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This 300 Savage topic is another excellent example of the rich information we get here on the net. I don't subscribe to any magazines however the American Rifleman and Hunter come with the memberships.



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Been looking for nice 99 in 308 or 300 Savage to fool with at the gun shows lately.

The biggest exit wound I have ever seen on a deer, came via a .300 Savage. I wouldn't pick it for long shots, but as a reliable killer of deer, black bear, and hogs, it is fine

The Rem 8/81 does have an odd recoil pulse but they are significant in that they were the first reliable semi-auto rifles made. It greatly reminds me of the Browning A-5 which should be no surprise as both were designed by John Browning around the same time. Both are favorites of mine.

I have a number of M-8/81s though only 3 or maybe 4 are in 300 Savage. So far this chambering has been the least accurate overall (excluding one M-8 in 30 Rem from that bunch which keyholes whatever is put down the bore) and recoils the most. Even the one that was drilled and tapped for a scope kind of throws the bullets around though I really should replace the old Weaver 2.5x with a newer model to make sure it is not the scope. If I determine the scope is not the problem, then some load work will be next. The loads I currently use were developed for my Rem 700/722/760 and are probably a bit hot for the 81. I can't get the claimed 3" for 10 shots with a 300 Savage but my latest work with the 30 Remington beat that claim by a fair margin.

They are heavy and do not carry as well as they should as the magazine extends down through the balance point. Even so, I like the gun and am always on the look out for others if priced reasonably. The first M-81 I bought was in 300 Savage as was my latest. This last one is a Kreiger modification for a detachable magazine and needs to be blooded.

My longest coyote kill was in the mid-80's with a 99EG in 300 Savage. I held about a foot high, shot, coyote ran a few and dropped. That was 335 yards.

Now Scott, this being the Campfire shouldn't that have been 535 yards and DRT with a head shot?

I wish there were more scope base and ring options for the Savage 99. I wish Talley made rings for the Savage 99 and or Leopold offered quick release bases and low rings to offset the drop in stocks for the older.
Savage 99 rifles to get a proper check weld.

My brother drilled and taped by grandfathers 99EG 300 for the Leopold 1 piece base and medium rings, I had to lift my head off the stock just to shoot the rifle....UGG. I removed the base and rings and had another rear hole drilled for the Weaver two piece bases and installed low Millet rings.....so much better. The oddity was I had to place two shims from Leopold under the rear base just to get the Sav 99 up 12 inches at 100 yards for proper sight in.

Not sure why that happened...scope is a VX2...3X-9X.

I will say this, the Savage cut rifled barrels sure are shooters...rifle was made in 1949. My grandfathers rifle when I do my part will cut 3 shot clover leafs with the Remington 150 gr core-lokt and IMR-4064.

Doc

My Dad owns a 300 Savage in a five diamonds 760 that was my grandfather's only big game rifle. He would shoot 150s for deer and 180s for bear in Sullivan and Clearfield counties here in PA. It is fitted with a fixed 4x unertl scope with some of the finest crosshairs I have ever seen. I have carried it a few times and shot a doe with it several seasons ago. It is a great, classic rifle and is perfectly suited to the type of hunting we do where shots are generally under 100 yards in the woods. As with many guns passed down from an older generation of long gone heroes, I wish it could talk. Oh the stories it would tell.

I'm having some difficulty seeing where the combination failed. Sounds more like a matter of bullet selection and follow up shots than one of rifle and chambering selection. A moose, lung shot with even a 375 H&H may have done the same without a follow up shot.

300 Savage is on of my favorite deer cartridges. Inside of 300 yds works as good as anything and doesn't blood shot everything from their nose to their ass. By the way in spite of all the brags 300 yds is a long way even here in the West.

my .300 savages have both been bolt rifles, a salvage weather warrior and a 700 classic. theyre tackdrivers, of course. sold the salvage, which shot great, i just didnt need 2 of them.

True, but the bad experience generally soured me on the Remington 81, the 300 Savage, and shooting moose. I sincerely wish that Bearrr264 had made a quick follow up shot, rather than admiring the shot that he did make, but I'm thankful that we had a chainsaw winch alone and with enough cable and gas/oil mix to get the moose out of the beaver pond, up onto the tripod, and onto the back of the truck. After wrestling a few elk and that moose, I've decided that for me it is less taxing, from a physical exertion perspective, just to shoot 8 to 10 whitetails than to shoot one or two larger animals.

I shot my first deer with an open sighted .300 Savage 99EG (my dad's) in 1973. My uncle had the same rifle but scoped and with a sling and recoil pad. I wanted a 99 too, but Savage had JUST discontinued the 99F, closest to the EG of my dad's and uncle's. So I bought a 20" barreled 99A in .308. It was a good deer rifle, but I sold it for a bolt action .308. Sold that one too, and my dad and I had his 99EG "modernized." Drilled and tapped, recoil pad, and sling swivel studs. I wish now I had left it stock! But that said, I hunted with that rifle for 17 years as my only deer and coyote rifle. Had a 2-7x scope, and shot 150s exlusively. It consistently put 3 shots in about 1.5 " at 100 yards. It killed deer fine to 300 yards, the longest I used it at. I couldn't see any difference between the 24" barreled .300 and the 20" barreled .308. I've mostly retired the old .300 now, but if I had to keep only one big game rifle, it is probably the one that would stay.

We look at those old rifles as a bit weak nowadays, but I grew up on on an eastern MT farm, and I would say there were more M99s in either .250, .300, or .308 than any other model rifle around among the farmers and ranchers back in the 60s and 70s. Town folks liked bolts in .270 and .30-06, but the ranchers liked the Savages. They had grown up on lever actions, and felt the Savages combined more power than a .30-30 with the handiness of a flat lever action. A neighbor used to borrow my dad's and carried it on a horse. A few scratches still on the rifle are from that use. Sight a .300 in for 250 yards, hold a little high at 300 yards, don't stretch it beyond that, and you can kill deer without much trouble!

.308 ammo is about half the cost of .300.

Yes it is. Exactly half.

I had a couple 99's but they were not my cup of tea, sold them but barreled up a 700 with a Douglas #5 cut to 21" for the .300 Sav.. It is one sweet rifle.. Killed mule deer, antelope and hogs with it.. May give it a whirl on elk soon..

My 1926 Model 99 is one of my most accurate rifles!

I've owned two .308's and although ok didn't stick!


Mike

I think there's no denying that a 308 is more powerful and available in way more desirable sizes and types of rifles. The 308 is more practical especially considering price and availability of ammo.
But I like hunting and using the 99 300. The rotary magazine in really neat. I got my best whitetail to date with one last season.

Nice buck and nice rifle! There's certainly a reason the .308 killed off the .300 Savage in the 99 (same as the .300 Sav did to the .303 Sav) but the .300 Sav has the nostalgia factor in spades. I don't think the .308 will ever have that. It's become too much of a mainstay with the tactical crowd.

Here's the .300 Savage sandwiched in between the .303 Savage and .308 Winchester.