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In some ways, the .300 Savage is the proper medium-range, big-game cartridge. It fires both a 150-grain or 180-grain bullet at sensible velocities and does so with out producing uncomfortable recoil. It brings loads of terminal efficiency to cleanly kill deer, elk, bears, and moose to ranges of about 300 yards. It was chambered in a wildly well-liked rifle that was useful within the woods and a pleasure to shoot. It’s acceptably correct for looking functions.
However as we head towards the .300 Savage’s a hundred and fifth birthday in 2025, we proceed to witness the cartridge’s lengthy, very sluggish demise. That’s as a result of in 1952 an much more good medium-range, big-game cartridge was launched—the .308 Winchester.
Fortunately, the .308 hasn’t killed off the .300 Savage even in spite of everything these a long time. So earlier than we get into why the .300 Savage is inevitably headed for that nice deer camp within the clouds, let’s dig into what made it nice and why it’s nonetheless efficient in the present day.
300 Savage Specs and Ballistics
- Yr Launched: 1920
- Guardian Case: .250 Savage
- Bullet Diameter: .308 inches
- Neck Diameter: .339 inches
- Case Size: 1.871 inches
- Total Size: 2.60 inches
- Case Capability: 52.5 gr H2O
- Max Stress: 47,000 psi
- Bullet Weights: 150 grains; 180 grains
- Velocity: 2,630 fps with 150-grain bullets; 2,350 fps with 180-grain bullets
Right here’s a have a look at ballistics information of the 2 .300 Savage hundreds, one with a 150-grain bullet and one with a 180-grain bullet. Each are enter with a 200-yard zero and a ten mph wind pace. As you possibly can see, each bullets shed velocity and vitality in a short time after 300 yards.
Historical past
Trendy riflemen would possibly have a look at the ballistic efficiency of the .300 Savage (aka .300 Sav) and scoff. By in the present day’s requirements this geezer may appear sluggish and underpowered. I simply can hear my fellow Millennial hunters commenting now: “That’s cap, my 6.5 Creed has extra vitality at 300 yards.”
And they’re proper. However to grasp what makes the .300 Savage cool you will need to perceive the area of interest it was designed to fill. Again in 1920, Arthur Savage meant for the cartridge to supply related ballistic efficiency to the .30/06 however from a brief motion platform. In response to the Ammo Encyclopedia: “On this they succeeded and the .300 Sav turned a well-liked alternative for medium recreation looking.”
Extra particularly, Savage needed a sexier .30-caliber spherical for his or her Savage Mannequin 1899—that iconic lever-action rifle with an inner hammer and rotary journal that might change into recognized merely because the Savage 99. The thought was to extend velocity in a brief case, so that they necked up and barely shortened the .250 Savage case, and the result’s a cartridge with a steeper shoulder (30 levels) and a really quick neck (.221 inches).
The .300 Sav was a stronger .30-caliber possibility for the Mannequin 1899, which was beforehand chambered in .303 Savage (amongst others). The .303 Savage fired a 180-grain bullet at solely 2,140 fps.
Lever-actions nonetheless dominated the day, and now Savage had a cartridge/lever gun mixture that might smoke the .30/30 Winchester and even strategy .30/06 efficiency in bolt-action rifles (or not less than the .30/06 efficiency on the time). Do not forget that the unique navy .30/06 cartridges firing ball ammo propelled a 150-grain bullet at 2,700 fps, or solely about 70 fps quicker than the .300 Sav.
Hunters cherished the Savage 99 chambered in .300 Sav and enterprise boomed for many years. Savage reportedly offered virtually a million 99s till they ceased manufacturing across the late Nineties.
As for the .300 Savage cartridge, it took an enormous hit in recognition when the .308 Winchester was launched in 1952. Additionally a short-action cartridge however with extra case capability, the .308 brings extra velocity, extra vitality, and fewer drop at distant ranges than the .300 Sav. Even Savage noticed the writing on the wall and chambered the Mannequin 99 in .308 Win. Plus, there was no stopping the development of hunters favoring bolt-actions over lever weapons.
Despite the fact that quite a lot of bolt actions have been chambered in .300 Savage, in the present day’s well-liked manufacturing rifles are now not chambered for the cartridge. With the rise of modern cartridge design, you’ll find much better choices for delicate recoiling cartridges which can be efficient on the longer capturing distances typically required in Western big-game looking.
Just a few years in the past I used to be at a media occasion at Savage’s headquarters in Massachusetts and a author requested the corporate’s CEO: When would they be bringing again the Savage 99? The response was one thing like, in all probability by no means. The design of the rifle was too difficult and required an excessive amount of hand becoming to effectively produce in giant portions at an affordable worth in the present day, they stated. So there will probably be no new 99s in .300 Savage.
However you’ll find them on the used market simply sufficient. And due to the good streak that the .300 Savage and Savage 99 had for many years, you’ll nonetheless discover lots of the rifles being put to make use of in deer camps all around the Higher Midwest and Northeast.
Accuracy
The opposite motive that you simply’ll discover 99s in .300 Savage in motion as deer looking weapons is as a result of they’re nonetheless ultimate for many whitetail situations. An previous, used 99 in .300 Savage was my very first deer rifle (I began deer looking simply because the 99 was taken out of manufacturing). My dad selected the 99 for me due to its shut vary effectiveness, its manageable recoil, its handiness within the stand, and since he needed me to discover ways to shoot iron sights. It didn’t harm that he had discovered a used one at a very good worth. After I had killed a couple of deer (and perhaps missed a pair) with open sights, we ultimately had the receiver drilled and tapped for mounting a scope. I’ve fond reminiscences of that rifle being a tack driver, not less than by the requirements we maintain for classic rifles and first deer weapons.
Just lately, I made a decision to revitalize my previous rifle with a brand new LPVO. I mounted a 1-6X24 Leupold patrol on the gun and took it to the vary together with a couple of containers of ammo to see if it really shot in addition to I remembered.
I shot eight five-shot teams and recorded a mean group measurement of 1.878 inches. Not unhealthy. I shot two hundreds: Remington Core-Lokt PSP and Federal Energy Shok, each in 150 grains. I discovered my rifle favored the Core-Lokts just a bit higher, printing a mean group measurement of 1.7 inches with that ammo.
Will this type of accuracy win me a precision rifle match? Actually not. But it surely’s greater than sufficient for deer looking within the woods the place most pictures will probably be inside 100 yards. For reference, if the rifle have been in a position to sustain this accuracy common, it could land proper within the combine with the highest affordable .308 rifles. When it comes to accuracy it could even compete with some trendy mid-priced rifles (see employees author Tyler Freel’s in-depth evaluate and accuracy testing of the best mid-priced rifles in .308).
My level is that I don’t really feel deprived once I take my previous 99 into the deer woods. No, it gained’t outshoot the high-end rifles and the optimized cartridges of the day, however I don’t want it to.
Learn Subsequent: Best Lever Action Rifles
Ammo Availability
As we strategy the .300 Savage’s inevitable sundown, discovering ammo for it isn’t as simple because it was once. Whereas Remington, Federal, Winchester, and Hornady all record .300 Savage manufacturing unit hundreds of their choices, I may solely discover out there choices from Remington and Federal.
After I was a child, I may stroll into any sporting items retailer and discover a couple of containers of .300 Savage, however that’s now not the case. As slightly experiment, I not too long ago known as all the massive sporting items shops in my space of Minnesota to see if any of them had .300 Sav in inventory. Not a single one did. I used to be in a position to simply discover Remington and Federal ammo out there on-line, however solely 150 grainers. Additionally, .300 Savage ammo now prices about $70 per field.
Cynics will say that ammo firms are too busy shoving new cartridges down our throats and don’t spend sufficient time making ammo for the rifles we already personal. However as our capturing editor John B. Snow says, the truth is simply the alternative. Ammo makers produce what’s promoting, and today the .300 Savage has totally transitioned from a go-to looking load into extra of a novelty spherical. In spite of everything, these of us who’ve rifles chambered within the cartridge don’t shoot them that usually.
“I’ve a case of .300 Savage, and that can final me for the remainder of my life,” Snow says.
300 Savage vs Its Rivals
For a time the .300 Savage sat properly between the .30/30 and .30/06, however ultimately the .30/06 Springfield pulled away as its efficiency was improved with extra trendy know-how. Then the .308 arrived on the scene and outdid the .300 Sav in all metrics. At present, there are extra intriguing cartridge selections than all 4 of those previous codgers, however for looking functions all of them nonetheless get the job completed. Right here’s how trendy 150-grain variations of every cartridge stack up towards the .300 Sav.
300 Savage vs 30/30 Winchester
300 Savage vs 308 Winchester
300 Savage vs 30/06 Springfield
Outdated Timers Love the .300 Savage (and I Do Too)
Who is aware of how for much longer the .300 Savage will grasp in there, however we should always maintain off writing its eulogy. In the meanwhile, the .300 Savage stays as undead because the previous gun writers who like it and the rifle it was chambered for.
“The primary big-game rifle I ever obtained my palms on was a Mannequin 99 in .300 Savage,” wrote Field & Stream’s legendary rifles editor David E. Petzal. “The 99 combines a lot of the virtues of a bolt motion with the robust factors of a lever gun. How do you beat that?”
“Sure, I like the Mannequin 99 — and in reality can’t say I’ve ever wanted extra cartridge for looking on this continent than our first .300,” wrote longtime out of doors author Wayne van Zwoll.
“Even in my early years of looking within the late sixties, lever actions appeared to fill the gun rack in each deer camp. The preferred was the Winchester Mannequin 94, often in .30-30, and this rifle dominated the deer woods. Whereas the 94 was the gun for the lots, the gun guys, the hunters who ‘knew stuff,’ had a unique decide. The Savage Mannequin 99 rifle was typically their alternative,” Bryce M. Towsley wrote for Outdoor Life.
For lots of hunters within the Child Boomer era, the Savage 99 in .300 Sav was the rifle of their childhood. Despite the fact that I’m two generations youthful, it was for me too. No quantity of ballistic development will water down the nostalgia we really feel for that rifle and cartridge.
Nevertheless, once I look forward a decade from now, I don’t see my daughter hauling round a 9-pound, .30-caliber rifle on her first hunt on the household deer camp. However perhaps after she’s killed a couple of deer (and missed a pair, too) she’ll wish to shoot that previous 99 in .300 Savage. I’ll have a couple of containers of ammo saved for her.
