Is the 300 Savage on the way out?

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Rockrivr1

Rockrivr1

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My father has an old 300 Savage that he's had for years. As a kid I knew hunting season was close when Dad used to take it out of the closet and clean it up.

My Dad is pretty old now and hasn't hunted in years, so I took him to the range and he broke out that old 300 Savage. He had some rounds left for it and we shot them off pretty fast. Damn accurate rifle.

Since we shot off all his ammo I figured for Christmas I'd buy him some more so I started looking around some. I found out pretty quick that it's damn hard to find. When I did finally locate a store that had some I was shocked to see that 20 rounds was almost $40.

I guess there isn't much demand for this round or something. Is it being phased out? Just wondering.
 
There are still enough Savage 99's out there in 300 Savage that I'd wager that it'll be factory loaded in some form or another for quite some time yet. The real issue is how much can your local shop afford to stock? The answer to that is 'not much'.

http://www.midwayusa.com
http://www.natchesss.com

These sorts of places are good sources for ammo like the 300 Savage. Of course, you could always handload for it; that'd keep you going for a lifetime of shooting. :D
 
Is 300 savage a model or caliber

Because there are .300 Win Mag caliber savage rifles at walmart
 
300 Savage is a caliber. It's a shortened 30/06 that provides nearly as much power but is usable in short lever action rifles. I think it is the intermediate cartridge that the army fiddled with and came up with the 7.62 NATO/.308 Winchester.
 
My advice would be to get something like a Lee Hand Press kit with .300 Savage dies (which will cost about $50, which is cheap compared to the cost of a single box of ammo), and buy or save your brass. The bullets, primers and powder will always be available (since they're used in many other cartridtges), but over time the brass will become hard to find.
 
Yeah, I have a 99 in 300 savage. Last time I shot it, it cost just over a buck a round. That alone is going to stop a lot of people.
 
MrTuffPaws said:
Yeah, I have a 99 in 300 savage. Last time I shot it, it cost just over a buck a round. That alone is going to stop a lot of people.
Click to expand...

That's why I say get a Lee handpress kit and a supply of brass.

I suspect it wouldn't be much of a chore to form .300 Savage brass from .308 brass -- but it would take a bit stouter press than the hand press.
 
You guys are wayyyyyy off on this one.


I have a savage 99 in 300 savage and I can go to the local Academy or Gander mountain and buy Rem or Win. ammo for Under $18.00 a box, I think I payed something like $15.

Rem., Win, and Federal all make new ammo in 150 grain and 180 for the savage 300.

Also last year Remington made a brand new rem. 700 in Savage 300.

Cabelas should have it in stock.

For the guy in Ma, I grew up and used to live on the cape and I know how it sucks to get anything gun related there. I dont know if you can get ammo shipped to Ma, but you might want to try out of state, Kittery trading post.
 
It's impossible to get ammo shipped to Mass now a days so you basically have to deal with what's in stock at the local gun stores. The cheapest I found was $38 for 20 rounds. Without pointing out any gun store in particular, but there's one place in the Worcester area that was looking to get $45 for 20 rounds.

If I had the time I would try Kittery, but it's close to a two hour drive from me and around Christmas that place is a zoo. I just bought the 20 rounds for $38.

You know it's funny because I easily wasted the equivalent of two boxes of 300 Savage in gas with all the looking around. Ahhh the intangables. :(
 
If you are lucky enough to own a .300 savage I would recommend keeping at least 100 rounds of Factory ammunition on hand along with some reloading dies and components.

The ammo is still loaded but as stated, most shops don't keep a whole lot of it on hand and the wholesale price seems to go up every time we need to reorder.

One day, .300 Savage will go the way of .30 Remington.
Best to be prepared for the inevitable now.
 
Weird. I'm from Michigan originally, and the .300 Sav still has a strong following there. You can even find it Walmart up there...$14-15 a box.
 
my dad collects savage 99's, so i asked him about this. he says it's pretty tough finding ammo for any of them around here. he has four savage rifles, one in each caliber available.

.303 savage - damn near impossible
.300 savage - available, moderately expensive, usually has to be special ordered (he still hunts with his .300 occasionally)
.250 savage - hard to find, usually buys whatever he finds and stockpiles it.
.22 high power - available
 
I have a .300 Sav in my Remington 760 and just love it for deer and bear. Ammo is getting pretty expensive, so I'm going to get a set of dies and try reloading them. Just need alot of brass.
From what I've learned about it, It was in contention against the .308 for the M-60 and M-14, but the case shoulder is so flat that the chamber becomes easily fouled and compromises the headspace and timing, therefore the .308 was chosen. Both have comparable ballistic performances, but nowadays there is so much more offered for the .308 that it seems to have pushed the .300 into almost obscurity.
I also understand in reloading the .300, you have to watch how much lube you use and really clean the dies because the case shoulders are easily dented.
 
BTW,
Rockrvr, have you tried Stateline Gunshop in Mason, NH?
Just head through Fitchburg to Rt. 31, cross the line and look to the left.
About $20 per box, if I remember correctly.
And I wouldn't even think of wasting my time at Kittery.
 
Hi Rpriestlyjr. I've bought ammo at the NH gun shows but I've never gone into regular gun store in NH looking to buy anything. I guess it's the MA brain washing making me think you need to be a resident or have a license to buy ammo. I have an out of state LTC for NH. Do you need to show any other type of ID when purchasing ammo in NH?
 
Just walk on in and buy it. They might check your license from MA or NH, I forget but I think I was checked once. I go there often enough I don't get carded ( like buying beer ).
You can buy long guns from the shop and bring them home, but handguns have to be sent FFL to FFL, and must be MA compliant. Same with hi-cap magazines and various other gun parts.
 
I've still got pacific dies for .300 savage that belonged to an uncle. When the government was designing the .308 (aka 7.62x51 NATO), they initially looked at the .300 savage case, but decided they needed a little more case capacity to get a 150 grain bullet up to their target velocity to match the .30-06 ball round. The .250-3000 or .250 savage case is a necked down .300 and the .22-250 is a necked down .250 savage.

The latest M99s I saw being produced a few years ago included .308 winchester, so the .300 was a little obsolete, but I believe savage made a run of the guns in .300, not for sure, but I think I read that. Anyway, handloading is the ONLY way. I have a friend that shoots .300 savage in a M99. I've fired it and it's quite an accurate rifle. I always thought they were a little stupid looking. The looks of the gun just never did much for me, but I can't knock the design and function. :D
 
300 Savage lives. It is still popular enough locally that I can go into two local gun stores and buy 8 or so boxes right now if I should feel the need to.
It is about $20 a box, give or take.
It would make sense to reload for it.
Handloads work out to about $12 for 100 bullets, $3 for 100 primers, and $18 for a pound of powder (about 150 rounds worth).
For the price of about two boxes of factory ammo you can shoot 100 rounds.
If you are worried about it, go to Midway and buy a couple hundred casings and you won't have to worry for a long time.
 
goon said:
300 Savage lives. It is still popular enough locally that I can go into two local gun stores and buy 8 or so boxes right now if I should feel the need to.
It is about $20 a box, give or take.
It would make sense to reload for it.
Handloads work out to about $12 for 100 bullets, $3 for 100 primers, and $18 for a pound of powder (about 150 rounds worth).
For the price of about two boxes of factory ammo you can shoot 100 rounds.
If you are worried about it, go to Midway and buy a couple hundred casings and you won't have to worry for a long time.
Click to expand...

You can make a lot of sausage with a couple of hundred casings -- if you have the ground meat to put in them.:p
 
Yep. The 400+ I have for my Mosin Nagant should last me quite some time.
 
I have formed 300 savage brass from 308. Its not that big a deal, really...just labor intensive...

Set of standard RCBS FL 300 Savage dies, take out the expander plug. Run the 308 brass (I use Federal due to it being a touch "softer"...don't use milspec brass...might aneal as well...I didn't have to) with Imperial sizing wax on it...after your done with that, trim to SAAMI length (1.875), debur the neck.

Do this with however many you plan to make. Then when your done (be sure to leave that Imperial on the brass) put the expander plug back into the die and redo all the brass again...check the length (shouldn't have grown too much...I only had about 3 thou max length increase) and load as you normally would.

YMMV
D
 
gun stores here will not stock that ammo but they will order it for u.it cost alot to stock,they buy right from the wholesalers,u should get what u want just have to wait for it
 
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