifle in good condition and has a 24 inch barrel and Schnabel foreend. It shoots quite well with Remington 150 grain factory ammunition.
I would like to work up some loads for hog and deer hunting. I'm planning to use 150 and 165 grain Hornady Interlocks and am thinking about using Varget, AA2520 or RL15, all of which I have.
My question is about how close I should load to published maximums. I have read some comments that it's best to keep Savage 99's a bit below published maximums because they use a single bolt lug. One person cited Ken Waters as a source for staying 1.5 grains below maximum. Should I keep my loads a bit below maximum or is it safe to load up to max? Of course I will use a chronograph as I work up my loads to verify that my velocities are in line with load data.
Last edited by bowmanh; 12/30/16.
