Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 300 Savage for elk

Does anyone here hunt elk with the 300 Savage ?

I don't know anyone now that does, but when I was a young guy it was a popular round and a lot of elk were killed with it. I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

It's almost a 308 and that's taken many elk. However, it wouldn't be my first choice. Feed it 150 or 168 grain TSX's and it'll get the job done.

I've been hunting elk for the last few years with a Savage 1899 in .300 Savage. I haven't taken a bull with it as of yet. I hunt in the Gallatin and Madison Mountains of SW Montana and since the wolves have come in the elk hunting has become almost pointless. If I'm lucky enough to find a bull I'll be using 165 grain Partitions.

I wonder how that load would work on a wolf? Did I say that?

Had planned on carrying my recently acquired and open sighted 1946EG in 300 this fall but did not draw an elk tag. Going to pack it for bucks instead.

I have hunted but not taken and elk with a 300 savage. I have however taken 7 moose with the caliber and numerous black bears.
Outside of the teasing I get at camp when my fellow hunters see the size of the bullets it has been very effective.
I now use a 3006 as it offered extended range with more umph and better bullets ( out of the factory).
I only ever felt under gunned with a savage at ranges over 250 yards. I use federal 150 grain factory and the rifle will shoot MOA

I have a local acquaintance here in SW Montana who has been using a Remington 722 in .300 Savage for all his elk hunting since he was a teenager, and that's a while back. I don't know how many elk he has killed with it, but he alwasy has elk meat in the freezer.

And gee, not a one of them killed with a "premium" bullet. He mostly shoots factory 150 Core-Lokts, as I recall.

I would use the same bullets he is using. I believe the cup and core design goes back to about the same time rounds like the .300 savage were developed and they work great at those velocity levels.

A/K/A 300 OSM

osm?

Original Short Mag

Next thing, somebody is going to claim a 303 British will kill a moose!

kinser,
I once read "if you see someone in the woods carrying a 300 Sav. he probably knows something that you don't."

My dad got his in 1927. (99Sav) Hunted with it till 1986 and was never remotely under gunned.

Probably thousands of moose, elk, bear, and deer have been taken with them.

Try it, you probably will find it to be a great caliber.


Jim
We like the 165 Barns in it. Hole in, hole out

Understand, I'm not dissin' the 300 Savage...but, to me the highest form of Savage 99 is the 358 Win. I don't have one and I kick myself for passing up a few good buys over the years.

A perfect elk rifle.

I don't have a 300 Savage either, but I do have a 99F in 308 that I could count on for elk.

Don't be silly, Royce. Everybody knows you can't.....

.303!? Well, I don't know about moose, but I can vouch for the .303 as an elk killer. It's the biggest gun my dad ever used and he killed elk with it. My brother and I once conspired to buy dad a nice, modern '06 to replace the ancient Enfield he'd had "sporterized" - cut off the military sights and mounted see thru Weaver rings and a K4, and saw off the front half of the stock. He smelled the rat and gave us quite a bit of guff until we finally admitted the plan, and then he really let us know what he thought of the idea! I still can't understand a man turning down a new rifle.

Not a .300, but my aunt's dad from Wyoming shot a few elk with a .250 in a 99R. If the 250 worked, I'm sure a 300 will. My sisters and I went together and bought that rifle from him and gave it to my dad for Christmas a few years ago.

I agree, in the savage normal bullets act very well.
I like the 300 savage alot, and when I was the local and new where the game was, it was great.
Now it seems that I have less time to hunt and spend alot of it in unfamiliar territory. Where I hunt, it is 6 point elk or better and shots can be from 10 to 300 plus yards.
Please read this as big elk at extended ranges ( with limited time)
So when push comes to shove I take the ti in 3006 and leave the savage in the safe.
The savage 300 is good but I have more confidence in the 3006 past 250 yards.
Do I like the balance and shootability ( if that is a word) of the savage over the TI, you bet.. but for elk the ti in 3006 leaves the safe and the savage 300 stays home.
For me the 3006 is just a better tool.
The savage with normal bullets is good but the 3006, with 180 A frames gives me mor confidence at extended ranges abd bad angles

Not any more. I never killed an elk with mine anyway.

My cousin indicated he had killed 47 of them when he died a few years ago in his 70's. Of those around 30 with the .300 Savage. No special bullet or anything. He was a guide and packer until at least the late 60's.

He especially liked the Savage for use in saddle scabbards. He also used a 270 and an '06,and in his last couple of years a .300 Win Mag.

I love that round, I have 2 model 99`s 1 Remington model 81 1 Remington 700 ( I say I have it my girlfriend has taken it over for bear hunting !) and a new Savage Weather Warrior in 300 Savage. I`m taking the new one bear hunting this year and leaving the Whelen at home. I have been having this idea in my head that I want to kill a bear, whitetail, mule deer, elk, moose and pronghorn all with one of my 300`s ! LOL Now if I can get Savage to sponsor me to help pay for all the hunts ! LOL I think I am going to load some 165 or 180gr partitions up since that seems to be what everyone is reccomending here.

I have 7 elk with the 300sav 150gr fed.

I just shot a .300 Savage for the 1st time today, in a 99. Boy, what a sweetheart of a cartridge!

180's in a .30 caliber aren't going to be easily stopped, by an elk, or darn near any critter. No, it's not a 500 yard cartridge, but as the posts so far have shown, it certainly holds its own.

FC

When I was just getting interested in shooting and hunting, back in the long lost days of yore, all of the old experienced hunters thought a .30/30 was the perfect deer rifle and that the .300 Savage, .30/40 and .303 British were where real elk and moose rifles started. Quite a few of them also thought the .35 Remington, with its awesome power, was a great elk and moose rifle.

Hunting elk with a .300 Savage would be great fun, for everybody except the elk.

I hunt the same area and that's not my conclusion.

Hope you score with your 300 though.

MW406....that is one sweet picture.

I'd like to take a Moose someday with a 300 Savage and a factory 180.

Brad,

I suppose your right, "pointless" is a little too strong a characterization. I'll change that to "somewhat discouraging" especially compared to what it used to be. But I'll keep packing the 300 savage just in case I find a nice bull.

MW, the "pointless" adjective was the one that got me confused (grin). For sure the area's elk hunting has changed but there are bulls to be had.

Fellow I work with's Dad guided on elk back in the early 50's... he often killed the clients bulls as they were too hung over or too worn out to keep hunting. He shot a pile with the 25-35, then later switched to a "big gun"... 300 Savage M99. Shot another pile with it.

Funny how time has changed our perspective as to what is "big"...

Isn`t that the truth !! I am really surprised at how many people on here still hunt with the 300 !

Kinser, my "big" rifle is a 308 Win... sort of a 300 Savage +P... (grin).

I hear you there ! LOL It`s funny to have someone ask you what caliber you are hunting with and you say 300 Savage. They always say oh a 300 Win mag huh ? Of course I always take the time to educate them about the 300 and how it was the father of the 308 !

What started me elk hunting with the .300 Savage is the fact that I've never fired a shot at a bull or cow that was more than about 200 yards away. Nothing intentional, it's just never happened. The last bull I took was a pretty nice 6 X 6. My shot was 40 yards and I was using a .300 WSM. So why not use the "little" .300? It can certainly do everything a larger cartridge can do within a range of 200 yards.

I hunted elk in B. C. a couple of years ago. I took my .300 Savage Model 1899 G. When the outfitter asked what gun I would be bringing, I said a 300. He let me know that was a good choice and never asked another question. It took him a few days to figure out that it was not a .300 WM, WSM or Roy. He was fine with it, but it surprised him a little that someone would spend money on a hunt then bring a gun such as that. As it happened, I didn't find a bull worth taking on that hunt, but I sure enjoyed the opportunity to carry the old gun.

When Savage and Rocky Mountain Elk Federation got together to build the 60 commemorative engraved Model 99 rifles, guess what caliber they chose for the gun? Uh-huh, that's right, Savage 300. At least thats the caliber mine is in and I've not heard of another in anything but Savage 300. Also, don't know of anybody who has actually hunted with their RMEF gun.

When we are hunting I always know where my brother is when he starts shooting. It is not hard to pick out that crisp *crack* a 300 Savage makes.

It must have been at least 20-25 years ago I loaded some 300 Savage ammo for a friend of mine to use Elk hunting. This guy is very wealthy and could buy any rifle he wanted, but had always Deer hunted with his 99, 300 and wanted to use it. The guy he was hunting with had killed a few bulls by that time with his 30-06, but was skeptical about the old 300. I told him, what the hell, it's 90% of what you're using. I loaded 150 gr Noslers, and to make a long story short, he killed a dandy 6x6, and shot completely thru it broadside. Shoot them where they live, and they will die.

The 300 Sav is a great round. I like to call it a "refined hunter's" round. The reason I say that is you need to be ethical enough to pass on shots that aren't within range, and you need to know where your rifle hits at different ranges, and you need to know how to estimate distances. It's more than capable of harvesting large animals within its limits. If the animal is beyond those limits, don't shoot and get closer. I would bet that fewer animals have been lost when hit with a 300 Sav than with the larger cannons that people are over confident of their abilities.

I killed my first 8 elk with a .243 before moving up to a "Big" rifle chambered in 300Sav. Killed one elk with it before moving on, not because of the cartridge, but because I wanted a rifle with a decent stock and scope. Love that round almost as much as my .308

My Dad used a 99F in 300 Savage for years back in the PA deer woods. It was his brother's rifle. Dad died 5 years ago----the 99 went back to his brother. Uncle Paul passed over this pass summer. Talked to my cousins----I'm going to get the 99 out of the estate. Plan on taking it out for elk next year. I'm going to use 180 grain bullets. It has a 4X Bushnell Scopechief on it. That thing is as brite as my Leupold. CB

If I had one I would use it just as I've hunted elk with my .30-30 and .44 Mag.

That said, I wouldn't buy one just to hunt elk with - too many other choices that suit my tastes better.

My dad bought one right after WW II. He hunted moose in Canada and Newfoundland. Elk and mule deer in Montana and Wyoming as well as whitetail and black bear in Northern Vermont where I grew up. I still have that rifle with it's Alaska lyman scope and several boxes of original 180 WW Silvertips and Remington Corelockts. From the many black and white photos we have it apparently worked pretty good.

Lefty C

The 300 Savage was killing Elk long before the Magnum craze

Yes an still going to do it along with ever is pointed at also one great cartiage

I had an uncle that used the Savage mod. 99EG on elk, deer, bear and even a couple of moose...He swore by it and I know for a fact it worked..All he ever used was the 180 gr. Corelokts as best I can remember and I have saw him kill a lot of elk with it when I was a kid growing up. My dad said that was his first and only big game rifle, and dad thought it was a too big and preferred the 250-3000.

Wow, this is "heaps of nostalgia time" for me.

When I was a young boy we had 1 center fire rifle in the Zihn home. My dad's M99 Savage in 300 Savage cal. I grew up with that rifle in the corner of the big closet in our tiny house in the hills. Dad bought 150 grain ammo for the rifle and he and my mom killed deer with it since before I was old enough to understand where the hanging deer came from. I remember asking them about the dead deer when I was about kindergarten age, or maybe a bit before.

My dad's 1/2 brother Walt had a Mauser in 30-06. Dad's rifle was bought from a gunsmith in Arizona right after WW2 and before he met my mom. Walt had land in Utah and Nevada and Walt's full brother had some in Montana and another chunk in Idaho. Before I was out of grade school I was going with Dad on deer hunts in Nevada and elk and deer hunts in Utah and Montana.

I shot my 1st elk with that 300 Savage when I was about 8-9 years old in Utah with my dad's permission. I guess that was not legal, but I doubt anyone would have cared back then around 1964 or 65. I shot it and it ran a bit then stopped and Walt shot it again. He gutted it out with a friend he and my dad worked with. He hit it through the neck and cut the main arteries but didn't hit any bones , and my hit was in the chest through both lungs. I can't say if I killed that bull of if Walt did, because both were good hits. But I did eat back strap cooked on cedar fire that night. It was a big step forward for me in my boyhood and I had the men of the camp all telling me that I'd done a good job.

I didn't like the 300 Savage in those days because it was REALLY light and had a crescent steel butt on it and a super thin barrel and I thought it kicked like hell. I was only a kid and weighed about 70 pounds. At a Riverton Wyoming gunshow a while back I met the man that wrote the new book on the M1899s and I told him about the rifle. He tells me it was probably not a 300 Savage when it was made because the things I remember so clearly on it were not features made on the 300s, according to him. The thing that sticks in my mind is Dad saying he got the rifle from an Arizona gunsmith. I think it may be that rifle was made as a 30-30 or maybe a 303 and was converted to 300 by the gunsmith. The rifle had a short barrel (I think about 20 inches) and a very slender forend and slim barrel with a dog-knot where the rear sight was. It has that horrid dished steel butt plate that hurt my shoulder and the stock would hit my cheek too. It also seemed long even for my Dad who was 5' 10" tall. It had no pistol grip. I am unsure of it's history. It was used in 1946 when Dad got it just a few months after he was discharged from his Navy service in WW2.

Dad got a box of 180 grain ammo in Eureka or Ely Nevada for that hunt. I remember thinking how I would hate it, because the larger bullet would kick harder then the 150 grain bullets he usually bought, but at the time of the shot I didn't even notice it. Walt gutted out the bull and gave me the bullet which I kept for years. I think I still have it in a box at my Mothers home in Nevada. It was a Remington cartridge as I recall. The bull was a 5X5 and full grown and it went about 65 yards before it stopped and Walt shot it again. It went about 10 more yards after Walt's shot, and then fell. The 300 Savage bullet was against the skin on the other side just in front of the left shoulder. Walt's bullet exited, and the blood trail looked was like a hose was letting it out. I can say with 100% certainty the old 300 is OK for elk if you shoot well. If Walt's bullet was the one that brought the bull down or if it was mine, I can't know for sure, but I am 100% sure the bull would not have gone very much farther if Walt had not fired at all.

I have come full circle and I now own two 300 Savage rifles.

I now have a 1951 made M99 with a 24" barrel and everything standard. It weights about 8-1/4 pounds. The stock was broken when I got it, so I made a new butt stock. The spring in the cartridge stop was missing too so I got a new one of them and installed it. It had a bent rear sight so I took it off, threw it away and installed a slot blank, and then put on a Williams peep sight. It shoots very well with my best loads going into barely over 1" at 100 yards.

Just about 1 month ago I got a Remington M81, also in 300 Savage. I killed 2 white tail deer with it only a 8 days ago. It is not as accurate as my Savage, but I can keep 5 rounds at about 2" or 2.5" at 100 yards. I have shot tighter a few times, but on demand I can do 2.5" with this gun.

In both my 99 and my 81 the 180 grain loads I have tried are less accurate then the 140, 150 and 165 grain loads, so far at least. The best so far is as "Plane Vanilla" as you can get. 150 grain Remington Core-Lokt in reformed and trimmed 7.62 NATO brass, CCI primer and 40 grains grain or 4064 in the Savage 99 and 39.5 in the Remington 81.

Funny, ----- I hated my Dad's 99, but after I was about 30 years old I found myself wanting to find one and buy it. I was 63 years old before I did, and one year later I got the 81. Maybe the younger men here can't yet understand, but hunting with the old 300s is SO MUCH more fun then using the scoped super accurate rifles in the safe. It is like being young again. In this season I killed antelope with the old Savage and deer with the old Remington. Who knows, I may even use it to fill my last tag for 2019, my cow elk. If I do I'll post it here.

A while back someone posted pictures of the pages of a camp game log book, 1940's or 1950's maybe. There were a number of entries showing large elk taken by hunters using the 300 Savage.

Killed my first two cows with a 300 Sav. 150gr Interlocks.

My uncle is a still hunting machine. He is deadly with his old 300 Savage. Handloaded 150gr Interlocks I believe is what he uses too. He kills an elk every year he's drawn with that combo, which is often. While the cartridge is capable, his ability as a hunter and good marksman should not be understated.

Seems a viable option to build a nice woods type deer rifle.

Been thinking of building a little 20-21" barreled treestand gun and I can see where the 300 Savage would make the cut.

Rename it the 300 CreedBro and the elks will drop waaaaay out there!

Neighbor has a barn wall of bulls, 721 rem 300 savage..

When I first came to this valley, lots of 99's in .300 savage were in use... Back then, most of the elk were killed in timber or across an open park.. Not long range stuff.. It worked well.. Most guys shot Remington ammo.

I have owned several model 99's.. Many of my uncles used them for their deer hunting, but my grandfather used a model 54 .30-06.. I still use it some... I never could warm up to the drop in the 99 stock, and the safety.. I did shoot deer and antelope with them.. I liked the caliber so, when I had an extra short action 700 I had it barreled with a .300 Savage barrel.. It shoots fine.. I never spent much time reloading for it.. But it always shoots ok.. I have about 8 boxes of factory stuff... I plan on taking it on this seasons whitetail hunt probably next week.. Cool caliber ..

szihn that's a cool story I like that kind of write up thanks

Agree 44mc. Good stuff szihn. Don't have a 300 Savage, but do have a 99C .308 Win. It wouldn't be a bad choice for elk hunting.

I moved to Utah, in 1990. Cruising the used gun racks in every big pawn shop or Gun shop, there were at least 3-4 Mod 99s in 300 Savage. I "may have seen" 3 250-3000s in that time and a few .303 Savages with bad bores. There were also sporterized Mod 1917 Enfields and a handful of 1903s. Many Mod 98s in 8x57 then too. So, this was either from younger guy selling/trading off Grandpas saddle rifle or trading "up" to more modern rifles/calibers. Point being, tons of mule deer/elk killed in Utah with the 300 Savage, ha.

Gringo Loco, I have killed several elk with a 308 and so has my wife. I have probably seen about 20-25 killed with them in addition to those I am my wife killed. The 308 is just fine for elk . Don't even hesitate to take you old 99 out after them if it suits you. Use any good bullet that will hold together well and you'll do just fine.

About 25 or so years ago and buddy and I went on an elk hunt up on the Olympic Peninsula just out of a little town called Humptulips. One of the group we were hunting with was an 80 year old retired judge whose rifle was a very cherry Savage 99 in .300 Savage. IIRC, he was using 180 gr. bullets. I remember him as my buddy and I had our .44 mag. handguns with us and the old boy hated handguns of any sort with a purple passion. Rained like hell opening morning and the elk headed for the deepest darkest jackpots they could find. Needless to say we saw nothing during the whole hunt.
I've never hunted with a .300 Sav. but I do have a Ruger M77 RSI in .308. That rifle with it's 18.5" barrel will only shoot one load, the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core at 2550 FPS. Looks to me like it's a .308 that thinks it's a .300 Savage. FWIW, change the bullet to anything other than that Speer bullet and accuracy goes back to straight to hell. I have three of those rifles, don't ask, but they all shoot the Speer bullet just fine and lousy with anything else. Guess that's why I got into them so cheaply. Killed a lot of deer with them and reading here about the .300 Sav. has me thinking. All but one of my shots elk hunting on a ranch in New Mexico have been, except for one under 250 yards. Maybe I should take it out for an elk. Wouldn't be any different than if it was the .300 Savage considering how it shoots regarding velocity. I'll think about it.
Paul B.

I wouldn’t give up an elk for a 300 savage!

I'd be tempted to load it with the Barnes 130 and get after it.

Back in 1959 at age 19, I was trying to put myself through college in Missouri and ran out of money. I headed to my sister's in a little California mountain town in Plumas County (Quincy) and got hired on with the USFS as engineering tech on the Plumas National Forest. When deer season came around a Forest Service buddy asked me to go deer hunting with him. I borrowed a rifle from a offered by my sister's neighbor; an old octagon barreled 1894 32 Winchester. My forest service buddy carried his family's deer/elk rifle the Savage 99 in 300 Savage. I remember the details vividly; it was my first time deer hunting. Most of my hunting in my home state of Iowa had been for squirrels, rabbits, pheasant, quail and duck I didn't score on that first deer hunt, but my buddy dropped a nice 6 point (3 point western count). Later in 1968, when I was looking to buy new deer rifle, I read about the 308 Winchester cartridge being a nice mild round a little hotter that the 300 Savage and settled on that in a first year production Ruger 77 (tang safety model). That decision was influenced greatly by the stories I had heard from my buddy's family members about their deer hunts; and elk hunts in Idaho with the old 300 Savage. I have never regretted buying my Ruger 77 308 Win rifle; but at the time would probably of been equally happy with a Savage 99 in 300 Savage.

CJ

I think the .300 Savage is adequate for elk at close range. I prefer a more robust cartridge like the .35 Whelen or .300 Weatherby for anchoring elk in place. Happy Trails

722 😀

I hunt elk with a model 99 T scoped.

I use Hornady FTX 160 cannulured for the 308 marlin express. I like lever lotion powder for the cartridge.

I also like the 165 grain cup and core Speer s.

There are reports of a 7x57 mauser has killed elephant. Put the proper bullet in the right place.

Mouse Gunners Unite! (LOL!)

It's interesting how some 300 mag shooters who'd have no qualms about popping one off at 500 yards often find the 300 Savage to be inadequate at any distance.

There's folks who can hunt and there's folks who can shoot long range. There's even a few who can do both. There's an awful lot of folks who can shoot long range who aren't very good at hunting.

The 300 Savage is a hunter's rifle.

300 Savage is a poor choice for elk, just ask on the "fire". but the mighty 6.5 Creedoor is a great killer beyond 600 yards! IMHO

The model 99 seems to hit critical mass at the 300 savage.

The 308 win seems a touch 2 much.

I like the 308 win in the win model 88 and the blr.

The 336 marlin I like the 356 and the 35 rem.

Then the 45/70 444 in the 1895...............

I'm with you pard, I had a great shooting Mod 99C in .308 that shot factory 150 like crazy. If you handloaded to those same pressures, which, back in early 80s, they weren't going that fast. If you tried to handload to higher velocity, cases wanted to stick. No sweat, everyone knew it had a "springy" action, you just compensated for it...with almost 300 Savage speeds, ha.

I have a 99F in .300 Savage that I got as a project rifle still incomplete. My son has a 99F in .308 Win that shoots Remington 150 gr Core Lokts very well. I have encouraged him not to shoot handloads in it and just stick with factory ammo. I handload for my .358 Win but don’t push it near max loads. Quite the thumper. Happy Trails

Yes.

Great story Mr. Zihn. Love to hear the old hunting camp stories from 50+ years ago. Someone earlier mentioned a 40 yard shot with a short mag. I would say the 300 Sav would be better for elk than any short mag at distances under 100 yards. Almost perfect for it in fact.

Back in the fifties, when I was in elementary school, my best friends dad was a logger in the Colorado mountains. One season I remember, he got what was the biggest bull elk I have ever seen in my life. He had 3 20 foot logs in a tripod, and the elk, stretched out on it with it's rear hocks at the point of the tripod, still had its head dragging on the ground. He used a rem 81 in 300, and never had a problem.

There is no reasonable argument that it wouldn't be excellent. I would, however use a premium bullet on bull elk....on any chambering.

Every bullet is a "premium" when the velocity is kept modest.

It's all about physics - a 300 Win Mag is a 30-06 is a 308 Win is a 300 Savage. If you are willing and capable of shooting an elk at 600 yards with a 300 Win Mag then you are willing to shoot and elk at 235 yards with a 300 savage.

50 years ago, the 300 savage was quite popular in my area as an elk round.. Mostly it was by older guys who used it on deer and antelope.. When the elk population bloomed, they used it on elk.. Mostly with Rem. Ammo.. I have had several, and still have one, but never shot an elk with it or tried to.. One other thing in those early days, most of the elk were hunted in the forest.. So shots were close, now elk have moved in much more open country and shots are longer..

When I started elk hunting, it was mostly in timber and shots were 100-150 yards max. I thought my .308 was perfectly adequate. A .300 Savage would be quite adequate also. I have a beater project 99 that I need a roundtuit to complete the restoration. I think it may become my behind the door gun at the cabin.

When I was elk hunting in Colorado in 1989 I met an old cowboy who carried a Savage 99 (don't remember the model) in 300 Savage. I reckon he didn't think he was undergunned. The one I will take hunting this November is a 99F I bought from a friend. He bought it new in 1955, and sold it to me about five years ago. He took his biggest NY State buck with it and took it to Canada for moose, but never saw one.

The current world record typical elk taken in AZ in 1968 by Alonzo Winters was taken with a Savage Model 99 in 300 Savage. The record before that taken in CO by John Plute in CO in 1899 was taken with a Win Model 1895 in 30-40 Krag. What worked on those 2 bulls will also work today. Elk are still elk and they ain't bullet proof.

Funny you should mention wolves. Back in the early 70's I was stationed at the 716th Radar Sq in Lakeside. Back then Idaho was trying to get Montana to turn loose some wolve's in Montana. Didn't happen but years later Idaho turned them loose. Now they are in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and I hear a few in northern California. Thank Idaho!

I think your confusing Idaho for the deeds of US Fish & Wildlife Service. Bruce Babbit in particular.

The only thing that’s “ annoying” about the .300 savage is that for me it’s now an online only purchase for me. All the stores in the greater Houston area have stopped selling it which was not the case several years ago. Other than that it’s a great all around caliber.

One one of my dad's supervisors at his job used to go elk hunting in Montana almost every year with the same outfitter and he had the same guide almost every year. The guide carried a scoped 303 British and it was the only rifle he owned.

Yeah back when hunters could actually shoot and hit something.