Savage 300 Chamber in Model 8 Rem 30 Barrel

[Brown Gravy]

I inherited a Model 8 from my grandfather years ago. He hunted with the gun for over 40 years. Along time ago he re-chambered from the original Rem 30 barrel to Savage 300. He just re-chambered and did not change the barrel. He shot it like that for years. I recently had a gunsmith look it over and he said I'm not sure if I should shoot the gun because the 300 Savage was .001 larger than the Rem30. Does anyone out there know if this is a problem? I know my grandpa shot it like this for several decades and took down many an elk and deer with it.

[Tbury]

The nominal bore size for .30 Rem was .307; however all .30 caliber guns shoot .308 bullets. Even Remington .30 Rem bullets are .308. The model 81 was chambered in 300 savage and although I do not have one I bet the bore size and barrel blank were the same as .30 Rem. IMHO it is safe to shoot your grandfather's rifle. He probably had it rechambered because .30 Rem ammo became hard to find. If you want to save wear and tear on the barrel you could shoot cast bullets which can be sized .307 or purchased in that diameter.

You might want to check out http:// thegreatmdl8.proboards79.com/ a forum for lovers of the model 8 and 81.

[Walt Shipman]

I do not think this conversion was a good idea. The Model 8, as you well know, is a recoil operated action. That fat barrel jacket contains springs which absorb the recoil and return the bolt to battery after firing. There is a vast difference in energy between the .30 Remington (1,540 ft/lbs) and the .300 Savage (2,360 ft/lbs) cartridges. I will defer to the author, John Henwood, who says about similar conversions:
"...they are (at least in the author's opinion) unwise, and may even be dangerous, as the firing of....the .300 Savage cartridge in these re-chambered rifles is the equivalent of firing....30 Remington PROOF cartridges. The .30 caliber barrels are smaller in diameter than the factory made .300 Savage barrels, and the walls may prove unable to withstand the greater pressures produced by the larger cartridge.
Furthermore, in the case of the .30 caliber, the associated springs differ between the two calibers and the substitution of some .300 Savage parts would be required...If the buffer and recoil springs were not replaced by the stronger .35/.300 springs, this will certainly lead to excessive "battering" and premature failure of various internal parts(barrel nut washers and recoil spring cases in particular), due to excessively violent recoil."
In my opinion, you can either find an old replacement .30 Remington barrel and put that in your original barrel jacket, or find a whole replacement barrel and jacket to put on your rifle (I've seen these for sale on the various auction sites), or here's a thought, learn to reload (if you don't already), and just load your .300 Savage down to .30 Remington ballistics. But that doesn't deal with any weakness in the barrel caused by rechambering the thin .30 Remington barrel for the larger .300 Savage cartridge.