Off-season fun project

[orhunter]

Eric.... The .33's and 35's are painful to shoot if the bench is too low. My bench is too low, made for someone under 6'. Keep a piece of foam with me these days. Don't need a black and blue shoulder again. Taking my wife along tomorrow so she can take over if I wimp out. Problem with that, she's 6' tall, might not be good for more than one shot. She's shot the .300 and really likes it. The .375-338 was a bit over the line. Of all the rifles I currently own, the only one that's killed anything is the one .300. My old Roberts went down the road when the barrel started getting tired. I'd done a lot of load development with it in addition to hunting many years. I bagged a ton of bucks and one bull with it. Those quarter bores are really good at dumping deer right there, no runoffs, no recovered bullets, big hole in and out. Ya don't want to be hitting edible meat or it won't be.

[RowdyGSP]

For big game hunting my Savage Model 99 lever action in .308 is about all I use. BTSP rounds. Small hole in, rapid expansion and drops deer and an elk like nobody's business. I may find a niche for the 300blk rifle with open sights for a brush buster gun, until I get the 30-30 I'm looking for and use my scoped Savage for most of my big game hunting.

[orhunter]

99 is a cool gun and the .308 is perfectly suited for the wet side of the state.... and a lot of other places. I would suppose the 99 might be tricky to load for since cartridge length comes into play. That's why the .250 in the 99 never became popular as it wouldn't handle deer bullets (100 gr.) efficiently. Back in the day, everyone was velocity crazy and a cartridge that wouldn't hit 3,000 fps was considered useless by many. .25 bullet selection was pretty lame also. Whole different ball game today. Great bullets, new powders, puts the .250 well ahead of what the Roberts became famous for. Killing deer. Funny thing about the Roberts, factory loads (and published reloading data) really sucked performance wise because a lot of old wimpy early Mauser actions were used and pressures needed to be kept low. Any modern bolt action functions just fine when pressures are pushed to over 60,000 psi. no matter what cartridge the rifle is chambered for. There is no difference in strength between a rifle chambered for a non-magnum cartridge and the magnums. Load 'em all to the same pressure and enjoy the results. The problem with doing this is there is no published data for many cartridges to reflect the new performance standards. The handloader is on their own and a person needs to have a keen sense of what they're doing to keep things safe. When I start going into unknown territory, I never use powders with burning rates faster than the very slowest used in published data. I let the chronograph tell me if I've succeeded.

Eric.... If you wanted to go on a real adventure, do as a lot of guys have done and get the .308 bored to .35. Just a thought.

[Willie T]

99 is a cool gun and the .308 is perfectly suited for the wet side of the state.... and a lot of other places. I would suppose the 99 might be tricky to load for since cartridge length comes into play. That's why the .250 in the 99 never became popular as it wouldn't handle deer bullets (100 gr.) efficiently. Back in the day, everyone was velocity crazy and a cartridge that wouldn't hit 3,000 fps was considered useless by many. .25 bullet selection was pretty lame also. Whole different ball game today. Great bullets, new powders, puts the .250 well ahead of what the Roberts became famous for. Killing deer. Funny thing about the Roberts, factory loads (and published reloading data) really sucked performance wise because a lot of old wimpy early Mauser actions were used and pressures needed to be kept low. Any modern bolt action functions just fine when pressures are pushed to over 60,000 psi. no matter what cartridge the rifle is chambered for. There is no difference in strength between a rifle chambered for a non-magnum cartridge and the magnums. Load 'em all to the same pressure and enjoy the results. The problem with doing this is there is no published data for many cartridges to reflect the new performance standards. The handloader is on their own and a person needs to have a keen sense of what they're doing to keep things safe. When I start going into unknown territory, I never use powders with burning rates faster than the very slowest used in published data. I let the chronograph tell me if I've succeeded.

Eric.... If you wanted to go on a real adventure, do as a lot of guys have done and get the .308 bored to .35. Just a thought.

Rowdy, the 99 is an iconic rifle.
Orhunter,
In part why you don’t see many 7x57’s.

Willie: I had one in .38 Super. Dumb for selling it. Currently have a Kimber standard model and an XDs. My hand prefers the XDs. Have a twin XDs in 9mm.

The .284 family is huge. If I had to pick two from the list, the first would be the original built on your basic FN and the second a Rem. Mag., probably same configuration.

I like to tinker, one of those, what if, outside the box guys. The only big game rifles I currently own that are unaltered are a pair of Remington 721's in .300 H&H. Bagged a couple of bulls with one, haven't fired the other. The only one not mentioned yet is a .338-'06AI.

Orhunter,
My favorite is the 7mm-08.
Second favorite is 7RM.
Great hunting rounds and both have had some success in long range competition.
My preferred platform is a squared away 700 action. Lots of available options, including left handed...
Willie

[J D Patrick]

dang, you fellows are singing my song,,,,love Model 99s,,,have a few from 22 Hi-power through 358,,,I have most the "old" chamberings (22 hi-power, 250-3000, 300 savage, 303 savage),,,,no 30-30 yet,,and no 308 nor 243 though the 308 was the first one I shot (my step-dad had one),,,

and agree that the 7-08 and 7mm rem mag are fine cartidges,,,

did I mention I have a gun problem??

[orhunter]

Willie:

7 X 57's. They're all tucked away in old guy's gun cabinets. Everyone today is on a short action craze to save a few ounces, performance be damned. Most of the new cartridges would do far better in long actions especially with the heavier bullets. That includes all the Short Mag's etc. which aren't really mag's to begin with. Media trickery, applying a name to make sales. I simply won't have a rifle/cartridge combination where the bullet must be seated deeper than the bottom of the neck. I want a cartridge to be loaded to its true potential and not be touchy with pressure. I'm a hunter, not a long range paper puncher, nor do I believe in shooting animals at distances where the bullet is moving at a snails pace. Ultimate accuracy is meaningless to me but my rifles are accurate beyond usefulness. I won't shoot a new rifle till I've bedded the action and floated the barrel.

Eric: Your .300BLK will work for deer but bullet selection will be a challenge. I don't know how many flat nose .30 cal. bullets are on the market but that's what you'll need. Your idea of open sights is a good one. Scopes are over rated for those with good eyes. I haven't shot a single buck or bull where I would say a scope was required. In fact, having a scope has cost me the three largest Blacktails I've seen during deer season. No Boone and Crockett trophy wall for me. The .30-30 you're looking for, what would that be? I'm kinda partial to Marlin Model 94's but don't own one. They just look cool.

[Willie T]

Orhunter, Texas whitetail are my big game of choice and yes I like them big. The 7-08 is wonderfully efficient in a 20” barrel. If you like Ricky Bobby loads, you can safely push a 120 over 3,000 FPS out of a 20” tube. The construction of a 120 nosler Ballistic tip gives it Accubond like performance. It is a tough bullet and gives the 7-08 270ish like performance in a very handy quick pointing easy to carry package. A very effective rig in heavy cover that doesn’t give away much reach. I set my big game rifles up for MPBR.

Rowdy, at black out velocity, the Hornady SST works well for deer. Designed for long range hunting, expansion is reliable at blackout velocities.

Willie

[RowdyGSP]

Willie, the Hornady SST is exactly what I've been reloading and shooting the most of and it impacts the 12" x 1/2" steel gong I have at 50 yards with such violent force it flips the steel gong around in all sorts of directions just as much as my 165 gr .308 rounds at 100 yards. I am going to do a ballistics gel test on those rounds soon with a rack of beef ribs in front of the gel to simulate a deer. I also picked up some 110gr Nosler Varmageddon bullets to reload and those I plan on using for predators, like coyotes, wolves, lion, bobcat. But I'll do a gel test on those as well, as they have some serious ft/lbs. to them.

Harvey, I'm looking at one of the older Winchester 30-30 lever actions if I can find one at the local gun shop or pawn shops here.

[orhunter]

I shot 1 deer with a .257 117 gr. SST just because. Impact velocity was probably a tiny bit over 2800 fps. The bullet virtually exploded and left behind lead chunks all over in the meat. The bullet actually made it all the way through the deer. This was a tight to the shoulder heart shot, bullet didn't hit anything more resistant than ribs. Looked like buck was hit with a shotgun from the inside. Hard telling what the bullet would have done had the impact been too far forward and hit the shoulder? Never again, once was enough. Had the same (or worse) bullet performance with a .308 diameter 180 gr. Winchester Power Point, impact velocity right at 2700 fps. Buck was facing me at around 30 ft. Bullet exploded on the heart and never made it through the diaphragm. Diaphragm had the shotgun look also. Neither of those bullets like speed.

[Willie T]

Orhunter, Up close they are too explosive for my tastes in most centerfire rifles. Black out is around 2,000fps at the muzzle. At Rowdy’s velocities the SST hits like brass knuckles.
Willie

[RowdyGSP]

Orhunter, Up close they are too explosive for my tastes in most centerfire rifles. Black out is around 2,000fps at the muzzle. At Rowdy’s velocities the SST hits like brass knuckles.
Willie

I chrono'd an average of 2180 fps out of my 16" 300blk barrel, went through the chronograph at 20 yards. I'm eager to see a ballistic's gel test on that based on the violent movement to the 12" steel gong it hit.

[RowdyGSP]

Was gonna look for a bear this morning with the Savage Model 99 but when the alarm went off and I heard the rain pounding down on the tin roof I opted to stay in bed. Lazy day, stayed in PJs all day but did get 100 rounds loaded up. 110gr Nosler Varmageddon in 300blk.