.303 Savage

[Hinnerk]

Well, it looks like I have another oddball cartridge that I will need to reload. I just picked up a model 1899 Savage rifle in .303 Savage.

Any sage advice? Is PPU brass good?

[Hinnerk]

No one out there load this cartridge? No one at all?

I now have brass and projectiles ready to go and picked up some nice dies. The question I have now is on the COAL. Lyman 44th ed. says max. case length is 2.015" and max. overall length with bullet is 2.520". That seems awfully short, leaving only a tad more than 1/2" outside the case. Pictures of old ammo makes it seem that the COAL used to be longer, especially considering that original ammo used 190 gr bullets from what I understand. A Sierra 150 grain round nose would be just about right seated to the cannelure but the 180 grain RN would need to seat deeper.

If you have experience with this, please speak up.

[God Bless America]

Old Ideal and Lyman info

[robert101]

The books will tell you what is recommended. Your chamber will tell you what will fit. Consider both the bullet (shape and contour) in the case and the length of the cartridge in your reloading. I use both to determine my OAL in each caliber. The 300 Savage is a good cartridge. It was meant to be a good deer hunting round. I don't think game has gotten any tougher in 50 years but some think they need a 300 WM to hunt deer and similar size game. Go figure.

[Jbfishon]

Ive got a 303 Savage , let me know what you come up with for a load you like. Thanks John

[justMike]

My Lee 'Modern Reloading Second Edition' covers the .303 Savage. Pages 416 & 417. It covers many modern powders. Looks like brass is pretty specific though.

[Hinnerk]

Thanks for all the comments and data.

I made up five dummy rounds with Sierra #2135 150 grain RN bullets seated to the cannelure (which is correct to COAL recommendation) to try out the loading and cycling of the magazine in my Model 1899 rifle. It takes some effort to get the rounds in without peril to the thumbnail but the rounds fed from the magazine and cycled perfectly (I guess that is good). The 5th round wants to feed right away when the lever is closed unless it is held down while riding the bolt over it. The round count indicator shows 5 before the lever is closed but an "asterisk" or dot when the lever is closed so that no rounds feed into the chamber. If the 5th round is fed, the counter shows 4 when the lever is closed.

I'll need to experiment with the 180 grain bullets to see how much excess COAL it can tolerate and still feed and cycle smoothly.

[bruce381]

is that kind of a 30/30 savage version? cool tho

[Hinnerk]

is that kind of a 30/30 savage version? cool tho

Pretty similar cartridge. Rifle design, however, is with a rotary magazine instead of tubular.

[RNE228]

Ken Waters Pet Loads is my reference for older stuff. And a great reloaders reference in general.

He showed 303 Savage as 2.520 COAL. He reference Ideal #22 Handbook.

[RNE228]

303 Savage was originally designed as a military round. The Savage 1895 was the civilian version of the rifle made for the military. It was later chambered in the Savage 99's.

is that kind of a 30/30 savage version? cool tho

[RNE228]

Interesting, in Pet Loads Waters indicates some early rifles were 0.311 like the British 303, but later ones were 0.308dia.

[Deedle]

The books will tell you what is recommended. Your chamber will tell you what will fit. Consider both the bullet (shape and contour) in the case and the length of the cartridge in your reloading. I use both to determine my OAL in each caliber. The 300 Savage is a good cartridge. It was meant to be a good deer hunting round. I don't think game has gotten any tougher in 50 years but some think they need a 300 WM to hunt deer and similar size game. Go figure.

300 and 303 are completely different. My first rifle is a 303 Savage 99 takedown, neat old gun.

[God Bless America]

My Lee 'Modern Reloading Second Edition' covers the .303 Savage. Pages 416 & 417. It covers many modern powders. Looks like brass is pretty specific though.

The Lee loads are 30-30 less 10% in my book.

[RNE228]

Yes they are totally different. The 303 was first in 1895, the 300 in 1920.

The 300Sav was originally designed to give 30-06 performance in a shorter case that would work in the Savage 99 lever action.

Later, the 300Sav was the base that the 7.62x51/308Win was made from. The 308 is kind of a a 300Sav Improved. Most of the improvement was in the neck and shoulder so it would reliably feed in machine guns.

300 and 303 are completely different. My first rifle is a 303 Savage 99 takedown, neat old gun.