Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 180 gr for 300 savage

Anyone use 180 gr ammo in 300 savage? I have a 50’s R in 300 and want to try the heavier bullets this fall, any opinions, is there any accuracy difference between the 150’s?

I have my lucky 1945 99EG that just LOVES heavy bullets. Problem is that the velocity definitely cuts the range down. There's just not a lot of room in that case for powder after seating heavy bullets. But every deer it's ever been fired at has ended up in the freezer, it's brought 23 of them home so far.

Put the bullet where it belongs, and the deer will go down.

i use them for elk. they're certainly minute of elk.

My 1957 99F loves the 180 Winchester silver tips. I won't use anything else. From 15 yards to 230. No problem.

Go forth and kill something.

Excellent pics and info, looks like i just gotta shoot mine and see how accurate it is, I picked up a bunch of federal 180’s cheap at a local show so thats what i will be trying. Id be more than happy with out to 200+ yds, maybe have to take it for elk next fall.

Most 180 grain 300 Savage ammo is loaded with round nose bullets. I assume you are shooting the Federal ammo loaded with spitzer bullets. Try it and see how it shoots.

I have three 99s in 300 Savage. They all shoot well with the 180 grain round nose ammo. I have a 99 EG made in 1937 which shoots my handloaded 180 grain round nose ammo very well. The only difference between my rifle and yours is the fore end design. They both have heavy 24" barrels.

I’m down to my last few rounds of those 180 Core-Lokt Remington’s for my .300 Savage. IMO Remington did yet another foot shot for themselves when they dropped that bullet for the Savage, but kept it for the .308 and .30-06. The last deer that I shot with that bullet in my 99F just fell over like a bunny rabbit and that doesn’t happen all that often where I hunt. Our camp never lost another deer when all the guys used that bullet. It opens fast and always penetrates. Sure it is probably slower than something lighter, but deer hunters don’t own chronographs and only know what they have seen and those 180 Core-Lokts work.

I only load 180s in one of my 300s so its a small sample. This rifle, a 1939G, really likes 180g Win Silver tips and IMR 4895 as well as one Win 748 load. I know, Silver tips don't help anyone. The other 180g load this rifle liked is the 180g Speer RN with IMR 3031. All of these chronograph in the 2200fps area; a little more with 4895 and a little less with 3031.

In this rifle, accuracy was best with the 180s over all others and the 180s were the only loads to register single digit standard deviations which happened multiple times. Groups were shot with a tang sight off of a bench at 100 yards against a bull. Accuracy with 180s averaged 1.8in for all loads in that weight. Average velocity for all 180g loads tested was 2255fps, 165g loads tested was 2385, and 150g loads tested was 2527fps.

There it is, a sample of 1...

I shoot 150s in my M99 with a peep sight and I shoot 180s in my Remington M81 with factory iron sights. I think the 180 are a bit less accurate then the 150s in the Remington, but only about 1" larger groups are expects, so for a rifle I only shoot to about 200 yards max, the 180s are fine and the do work well on game.

The very 1st elk I ever killed was with my dad's 300 Savage back in the late 60. I used what we bought at the sporting goods counter at a gas station. My dad called them "elk bullets". They were 180s, and I think they were Remington's if I remember correctly. Shot was on a 4X5 bull with spindly horns at about 50 yards but it worked fine.

Took a bunch of deer with my 99F using 180 gr bullets. Different brands.

When i started to reload, way back, started to use 150 gr SP Hornady stuff.
the factory load 180 gr stuff shot about 2" groups.
the 150 gr reloads shoot about 1" groups. took some tinkering to get that load.

You do not have a problem Both bullet weights work well on deer.

I'm not sure it really matters all that much on deer sized animals.

The 150 probably expands a little quicker and the 180 probably penetrates a little better. I'm a big fan of 150's but last fall the buck I shot was with one of my 300's that I had sighted in for the Federal 180's. Buck ran off a cut cornfield. Well, it ain't easy looking for blood on bare dirt on a moonless night. I was glad for the 2 holes, one on each side of the deer leaking blood that eventually took me to the deer.

Every shot fired in a hunting situation is unique, but the results of a deer squarely hit with 150's or 180's is always the same.

Venison.

180 grain Federals

You wouldn't think a deer shot like that could run over 200 yards and not bleed that much, but it happened to me...

I hit one through the chest with a 180gr Parition at 100 yards, and it managed to run 150 yards into the cedars without leaving anything more than the initial spray of blood on the ground. It expanded fine, clipped the heart and arteries, and it exited - but some internal organs or muscles worked just right to plug the entrance and exit holes while she ran. When I found her and rolled her over, the blood just poured out.. but there was no blood trail up to her.

Yep. Weird things happen in real life.

The Remington 180 grain round nose Core-Lokt bullets have a lot of lead exposed, more than either Sierra or Hornady bullets of the same design. I have about 100 of those Remington bullets squirreled away. The Sierras shoot best in my 99s, but I would hand load the Remington bullets if I wanted to hunt with one of my 99s in 300 Savage.

Well, I set up a target at 75 yards, I didnt put a scope on, but just used the iron sights. I put 4 rounds within a 3” circle, so that will work for me. Federal soft point hi-shok ammo.

Good shooting 99guy. Did the bullet clip the meat on the back of the front leg?

36 grains of imr3031 is good with 180s. Quite accurate.

I don't think it ever touched his front leg. He was quartering too me a little bit so the bullet actually exited just behind the ribs on the opposite side. I mean it cleaned out the pumphouse. You can see there is barely any blood on the entry hole side, the exit hole side is what put the blood on the ground. He made into some thick nasty chit, no way I could have found him that night without the little bit of blood I could find. I needed to find him that night or the coyotes would have had him half eaten in the morning. I knew I had him hit good because of the sound I heard when the gun cracked. That hollow "wump" of a chest hit is different than the "thup" of a gut shot or the "crack" of a shoulder or bone hit.

On this hunt, the 180 grain bullet was the lucky right choice. But, no matter how good of a rifleman you are, every bullet you fire at game animal is unique and there ain't no telling how the story ends until it ends. There is no best bullet for every situation. It ain't that easy.

My 99T fancy's 180 gr Sierra round nose. My other 99s in 300 Savage prefer the 150gr spitzers, but will digest 180s if need be.

Why not split the difference and shoot 165's? Frankly, I never put that money where my mouth is, but often intended to as 165's are my go-to for in all of my .30-06's, when shooting jacketed and not cast. I'm out of the .300 Savage game now (never was really in it wholeheartedly), but I have a few old Speer 165 RN's I always felt would've been perfect for it.

The limiter with any bullet choices outside of the old standby 150's and 180's is that deucedly short neck. Frankly, if another .300 fell into my lap I would start afresh and go straight to the 130 Barnes TSX - the few I tried in my last .300 were dammed accurate and fast as lightning.