Cast bullets in a .30-30 Savage Model 99 Deluxe takedown rifle.

Greg

My 99 (marked 1899) was sold in 1922 as a takedown .22 HP. All I got was the action with some parts missing. I rebuilt it with a Savage 24" replacement barrel. The barrel is interesting in that it has six grooves, with grooves and lands of equal width, like an Enfield but with six grooves. Twist is 12". The barrel was for a takedown, but I shimmed it slightly so it could be pulled up as a solid frame fitting. You could tighten any Savage 99 takedown the same way.

My rifle shoots exceedingly well with Sierra 150 or 170 gn bullets and 748 powder, less so with other jacketed bullets or other powder. Best five shot group with scope on 7X has been under an inch at 100 meters, with average more like 1.5" for the 748/Sierra loads. With peep sight and younger eyes I was getting about 1" at 50 meters. The listed maximum load of LeveRevolution powder with the 170 gn Sierra bullet achieves the full 2300 fps and has averaged 2.1" at 100 m (3 groups, 36.3 gns).

Current loads with 176 gn cast HP bullets and LeveRevolution powder have averaged 2.82" at 2180 fps (11 groups, 32 gns) and 3.56" at 2302 fps (2 groups, 34 gns). Alloy is a bit harder than #2. Bullet is #321297HP sized down from .322" to .312". Bullet length is 1.025" and bearing length .700". Cases are ONT to .010" max neck thickness (just rubs off the high spots), leaving about .001" or so neck clearance. COL is 2.500" to ensure reliable feed.

Lining up the velocities, my loads get there with about 2 gns less powder than Larry Gibson's loads for a soft #311041 bullet - which is why I have noted bullet dimensions and loading practice.

Headspace can be a little loose on the 99 as well. I leave .025" between the bottom of my Lyman FLS die and the shell holder. This ensures the rifle is headspacing firmly on the shoulder, to the point of closing with a little nip. With this setup, cases lengthen about .002" or .003" per shot for the 2200 fps load. For the first shot or two with new or once fired brass, I fire them with a headspacing circlip under the rim made of copper electrical wire - just single load them and leave a big enough gap for the extractor.

Forend fit may also be important. When Martini Cadet conversions were all the rage over here, the rule used to be to bed the forend solidly to the barrel, then make sure there was no actual contact between the back of the forend and the action, even if it looked like a hairline fit. I set my rifle up this way and it seems to work.

Edit: My solid forend replaces the original forend-with-iron which I never had. A misbehaving takedown might be "fixed" with a spare forend mounted solidly, with or without some minimal shimming of the barrrel to action fit.

Picture herewith. Sorry about the livestock intruding.