Another potential caliber for the M81
Another potential caliber for the M81
Another caliber I ran across recently that would be a good project for someone to work with is the .270 Savage. As you might imagine, it is simply the .300 Savage case necked down to .277, having ballistic performance comparable to the .270 Winchester. There were several different slight case variations known, which is typical for wildcats. It was apparently never a factory load but was at one time, pre-WWII, a fairly common wildcat for use in the Savage M99 lever action and various bolt-action rifles. The M81 may well have been rebarreled in .270 Savage by someone, and I would be interested to know if there is any knowledge as to whether this had been done. Anyone know about any matchups of the M81 with the .270 Savage?
Last edited by DWalt on Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Another potential caliber for the M81
I bet that would make a pretty slick gun package. Since my .35's barrel cleaned out a LOT better(almost new looking) after shooting it, I don't have a reason anymore to ponder cartridge conversions and finding barrels to rebore. I also wondered if anyone has swapped a .25 Rem barrel onto a .300 or .35 gun and rechambered in .250 Savage. Not even a wildcat with that one, and would have been the perfect replacement for the .25 Rem when they dropped it.
Re: Another potential caliber for the M81
Re the .250-3000, yes. See 81police's post of this evening. As I've said previously, something like a wildcat .35 Savage might be interesting in the 81 - sort of analogous to the old .358 Winchester which never gained the popularity it should have.
But if you already have one in .300 Savage, you can't improve on it much with any wildcat. By the way, the latest edition of the International Ammunition Association (IAA) Journal has a fairly detailed history of the 7.62mm NATO, including how the Army's project to develop a shorter and more efficient .30 caliber military cartridge began with the .300 Savage during the late WWII period and progressed in several stages to reach the current 7.62mm NATO (or .308 Winchester) design. The Army might well have adopted the .300 Savage, except it didn't like the short case neck for use in automatic weapons as they felt it did not provide adequate support for the bullet.
But if you already have one in .300 Savage, you can't improve on it much with any wildcat. By the way, the latest edition of the International Ammunition Association (IAA) Journal has a fairly detailed history of the 7.62mm NATO, including how the Army's project to develop a shorter and more efficient .30 caliber military cartridge began with the .300 Savage during the late WWII period and progressed in several stages to reach the current 7.62mm NATO (or .308 Winchester) design. The Army might well have adopted the .300 Savage, except it didn't like the short case neck for use in automatic weapons as they felt it did not provide adequate support for the bullet.