[color:"brown"]Bullet drop depends on several factors. And so, to be able to give you actual "numbers", I'd have to know your bullet weight, your bullet's ballistic coefficient, muzzle velocity and the height of your sights (iron or scope) above the center of your rifle's bore.
If you intend to shoot accurately at 200+ yards, you'd be wise to install a scope on your rifle.
But to "short-cut" this post, I'll give you the "numbers" for my rifle and my handloads which are 50 fps faster than factory loads. And so, if you're shooting factory loads, your "numbers" would be slightly different, but... frankly, NOT enough "different" to worry about since, in the field, you aren't shooting off a bench-rest and so, a quarter inch here or there isn't going to make any difference.
The "point-blank" hunting/shooting range of a .300 Savage cartridge firing a 150 grain factory bullet @ the standard factory round's muzzle velocity (2625 fps) would be a maximum of 265 yards under no wind conditions.
"Point-blank range" is the distance at which your rifle's bullet NEVER goes more than 3-inches ABOVE or BELOW your line-of-sight using either iron sights or scope sights. In other words, it is a range at which you can ALWAYS hold "dead-on" the target and expect the bullet to strike the target within THREE INCHES of the point-of-aim.
Since a white-tailed deer's "kill zone" is approximately 9-inches in diameter, if you aimed at the CENTER of the "kill zone", your bullet would strike well within that 9-inch diameter all the way out to your rifle's "POINT BLANK RANGE" meaning you would NOT need to HOLD OVER or UNDER the point at which you want your bullet to strike the target.
Most hunters have NO BUSINESS attempting a shot beyond their rifle's point-blank-range simply because most hunters don't practice shooting and hitting targets at ranges beyond 250 to 300 yards and, therefore, have NO CONCEPTION as to how much to "HOLD OVER" the target to place their bullet in the target's "kill zone".
Naturally, larger game animals (like elk or moose) had a larger "kill zone" than smaller game like deer.
Ok... enough explanations... here are the APPROXIMATE (as close as I can get NOT knowing ANY of the ballistic information listed above) "numbers" for your rifle.
Your rifle, firing a 150 grain factory round, should be sighted in 2.8 inches high at 100 yards. The bullet will reach it's maximum height above the line-of-sight (approx. 3") at 140 yards. It will be "dead on" the center of the target at about 225 yards and about 3 inches low at 260 yards.
Beyond that... it's your guess... and in most cases, most hunters would "miss" the the"kill zone" (and thus wound the animal-a serious "NO-NO!) beyond 300 yards unless they've done extensive shooting at those and longer ranges.
The maximum range of a 150 grain bullet fired from a .300 Savage cartridge is approximately 2.3 to 2.8 MILES... depending on the ballistic coefficient of the bullet. The higher the B.C., the further the bullet will fly due to the efficiency of the SHAPE of the bullet.
However, the "maximum EFFECTIVE range" is that range at which the shooter can DEFINITELY hit the aiming point. Again, for most hunters, a 200 yard shot is a LONG shot... a 300 yard shot is a VERY LONG shot...and beyond 300 yards, it's a LUCKY shot if the bullet hits the aimiing point.
By contrast, trained U.S. snipers in Vietnam made kills on human targets out to and beyond 1,000 meters using a 7.62 x 51mm NATO round (aka ".308 Winchester). The .300 Savage is the FATHER of the 7.62 NATO or .308 Winchester rounds and has VERY similar exterior ballistics (out to 300 yards) as those two rounds have.
And so, as you can see, what is one man's "effective range" is not the same for another man. I know I very much doubt that I could hit a man at 1,000 meters with ANY rifle unless I practiced shooting such shots... and even then, I might have trouble.
In my big game hunting experience (45+ years), I've noticed that the vast majority of hunters OVER-ESTIMATE the range at which they see... or shoot at... or killed the game. My bestest hunting buddy does this CONSTANTLY!
Don't mis-understand, he is a very honorable man, but he can't judge distance worth a "sh*t! As an example, he shot a deer in 2005 on the pipeline in the open area (clear-cut about 50 feet wide) that has been cleared of all trees and brush above where the gas pipeline is buried. When he showed me where his stand was... and I saw the gut-pile, I am SURE the distance was NOT greater than 170 yards. However, he claimed a 275 yard shot... and he honestly believes, even now, that it WAS a "275 yard shot"!
And when he asked me what I thought the shot's distance was... I remembered how much I treasured his friendship and said, "Ohhh... 'bout 275 yards or so!".
You see, true "friendships" are considerably more RARE than the value of a 100 yards "difference" in what a man THINKS he shot his buck at... and what he ACTUALLY shot his buck at. The point is... he GOT the buck... so why destroy is "fantasy" afterwards just to be "right"?!?
Besides that... even a FISH wouldn't get into "trouble" if he just kept his MOUTH SHUT! I mean, "HEY"... I could be wrong as well.. so why "burst-his-bubble"?!?
As a former U.S. Army Artillery officer and forward observer whose job it was to call in and adjust artillery fire on targets ranging from 300 meters to 10,000 meters, I got to the point where I could give the Fire Direction Center coordinates or adjustments from a known point on the charts and put the first rounds within 50 meters of the target when directing artillery fire at less than 3,000 meters.
And so... judging distances became relatively easy. I'm not as "sharp" now as I was those many years ago, but I can still judge short ranges (under 500 yards) with pretty fair accuracy as we found out a few years ago when someone produced one of those new electronic range finders... and we had a little "contest".
As far as adding a scope to your rifle goes... if you've EVER stood on a football field under one goal post and looked down the field at the OTHER goal post... that "other goal post" was 120 yards away... the 100 yards for the field and the 10 yards at EACH END that the goal posts are set back from the goal line. Put in that scenario, you can understand why MOST of US need a scope to shoot well at targets over 100 yards away.
I'd recommend a 3x-9x variable scope with at least a 40mm objective (front) lens. Can you get by with less scope... sure... but you can't shoot BETTER than you can SEE! You don't need 9 times the magnification to shoot decently at 50 yards, but at 250 yards... ??? Yes, it's nice to have that much magnification so that you can SEE & PLACE your bullet in the game animal's "kill zone"!
Jus' my 2�... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
