Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Pressure differences in 99's

I thought the receivers were designed to handle a certain working pressure for the cartridge family it was to be chambered in. When the 250-3000 and 300 were added those receivers were given special heat treatment to handle the higher pressure. Then about 1926 all receivers were heat treated the same. Nothing changed till the .308 cartridge family was added which had a higher pressure range so would think something changed at that time, 900,000 serial and later.

You also have the design of the action. The lever action has more spring than a bolt which can cause hard extraction when pushing the limits.

Please advise if that is not correct.

Rick, we've seen some 99's lower than 900,000 turned into 308's. Though most of them are probably single shots.

None of them had any damage. I think the 243/308/358 cartridges were inside the pressure range the 99 could handle.

But we don't know that or at what point it started. Easier/safer to go with the 900,000.

I have a question.
Do Winchester, Remington, Browning, et al. all have this affliction to change parts, barrels, etc. new to old? Or is it just Savage guys.

Savage 99 is a great rifle i own a 1/2 dozen different cartridge rifles i see no reason to ever load a Savage 99 to max powder capacity . why wreck a nice Savage 99 with extreme high pressures in a cartridge most cartridges shoot best at medium loads anyway .

Pete nailed it in my opinion.

I stop at mid-range loads in my 243 - never had any problem.
I AM leery of "flooring" it, though.

I get best accuracy with most cartridges at medium loads. That includes several Weatherby cartridges.

Hell, I get the most fun, bang for the buck, and great accuracy by playing around at subsonic or barely sonic levels with pretty much everything I own, and save the full power stuff for long range targets/competition and/or hunting. A wise man told me once that a bullet only has to go fast enough to break through the target paper. Unfortunately there are many folks who make up "the great unwashed masses" who can't conceive of shooting anything except at its full capacity......

I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most of the people who have responded, but I can tell you I found it prudent to tone down the loaded for my .308 99-F. In deference to both the rear-locking action and my shoulder.

How does one formulate “ sub sonic loads”.

What is the meaning of the lower end of the book?

Is it dangerous to load below recommended levels?

Thanks