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jorgeI Offline OP
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On elk, say with 150-180grain bullets? I don't want the "yeah I've killed them with a 22 Hornet" yarns, but simply, does this cartridge provide enough of a comfort zone on elk at ranges up to say, 300 yards?


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Yes


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If I were to go after elk with conventional weight bullets out of my 300 Savage I'd heed John Barsness' advice from a while back about such a load: 42 grains or thereabout of RL15 with a 165 Partition for ~2600 fps.

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Originally Posted by Mule Deer
One of my friends in this part of Montana has been using a .300 Savage for elk hunting for 25-30 years now, and has a freezer full of elk meat every year.

The toughness of elk is highly exaggerated. The ability of people to misplace shots on elk is highly underrated.

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Another way to look at it is if the question was "Assuming good shot placement is a 300 Win. mag shooting a 165 grain bullet enough for elk at 600 yards?"

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I've got a Savage 110 WLE bolt gun in 300 Savage, I'd run it on anything you would use a 308 on. Some short barreled 308's probably don't shoot as fast as the 22" on that WLE. The 99 is what handicaps the cartridge. I'd bet a lot of guys that shot 721's and 760's found that out too. The factory 300 Savage ammo isn't anemic but designed to be safe in M99's. MB


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Based on the number of really old Savage 99s chambered with the round out during Elk season
that I've seen here in Oregon... one would have to assume "hell yes".....

Every guy ya see one with, will tell ya its been killing deer and elk ever since Grandpa got it from the store or inherited from his dad....

People tend to keep using stuff that just plain works...


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jorgeI Offline OP
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The post I suppose was purely rhetorical on my part, (hell, ballistically, it's a 303 but better packaged)just wanted to promote some fun discussions based on experiences I know a lot of you have and hopefully without glib, bs comments that eventually pollute all the threads around here. We'll see how long this one lasts

Last edited by jorgeI; 02/07/19.

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jorge,

Aside from the local friend who's been using a .300 Savage on elk for decades, in 2017 my wife killed the biggest cow elk either of us have ever taken using a .300 Savage-equivalent handload from her custom Kilimanjaro .308. It didn't even use a 150-grain bullet. Instead it was a 130-grain TTSX at 2850-2900 fps, about all the recoil she can take anymore without getting headaches from the 6-3/4 rifle. The range was around 250 yards, with the elk quartering towards us. At the shot the cow staggered 20-25 yards and collapsed. The bullet broke the left front leg just above the big shoulder joint, and ended up under the hide about half along the ribcage. Astonishing as it might seem to those who believe 100% weight retention is necessary, it lost all its petals (though I found one near the recovered bullet) and retained "only" 62% of its original weight.


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jorgeI Offline OP
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Thanks John. Exactly the kind of response I'm looking for. In my dotage, I' sort of reverting to oldshit stuff and lately, 99s have my interest so I figured a 180gr (more or less) driven at those speeds would be MORE than adequate. Just picked up a real beaut (I think you saw it on fb0 complete with 2.5 Weaver and I've been looking to go on another elk hunt after I retire next year.


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I have read somewhere that the Savage 99 in 300 Savage was the most popular elk hunting combination in the northwest for many years. If it wasn't effective, it probably wouldn't have been popular. Just another example of "proper projectile, proper placement" being an important component of a successful hunt.

I have a few rifles chambered in 300 Savage, mostly Savage 20/26s, none of which have been carried farther than the range for many years.

I would use a 300 Savage to hunt elk if it was my best or only option, but I have lots of rifle/cartridge combinations that I'd pick ahead of any rifle chambered in 300 Savage.

When I was in graduate school from 1984 thru 1986, I made pocket money buying and trimming the barrels on Remington 722s in 300 Savage and 222 to 20" to produce a sort of ersatz 600/660 carbine. Back then I could buy 722s in 300 Savage for between $75 and $150 anytime I wanted one. There must still be a few of them floating around northern New England just waiting for some unsuspecting buyer to get taken by an unscrupulous seller of these rare non-cataloged 722 carbines.

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My Dad and Uncle both used .300 Savages, and I hunted with my Dad's M99 for 17 years. Though I never took an elk, it was an honest 300 yard deer cartridge, reliable and hard-hitting. I would not be reluctant to take one elk hunting if I had a load with a good bullet and didn't try to stretch the range too much. I think there were more .300 Savages than any other cartridge in the farming community in which I grew up. In the 1960s and 1970s bolt actions were just not that popular among the farming/ranching folks. People thought the .300 Savage far more effective than a .30-30, and having used both, I agree.

Dad used to say that a man with a .300 Savage and a McCormick-Deering M could farm the whole country in the summer, and kill anything in Montana that walked in the fall. I tend to agree.

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Originally Posted by Seafire
Based on the number of really old Savage 99s chambered with the round out during Elk season
that I've seen here in Oregon... one would have to assume "hell yes".....

Every guy ya see one with, will tell ya its been killing deer and elk ever since Grandpa got it from the store or inherited from his dad....

People tend to keep using stuff that just plain works...

I love my old Savage although I haven't shot an elk with it yet.

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I remember reading John Jobson back in the late 50,s or early 60's. As I remember what he wrote he was quoting some rancher who said, "If you meet a hunter carrying a 300 Savage he probably knows something you don't."


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When I was a young boy the rifle in our home was my dad's 300 savage M99. In fact, it was the only center fire we had. We were mostly deer hunters in those days, but now and then we'd shoot an elk. We also killed a few horses and cattle with it now and then. The old 300 Savage always did just fine. I was too young to pay attention to the loads, but I am betting they were 180 grain bullets. Both myself and my dad liked to shoot the 150 grain loads more then we liked the 180s, because they kicked less and the 150s killed deer fine, but I do remember having a few boxes of the 180s around, because I always looked at the boxes to find the 150s instead for my deer hunting.

When I was 12 I got a 270 and within a few months I got a reloading set up from Herders. As long as I was making ammo for the 270 we thought I may as well get a set of dies for the 300 Savage too. So at 12 years old I was loading ammo for the 270 and the 300 Savage, but none of us, my Dad, my Mom or myself ever killed an elk with the 300 after I got the 270, (None I remember anyway) so I cannot say with any certainty what ammo we shot the few elk with, before I got the reloading press.

But I have killed a few of them with 308 Winchesters. I remember killing 7 elk with 308s, and I may be missing one or two at the time I write this. Getting old makes me forget a few things now and then.
I have seen about 15-20 others killed with 308 Winchesters shot by friends and clients. A 300 Savage and a 308 Winchester are fairly close in their velocities, with the 308 never being over 75 yards ahead of the 300 in striking velocity. With a lot of loads the difference is probably closer to 50 yards of range at any given velocity.
So I am 100% sure the 300 Savage is all the elk cartridge most men would need for probably 98% of all the shots you'd ever need to take when elk hunting.
If the shooter has any skill, and knows anything about how to hunt, a 300 Savage will cover the bases fine.

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I wouldn't hesitate to elk hunt with a 300 Savage at all. I'd probably try to get my favorite 150gr bullet shooting well and go with that. The 165gr and 180gr are awesome (on deer at least), but larger bullets get shoved back into the case to keep the COAL short enough and you start losing velocity quick. The 150gr at 2700fps shines.

Heck, I look at Federal 30-06 150gr vs the Hornady SuperPerformance 150gr 300 Savage load, and published velocities are less than 100fps different a couple hundred yards out.


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Yes I would hunt Elk with a 300sav, I would not think twice about it !!!

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jorgeI Offline OP
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Originally Posted by Calhoun
I wouldn't hesitate to elk hunt with a 300 Savage at all. I'd probably try to get my favorite 150gr bullet shooting well and go with that. The 165gr and 180gr are awesome (on deer at least), but larger bullets get shoved back into the case to keep the COAL short enough and you start losing velocity quick. The 150gr at 2700fps shines.

Heck, I look at Federal 30-06 150gr vs the Hornady SuperPerformance 150gr 300 Savage load, and published velocities are less than 100fps different a couple hundred yards out.


Great analogy sir. I took advantage of the sale at Midway a couple of weeks ago and bought two cases of Winchester 150gr Power Points smile


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We way under estimate the killing power of a good shot. I would never want to go back and shoot 32 specials and 25-35's but they worked for sure.


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j, When I first started hunting elk in the early 70's there were quite a few model 99's in .300 Savage in use... Even a few 722's.. Most of the guys shot Core Lokes.. But I am not sure if it was 150 or 180... They were very successful with these old rifles.. But at that time most of the elk hunting was done in the timber on the National Forest.. Shots were close.. In the years since then, elk have filled every nook they can find.. Much of it very open prairie country.. So many have moved to flatter shooting calibers.. I have a little .300 on a 700 action, never killed an elk with it, but have carried it several days... But I always had a flatter shooting rifle in the truck...


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