Smokeless Savage ML II

[Food Plot 101]

Found a deal so I'm purchasing a slightly used Savage w/ accutrigger. The topic of bullets and powder combinations is a bit overwhelming. Do I use a .50 caliber bullet? Is a sabot required for this gun? Do you have speed load set ups like black powder/pyrodex? My apologies if this has been beat to death already.
Thanks.

 

[GMB54]

Sabots with either a .452 bullet or a .458 bullet.

MMP short black or Harvester Red Crushrib are usually ok with a .452
MMP Orange or Harvester Black Crushrib with a .458
MMP HPH-12 with a .452 will fit some bores too. It comes out to roughly the same loaded OD as the Orange and a .458

Weigh your powder and store what you plan on using in powder tubes. I make up 2-3 dozen at a time.

I would avoid the slower powders like Reloder7 with 250gr bullets. The lighter bullet loads are more reliable with the "book powders" such as N110, SR4759 and 5744. Save the slower powders for 300gr bullets.

 

[mike243]

I have been shooting 250g shockwaves with 43g of N110 ,2500+fps ,expansion sucks, penciling thru deer with little expansion,I'm going back to the 240g XTP I could care less about a pass thru. Give me all the energy dumped into the deer,I get 2600+ with the 240g XTP if I'm remembering correctly. Shot a doe thru the lungs 2x once from left to right then as she ran back by thru the other side,both shots were lung and less than 2" apart. she made it 200y into the middle of the field before she flopped over dead.I never had a deer run over 50y shooting power belts and 777 or pyrodex. kinda discouraging having a high power rifle and having less performance out of it.A 300g XTP is what I will end up shooting when I find some

 

[mike243]

yes on sabots,they act like a safety ,different opinions on them but i rather be on the safe side. All the rifles like any other will favor a certain load,it maty take some time and $ to find what yours likes.ck out Doug's Message board for some good load info

 

[mike243]

http://dougsmessageboards.proboards.com ... zleloading

 

[holstonangler]

There are bullets that dont require sabots that can be fired in the savage (not powerbelts)

 

[gatodoc]

Mine's shooting lights out with 42 grains N110 and 250 grain hornaday....short black sabots from Arrowhead Sporting goods.....

 

[GMB54]

I have been shooting 250g shockwaves with 43g of N110 ,2500+fps

That would be about 200fps faster than ive ever seen mentioned on Dougs for that load.

 

[mike243]

Lost my book that I had data wrote down on,wife took my cable for my crony to work thinking it was a phone cord,it magically reappeared when I came home the other day :roll: .going to shoot 1 evening this week to reset and will take a picture and save it to my computer with notes.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

If your running book speeds you might want to consider stepping up to the .458 rifle bullets which are designed to expand at those velocities. While there are some good pistol bullets out there. Many of them explode like grenades and destroy a lot of meat . They get the job done yes. But at the book speeds I prefer the .458 rifle bullets.


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[GMB54]

Compare the 240gr XTP MAG jacket thickness to any of the common 458 300gr HPs. The 240gr XTP MAG is thicker than any of them. The 458 300gr HPs are designed to expand at much less velocity. On Sierra's website they even state reliable expansion at trapdoor speeds. The Rem, Hornady and Sierra 458 HPs are pretty darn explosive at MLII speeds.

A good cheap tougher 458 is the 325gr FTX or the Speer 458 300gr. Ive never shot the Speer 458s in the MLII but IIRC 10guage on Dougs likes them in his. The Barnes Original is even tougher but its awful expensive for a mass produced jacketed bullet. Recommended impact velocity for reliable expansion is high.

I shoot two bullets mainly. The 275gr BE and the 225gr XPB. I shoot them in a NULA though at 2250-2400fps. The BE is very explosive at top speed so i just avoid high shoulder shots. I love the bullet but meat damage can be high if you are not careful. The 225gr XPB is my favorite for shots out to around 100 yards. Mild recoil and violent expansion with great weight retention. At speed the petals will come off this bullet but the solid copper base still retains 200-205grs.