The 300 Savage: A (Nearly) Perfect Mid-Range Hunting Cartridge

The old Savage 99 in .300 Sav is still one of the greatest deer rifles of all time. But that won’t stop the cartridge’s very long, very slow demise

In many ways, the .300 Savage is the perfect medium-range, big-game cartridge. It fires either a 150-grain or 180-grain bullet at practical velocities and does so without generating uncomfortable recoil. It brings plenty of terminal performance to cleanly kill deer, elk, bears, and moose to ranges of about 300 yards. It was chambered in a wildly popular rifle that was handy in the woods and a joy to shoot. It’s acceptably accurate for hunting purposes.

But as we head toward the .300 Savage’s 105th birthday in 2025, we continue to witness the cartridge’s long, very slow demise. That’s because in 1952 an even more perfect medium-range, big-game cartridge was introduced—the .308 Winchester.

Happily, the .308 hasn’t killed off the .300 Savage even after all these decades. So before we get into why the .300 Savage is inevitably headed for that great deer camp in the clouds, let’s dig into what made it great and why it’s still effective today.

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