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  #1  
Old 11-22-2020, 04:22 PM
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Default Success with the .303 Savage

Yesterday was opening day of deer season (gun) in my neck of the woods. As I was hunting a small piece of hardwoods I decided to carry my Savage Model 99T in .303 Savage, instead of my usual Remington 700 Mountain in .280 Remington. I started a thread a few years back when I purchased the 99 so I won’t go into much detail on the rifle except to say it is quick to the shoulder and has factory “high speed” sights.

The buck was broadside at about 50 yards when I pulled the trigger. He reacted like he was hit with a MUCH bigger round, ran 50 yards and dropped dead. The 190 grain Winchester Silvertip went through both lungs and lodged deep in opposite shoulder.

So last night I did some reading on the .303 in Cartridges of the world, Savage brochures, and various sites online. I gather that it was highly regarded back in the day. Apparently Canadian hunters used it on bear and moose with great success due to the penetrating power of the 190 grain bullet. What say you, forum friends from the cold North? Any truth or family lore about that claim?

I have new respect for this cartridge and am thrilled that I was able to fill my freezer with the help of a 1930s Model 99 and a cartridge developed at the turn of the last century.

Please post your opinions and experience with the .303 Savage.

Last edited by bigmoose; 11-28-2020 at 03:03 PM.
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Old 11-22-2020, 04:48 PM
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The .303 was Savage answer to the .30-30 Winchester. The heavier bullet likely did make it more effective on heavier game. Have never owned a 99 but would love to find one w/ the cartridge counter feature chambered in some decent hunting round. Till then, I'll just have to get along w/ my Waffle Top Marlin 336 in .30-30 Win. Sincerely. bruce.
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Old 11-22-2020, 05:06 PM
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When I was in elementary school, our next door neighbor hunted deer and elk here in Colorado with a 99 in 303 Savage. He had a glass front gun cabinet I would always check out when I was at their house.

I was beginning to read a lot about hunting, rifles and cartridges and remember being unimpressed with the 303, having discovered Jack O’Conner and his love for the 270. No one in my family hunted or owned guns at the time ( circa 1955) so my point of reference was the sporting magazines. Contrary to my expectations, the neighbor continued to have success with that inferior rifle.

Fast forward to today, I know a LGS that has two used 99s in 303 Savage. I visit them every time I drop by that LGS.
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Old 11-23-2020, 01:33 PM
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Default I INHERITED a 99 SAVAGE in .303

My grandfather killed all of his deer with 99 SAVAGE in 303. My father killed his first Whitetail when he was 9yo with it. My dad inherited it and now I have it . Fabulous gun with massive knockdown power. A real collectors item. Have not bought ammo for it for years. What does it cost now? Is it hard to find?
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Old 11-23-2020, 01:46 PM
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That is one great rifle and a very nice load for deer hunting, that will fill the bill, nicely.

I remember a hunting camp where the hunters used 30 Rem. auto's as their go to brush weapon.

Lots of great "Old rounds" out there that worked for Grand Pa, that we don't even know about, let alone the old rifles that shot them.

I remember seeing the rifles but have no clue of what the names and calibers were, today. Bummer.
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Old 11-23-2020, 03:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Claymore33 View Post
Have not bought ammo for it for years. What does it cost now? Is it hard to find?
I’ve been able to pick up a box now and then at small gun shows. Some gun shops may have them on the ‘random used gun stuff’ shelf also. Expect to pay $25 to $40 for a tattered box of 20. I live in upstate NY, home to Savage and Remington, so these types of rounds were popular around here.
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Old 11-23-2020, 09:04 PM
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I bought a model 1899 takedown in 303 Savage and considered it a wall hanger. I did put a Marble's tang sight on it. Then I found Midway and Grafs carried Prvi Partisan brass at $25/50.

The Hornady 160gr bullets for 30-30 and LeverEvolution powder give it a whole new life as a medium range deer gun.

I also load 62gr .223 soft points with a sabot over IMR 3031. I'm getting around 3700FPS with good accuracy on varmints (Feral dogs).
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Old 11-23-2020, 10:01 PM
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Tex1001,
Holy crow, I bet that saboted round is quite a hoot. The tang sights work out very well on the Savages. Thanks for posting.
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Old 11-24-2020, 08:49 PM
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I am 2 for 2 in shooting deer with the 303 Savage. Mine works great.
I am envious of your T. I do not have that variation of 99 Savage. A T in 303 Savage is fairly rare. Congratulations. Old Arthur Savage was definitely ahead of his time.
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Old 11-24-2020, 09:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brucev View Post
The .303 was Savage answer to the .30-30 Winchester. The heavier bullet likely did make it more effective on heavier game. Have never owned a 99 but would love to find one w/ the cartridge counter feature chambered in some decent hunting round. Till then, I'll just have to get along w/ my Waffle Top Marlin 336 in .30-30 Win. Sincerely. bruce.
And the .32 Winchester Special was Winchester's answer to the .303 Savage. Both, plus the .30-30 WCF are damn good deer cartridges.
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Old 11-24-2020, 09:56 PM
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The T in .303 is not just fairly rare! By the time the T came out, the .303 was pretty much done. I have a T in .250, and another in 30/30, and while the T in .22HP is extremely rare, the .303 is well beyond uncommon.
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Old 12-08-2020, 02:07 PM
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Speaking of Sabots...........

I just happen to have a picture of some old ammo that I have.

Remember this sabot?

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Old 12-08-2020, 04:18 PM
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Nothing like hunting with a vintage rifle. Beautiful buck and rifle.
Tom
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Old 12-08-2020, 06:41 PM
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The 308 round was copied from the 300 savage?
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Old 12-08-2020, 07:41 PM
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Brings back memories. I hunted with some locals in northern Saskatchewan in the mid-70s who were the proverbial one-gun men. They used the .303 Savage to good effect on everything including moose except "fool hens" and rabbits, which they head shot.

Regarding ammo: the smaller of the two hardware stores in my home town got out of the gun business during the late 60s. Ten years later the only vestige of that line was 3 boxes of Peters .303 Savage ammo next to the cash register.

Late one Saturday afternoon I was in the Watch Commander's office when an elderly lady toddled in and said she had brought us some "explosives" for disposal. There was a coffee can on the floorboard of her car, tightly wrapped with pink fiberglass insulation secured with electrical tape. The WC and I slowly cut away the tape and lifted the lid to reveal more pink fiberglass insulation, wrapped around 2 boxes of Savage brand .303 Savage ammo. I'll bet she prayed all the way to the station.
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Old 11-22-2021, 01:05 AM
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Quote:
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The 308 round was copied from the 300 savage?
As far as I know, no. The .308 Win was developed to be a shortened 30-06 for use in automatic weapons. (and successfully done)
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Old 11-22-2021, 05:02 AM
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It was touted as more effective than the 30-30. I’d say the 20 extra grains on the bullet weight would have given it a slight edge, but probably hard to really see much difference in actual use.
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Old 11-22-2021, 05:11 AM
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Quote:
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It was touted as more effective than the 30-30. I’d say the 20 extra grains on the bullet weight would have given it a slight edge, but probably hard to really see much difference in actual use.
When you load the 30-30 with a 170gr bullet you generate equal or better velocity as with the same bullet in the 303 Savage.
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Old 11-22-2021, 05:31 AM
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Double Tap, sorry...
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Old 11-22-2021, 08:18 AM
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Gunbroker has 303 Savage ammo available from the ridiculous to the sublime.(5 X 20 round boxes = 100 rounds for $3.00 each)...

That would probably last one into the next century!

Great post & pics!

Cheers!
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Claymore33 View Post
Have not bought ammo for it for years. What does it cost now? Is it hard to find?
I walked into a local shop the other day looking for 300 savage ammo for my model 99 takedown. The guy had 303 on the shelf… did not ask the price.
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Old 11-22-2021, 10:09 AM
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I love my Savage 99's.
Success with the .303 Savage-savage-99-c-jpg

These two are in .303 Savage. A 1914 model 1899H and a 1904 1899B.
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Old 11-22-2021, 12:19 PM
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I would like to see the recovered bullet. Owning a few 303's I have always admired the round, but acquiring them later in life, my eyes wont allow me to hunt with them. I collect recovered bullets and have nearly 200 taken from game over my years of hunting and guiding. Have never seen a 190 Silvertip recovered. And not defaming in any way the grand old cartridge, stopping a bullet this heavy in the shoulders of a whitetail makes me question the awesome penetration stories. But then again the Silvertip bullets pictured are just cup and core, far from the original Winchester designed bullet of the 1930's and 1940's.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:00 PM
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Default Here ya go

Coincidentally the bullet in question was sitting in the cylinder of my S&W desk set. I threw it on the scale….128.1 grains, so it retained 67% of its original weight (190 grains)
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ArchAngelCD View Post
When you load the 30-30 with a 170gr bullet you generate equal or better velocity as with the same bullet in the 303 Savage.
I'd guess they're so close with the same bullet weight that it could vary from gun to gun, it's just that 190 grain bullet that gave the 303 the reputation as "bigger" game gun.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:20 PM
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Great looking bullet Moose. So many people never even look for their spent bullets. To me these are often the greatest trophy.
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Old 11-23-2021, 06:31 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brucev View Post
The .303 was Savage answer to the .30-30 Winchester. The heavier bullet likely did make it more effective on heavier game. Have never owned a 99 but would love to find one w/ the cartridge counter feature chambered in some decent hunting round. Till then, I'll just have to get along w/ my Waffle Top Marlin 336 in .30-30 Win. Sincerely. bruce.
This is absolutely not true! Another myth that has been floating around for many years that just will not go away!!!

For anyone who wants to load for this cartridge, correct brass is a available from Prvi Partisan, as is loaded ammunition. Barnes makes a correct 190 grain FP-SP bullet for the .303 Savage.
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Old 11-23-2021, 10:39 AM
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I just swapped a Savage 99 for my 1884 Springfield, made in 1923. The seller gave me six rounds as par of the swap. I'm learning more about it, and looking for ammo for it. In another thread forum members gave me some leads, and another member offered to sell me some rounds for a great price. I can't wait to shoot it.
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Old 11-23-2021, 12:33 PM
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I’ve never killed a deer with a 303Savage. But I had a 99 in 303 and just sold my 250/3000. I’ve had several in 300Savage. All more than enough for deer in the woods. I have killed deer with 170gr 30/30 & bunch with 200gt 35Rem. The heavy bullets at low velocity put more of a thump on game than HV cartridges. I think critter soak up more impact that is not wasted on penetration. My deer body count is probably highest with 35Rem
with 30/06 second. The slow heavy bullet hits them hard.
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Old 11-23-2021, 03:22 PM
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I'm a big fan of the .300 Sav and .35 Rem also, (Remington Model 81 and Model 141). The .35 is definitely a "thumper" in my experience. My most recent purchase is a snazzy 99 (second year production for this caliber) in .250-3000.

Drm50, what are your impressions of the .250 on deer sized game?

FYI, this year's buck (2021) was bagged three days ago with my 'Ol Reliable...Remington 700 Mountain rifle in .280 Remington. A big bruiser with 9 points, high and wide. 180# dressed. Bullet was recovered but I haven't examined it yet, as I left it on the shelf where we butcher deer.

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Old 11-23-2021, 07:06 PM
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Many years ago, back in 60s I got a 99 carbine on a trade. I shot a deer about 75 yds with factory ammo. Only used gun one season before I traded it off. Just got another 250 a few years ago I never got to use it before I sold it. I’ve never had any problem killing deer with any cartridge. I had Army buddy from Utah and his dad & grandad used 99sav in 250 for all their hunting including Elk.
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Old 11-24-2021, 06:13 AM
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I had a Savage 99 in my early days and sadly let it get away. Great rifles and very accurate as I remember. I would really like to find another.
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Old 11-24-2021, 09:04 AM
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Yes the .300 Savage, introduced in 1920, was the parent round of the military T65 experimental cartridge that became the 7.62 Nato.
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Old 11-24-2021, 11:22 AM
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Sam Fadala wrote a book on the 30-30 Winchester. In that volume, he wrote about the advantages of the RCBS 180 fn cast bullet which brought the bullet weight [185 gr actual] equal for all practical purposes to the 303 Savage.
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Old 11-24-2021, 06:03 PM
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I have owned at least one Savage 99 in .303 S for many years. I have a fair amount of factory .303 S ammo and cases (old), but it is pretty simple to make your own brass if you can get a set of .303 S dies (my die set is Lee, maybe they are still made by them). Just FL .30-30 brass in the .303 S die. Note that the .303 S case's base is a little larger than the .30-30's base. What I do is to wrap two turns of masking tape, about 1/4" wide, around the formed .30-30 case base ahead of the rim to act as a centralizer in the .303 S chamber. The first shot fired fire-forms the .30-30 case into a .303 S case, and the tape can then be removed. Some are horrified at this base diameter mismatch, but I have never had one of those fired cases fail despite having fired thousands of such rounds, using both lead and jacketed bullets. As previously noted, the original .303 S factory loads used a 190 grain bullet (vs. the standard 170 grain bullet used in the .30-30) which has a greater sectional density and therefore provides more penetration in tissue. One nice thing about the Savage 99 lever actions is that spitzer bullets can be used without any risk of tubular magazine detonation from recoil, as the Savage does not use a tubular magazine.

As noted earlier, there can be no dispute that the .300 Savage (not the .303 Savage) is the true father of the .308/7.62 NATO round. The cases are near-twins, the major difference being that the case neck of the .308/7.62 NATO is somewhat longer than that of the .300 S. .300 S cases can be very simply formed from plentiful .308/7.62 brass. One pass through the .300 S FL die, followed by neck trimming to length is all that is needed. Owning three rifles chambered in .300 S, I have made hundreds of them. The .300 Savage cartridge originated just after WWI as a means of providing a cartridge having almost the ballistics of the .30-'06 that could be used in the shorter Savage 99 action. In the post-WWII era, the U. S. Army considered the .300 S to be a nearly ideal cartridge for use in a new generation of automatic rifles and MGs being developed then, but it felt that the neck should be longer to provide better bullet support for use in full auto weapons. And that is how the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge was born.

Many old rifles originally chambered for the .300 S have been re-chambered for the .308, but there is really no compelling reason to do that, at least if the rifle's owner is a reloader, as reforming and shortening the .308 case can produce all the ammunition any owner of a .300 S-chambered rifle will ever need. While .300 S ammo is still factory made, it can be a little difficult to find, and expensive, these days.

Last edited by DWalt; 11-24-2021 at 06:24 PM.
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