The .303 Savage is a rimmed, .30

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore ma ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

cartridge developed by the

Savage Arms Savage Arms is an American gunmaker based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with operations in Canada. Savage makes a variety of Rimfire ammunition, rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. The company is bes ...

Company in 1894 which was designed as a short (as short as the .30-30 Winchester) action cartridge for their Savage Model 1895 later 1899 hammerless

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

rifle. The cartridge was designed for

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...

at a time when black-powder cartridges were still popular. The .303 Savage round was ballistically superior to the .30-30, but only marginally. The .303 Savage remained popular through the 1930s.The .303 Savage by Chuck Hawks (subscription required)
/ref> Savage produced a half dozen loads for it. With its 190-grain loading, it was used on such animals as deer and moose. The .303 Savage and the .303 British cartridge are not interchangeable with each other. Neither the bullet diameter nor the cartridge dimensions are compatible.

History

Savage Arms created the .303 Savage as part of an unsuccessful attempt at creating a cartridge for the military. Although the cartridge was never popular with the military, it did become a popular round for civilian hunters. Initially designed round-nosed but becoming a pointed-tip rimmed cartridge in early 1900s, it worked well in the Model 99 rifles that Savage produced because of their rotary magazine. It wasn't as successful in other

rifles because only the round-nose loading were safe to use with their tubular magazines. However, the pointed-tip bullets gave it a ballistic advantage over other traditional lever-action cartridges such as the .30-30 Winchester.

Reloading

The .303 Savage has a small, but loyal fraternity of shooters who reload this cartridge. While major ammunition manufacturers have long since halted production of ammo, dedicated followers can procure loaded ammunition and brass cases through smaller enterprises. The brass cases can be formed from .30-30 Winchester, .32 Winchester Special, and .38-55 Winchester casings, if no correct brass is available. Great care must be taken as the Winchester brass is about .020” smaller at the base and case failure is possible. It is safer to obtain correct .303 Savage brass, which shows up occasionally in runs from Norma or Prvi Partizan. Loads respond well to traditional loads in the same range as the .30-30 or .30 Remington. However, the slightly larger case volume, and stronger rifle action allow for loads that improve significantly over standard loads for the .30-30. It is quite possible to put 190 grain flat points at 2200fps as well as 160 grain FTX bullets at 2400 fps, even from 20” featherweight barrels.

References

External links

Savage 99 Web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:303 Savage Pistol and rifle cartridges Rimmed cartridges Savage Arms