Rifle load question

[kris smith]

So I have been forming 300 sav from 308 cases. I have wet tumbled wit stainless pins lemishine and dawn resize to 308 in a full length sizer and then used a full length 300 save due to change shoulder angle and height. Then the on to Lyman brass smith to trim to length based on a le wilson headspace gauge for a 300 savage. Then one last time in the wet tumbler. Then sort by head stamp. I am using ssa 308 win marked headstamps for this build. And some old federal 210 primers I have laying around. I couldn?t find a varget load data of hodgdons page or in my manual I have but found some from noslers page. I have a handful of .308 bullets I pulled down from some old 3006 ammo. Sorted them by weight. I have 150 spritzer flat base ,168 boat tail spitzers. According to noslers load data I?m starting in the middle of the load range data of 37.5 grains varget and then seating the bullet to COAL of around 2.58? this is my first foray into rifle loads. I set the seat crimp die as per the manual and it has just enough crimp to hold the bullet. I just want to know if anything here sounds out of line. I?ll be testing them Thursday in a rem 81. So I feel if I have made a critical error the long recoil action should lessen any I?ll effects. My next set I?m going to be using 140 grain hornaday bullets for 3030 as that?s what I can find local vs the 300 savage bullets they make. My local reloading shop just told me to push what ever 308 bullets I can get into them to the max COAL of under 2.6? which I Dont Know about that.

[kcstott]

Your reloading shop is telling you to seat at max length to avoid feeding issues from the mag. Your lighter bullets may not be long enough to do that though.

[bigbossman]

OP - If you need some .300 Savage bullets, I have some I'll send you for the cost of shipping. PM me with your shipping address if interested.

[divingin]

With new brass (purchased brass, not new-to-me once fired), I usually load with a light(ish) charge, and seat bullets to get a decent amount of jam. My thinking is that this prevents the firing pin from pushing brass forward into the chamber, keeping if back against the breech face, thus blowing the shoulder forward to fit the chamber, rather than stretching the case body. I suspect this is what the "max length" suggestion you got is supposed to do, but I may be wrong. Once you get the shoulder roughly set to your chamber, you can experiment with seating depths, etc. without having to worry too much about short brass.

If your case neck is sized sufficiently, you shouldn't need a crimp to hold the bullet (that may change depending on rifle type.)

Single loading while getting the brass fireformed will keep you from getting distracted over cycling. Get everything prepped to run first, then worry about function and accuracy.

[RNE228]

300 Savage is just a 0.308 bullet, same as used in 308Win, 30-06 etc.

The last two boxes of Winchester Wester I bought were 150gr spire points.

I'd be curious about lead free; I have some Speer 150gr spire points for out of state, but am interested in any feedback for lead free for 300 Savage

[kris smith]

I?ll let you know about the hornaday 3030 bullets part number 30310 as they are lead free .308 bullets. To reach the max COAL they are about 1/4? below the canelure groove

[kris smith]

And in regard to the setting it back recommendation they told me just press the bullet in till you?re under the COAL and crimp it. And to me a that seems sketchy to push a long bullet back into the case. Wouldn?t that cause pressure spike? I was I totally pressing the bullet down to the canelure which I guess isn?t correctly positioned for the short next of the 300

[RNE228]

I've heard of 180gr ammo but have never seen any. When I got my Savage 99, it came with a couple boxes of original 1950's 150gr ammo.

I'll look at my Ken Waters Pet Loads books tonight and see if he had any info on longer bullets pushing in to the powder.

You might look to see if there is info on compressed loads with Varget. Otherwise you would have high peak pressures.

Canelures are no always in the right spot to crimp unfortunately.

[kris smith]

None of the loads I made up were more than 98% case capacity.

[RNE228]

Interesting. The 30310 Monoflex 140gr is listed for 30-30. The 30311 Monoflex 140gr is listed for 300Sav. Those bullets have the same section density, but the 30311 has a much higer ballistic coeffient( 0.277 vs 0.335)

In 150gr, they go to the 30370 GMX, for both 300Sav and 308Win. But no listing of the 30311 for 308Win.

In the 150gr, they list it with the rest of the 150-155gr bullets for 300Sav and for 308Win load table respectively.

[kris smith]

Well I am shooting not very far and not very often so ballistics isn?t my main concern I just want to be able to shoot the old girl. My next set will probably be hornaday 30303

[bigbossman]

300 Savage is just a 0.308 bullet, same as used in 308Win, 30-06 etc.

Same caliber to be sure, but all the one's I've seen have a very different profile.