Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99F Action Sticking

Hey guys,

I purchased a 99F in .284 a few months back and just got around to shooting it today.

The first shot cycled fine, but the second shot caused the action to stick to the point that I had to use a cleaning rod to help with ejecting the case.

These are handloads. 145gr Speer BTSP with 56.0gr IMR 4350 seated at 2.800 OAL.

Any ideas what may be causing this?

Dirty chamber maybe? Just trying to brainstorm and get some advice from fellow forum members that may have experienced something similar in the past. Will most likely start with cleaning the chamber thoroughly.

Thanks

Daniel

are you full length resizing the brass

Did you load those rounds or are they someone else’s?

Look for pressure signs on your brass, or flattened primers

Most likely your load is too hot. The 99 action is not as strong as most bolt action rifles.

Back it off until you find the sweet spot.

This ^^^^^

My Dad loaded them, but I saw the powder measured out. He's been doing it over 40 years and we've shot primarily his hand loads for all of my life.

No pressure signs that we could tell. I was thinking the load may be a tad too hot. It is the max load listed in an old speer handbook we have. Maybe too much for the 99.

Will back it off and try again.

56gr of IMR4350 is listed as the max load for the 284 Win with 145gr BTSP on Speer's website. If you're seeing pressure signs, back off and work your way up. Starting at max load is never a good idea, some guns just won't like it.

If just shooting paper, I'd back down to medium load and save the gun (not to mention reduce risk of tank cracks). Starting load is 52gr.

https://reloadingdata.speer.com/downloads/speer/reloading-pdfs/rifle/284_Winchester_145.pdf

My old load for a Win 88 in 284 was mid book load of IMR 4350 with a 150 Gr NP would consider max load in 88 or 99 about mid loads. And you are limited to short bullets due to magazine confines. That load brought me home a 52 " bull moose and a full curl Dall Ram in my Win 88 in 284.

I’m thinking Roy loads that bullet, but don’t remember the load. I load 53 grains of IMR 4350 behind a 120 gr TTSX. They cycle fine, hammer deer and pigs.

I do but use 4831SC for powder so no help with that load.

FWIW, that bullet has proven to be the very best performer of any big game bullet I've tried. I've shot it lengthwise in a bear from 20', to headshot on a deer at 346 yards, and everything in between. It is absolutely reliable in the rifle but game finds it most troublesome in all respects. Fired from the 284 it has proven itself over and over. No gimmicks, just dead animals scattered over the landscape.

It works so well that when setting up the 7mm Magnum for a little longer range work recently I decided all I was trying to do was extend the range of the 284 so why not just use the same bullet and consider it a 284 plus 100 yards? Since the bullet works at 284 ranges I know it'll work at 7mm magnum velocities 100-200 yards further out.

Try the starting load for that bullet, see how they work. If they still seem sticky, something else is wrong. New brass or brass fired in another rifle?