.300 savage reloading - Optional brass?

[scot_th_rock]

Hi. newbie here. I know the basics, search the forum before asking questions but I couldn't find my answer so here goes.

I recently inherited a .300 Savage model 99. Beautiful rifle. Planing on taking it hunting this year for black tail deer here in CA.

I've found this cartridge has not necessarily been discontinues but rather orphaned due to superior ballistics of the 30-06, 308 and others.

So naturally the ammo is harder to find. I've found Remington and Federal but it is a bit pricey. I reload for my 06 and 35 Remington already so why not this little baby? Anyway, my real question is can I use alternate brass for the 300 savage? I can use 270 cases for my 06. It is the same case length just necked down. My resizing dies have had no issue necking them up to .308 diameter shells.

I looked at the 308 cases. 308 has a case length of 2.015 whereas the .300 is 1.871. The 308 neck is longer and would have to be painstakingly trimmed to get close to the 300 neck. However, that leave little room for the seat of the shell. This obviously adds to the points of failure considering the pressures at that point on the case.

My reason for asking is if I could recycle 308 brass for my 300, it would save a few bucks but is it even worth it? Will the 308 neck length even chamber into the breach if not trimmed?

I'm pretty much answering my own question here but thought to ask just in case there was an alternate brass that could be used since this stuff is spendy.

I'll most likely buy the factory stuff and reload that after fired. I generally tend to play by the rules and common sense when it comes to my firearms and reloading.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[10-96]

like you said- new brass is out there and available, but deciding if it's worth it is a coin flip that you'll pretty much have to evaluate yourself. I mean, you can work at it a little here and there, determine how to streamline and speed up the process. But we don't know if the time to do that is worth it to ya. Time value is tough to put a finger on especially if you put in more than a 40hr week, chase kids, grab college courses, etc.

[dab102999]

Dont need to look to hard. Lots of new brass to reload. And now horandy has put it back in there mist. Not to mention i have been finding reminton on quite a few gun shop walls. Stay away from the "popular" gun shops that want $40 a box and u can still find it for $32 a box. P.m. me you location and i will let ya know a couple places to look. I just picked up 2 boxs of rem and 4 on the shelf but i also know a place sellin new cases in the 50 bag. Cant remember price though bought quite a bit of stuff while i was there.

And the 99' s..i love those guns. Got a few of em. Hunted with them for years.

[res45]

The 300 Sav. was the parent case the 308 Win. was developed from so if you want to convert some brass back to 300 Sav. it's perfectly fine.

I was given a good quantity of both LC X51 and .308 brass and it was just much easier to convert it to 300 Sav. than go to the trouble of trying to sell or trade it off for 300 Sav. brass.

I use the thicker LC brass for cast load and the thinner 308 Win. brass for J bullets,it's about as simple a conversion as it gets. Just reform and trim to the correct length,works great in my Sav. 99.

[dacaur]

+1 what res45 said...

[xzqzq]

I load .300 Savage, and get fired brass a bit at a time. I have tried several times to convert .308 brass to .300 Savage, unsuccessfully: can't get the bolt to close on the custom .300 Savage barrel on K98 action. So, I just keep my eyes open, and buy a bit of brass here and there. Thankfully, it is still floating around, as are the 16ga hulls that I am currently watching for. I have had better luck buying 7 X 57 brass, and increasing the neck size for 8mm Mauser, like going from .270 to 30-06.

Reloading Berdan cases has worked out OK for me.... Hydro decapper, boxer primers, with a dab of fingernail polish to keep the primer in the pocket.

[ducksoup]

Hey res45, are you just running the. 308 brass thru a .300 Savage full length die or do you use the form dies?

[crowbeaner]

I do the same thing res45 does; I take 100 WW or whatever 308 brass I have and run it through the 300 FL die. I use the Lyman trimmer with the drill shaft adapter to trim it; saves cranking my arm off. It loads and shoots just fine.

[dacaur]

if the bolt wont close, thats a sizing problem, screw the die down and size it again... If I were attempting this I would definitely have a wilson tool headspace guage to doublecheck it after forming and trimming....

[res45]

Hey res45, are you just running the. 308 brass thru a .300 Savage full length die or do you use the form dies?

That's it,I just lube the case good and run it through the 300 Sav. FL sizing die. The case will fire form to your chamber dimensions and you can neck size from that point on depending on what type rifle action you have.

One thing you need to take into consideration is the that 7.62 x 51 brass is thicker so case capacity is less and pressure will be greater with an equal load than in the reformed 308 brass or factory 300 Sav. brass,you can verify this on your chronograph so work you loads up with the reformed brass carefully.

One thing I did find as a plus is that using the reformed LC brass vs. commercial brass and and equal load of powder is that I got on average about 100 fps. extra MV out of my cast bullet loads using the LC brass.

[chiefr]

I have been reloading 300Sav for at least 30 years. I have never made from 308. Like many say, there is plently of brass available. Try Graf or Midway.

I would like to mention that extra caution is needed when seating your bullets. The case neck is very short and it is easy to push the neck in while seating thus trashing your brass. I always trim, campher, and inside lube the neck when reloading this number.