WHO KNOWS? ANY OLD TIMERS OUT THERE?

Hello, I can find litle information about these two calibers. Comparing .303 SAVAGE vs .300 SAVAGE. They seem similar as far as I can tell. Can you help me? I have found ammunition through OLD SCROUNGERS. They manufacture ammunition for the .303 Savage. Which one kicks the most? Which is the better deer round? Whcih has better ballistics? How close to each other are they? Do they produce a variety of ammunition for the .300 Savage? Is ammunition still available today for the .300 Savage? I am told that Savage no longer makes the .300 Savage rifle. That seems like a great loss. I am really guessing, but I think I need more information. Where can I get it? Can you help?
Thanks,

The easiest way to relate these two Savage rounds to more common round's preformance is to thinks of the .303 Sav. as essentially equal to the 30/30 Win. and the .300 Sav. as an almost equal to the .308 Win.. The .303 becoming obsolete was no big loss, but the .300 in the right rifle deserves better popularity. Once extra short action rifles were made specifically to suit the little Savage rounds and those of simalar COL, and these made exceptionally portable rifles for rugged country.

Fireplug

Remington makes loaded ammo and empty brass for .300 Savage.
There are still tens of thousands of M99 Savage rifles around. According to my local gunstore, sales of .300 Savage ammo tends to go up sharply around deer season indicating that there are still plenty of folks hunting with .300 Savage.
Don't know anything about the .303 Savage.

Maybe Atkinson will see this and add some more info. He's been known to shoot Savage rifles once in a while

ZM

[ 07-28-2002, 23:50: Message edited by: Zeke ]

the 303 Savage was Savage's answer to the 30-30 Winchester. It's biggest advantage was the heavier bullet available in factory loads (190 or 195 gr, if I remember correctly). Well, that and the fact that it was in the 99 action. - Dan

The .303 Savage and the .300 Savage only have one thing in common: They both fire .308" dia. bullets....otherwise, they are entirely different!! For example, one is a rimless case with minimum taper, a short neck, and sharp shoulder-very modern in design. The other is a tapered, archaic case design with a long neck, limited powder capacity, and a rim!!

If you have a choice between the two calibers,go with the 300 savage,you can still buy ammo and brass for it at a reasonable price. The .303savage is exspensive to shoot,since the brass is around $1 a piece and the last time they produced brass for it was in 1997 and winchester has no plans of doing it again soon. When chambered in a M99 the .303savage has an advantage over the common lever action 30/30,in that you can shoot pointed spitzer bullets in the rotary magazine,even though it arguably defeats the purpose of such a round.

I ahve been hunting with a .300 Savage for about 5 years now. Before trying it (in a model 99) I had forgotten how much fun hunting is. I had grown bored with "flat shooting rifles and long range" deer hunting. My .270 is wonderfully accurate and fun to shoot, but the old savage is fun to HUNT with. The .300 came to me 5 years ago and has since taken 4 deer,and 2 hogs. I use a handloaded 180 gr. Rem corloct at 2500fps and it ghas been very effective(deer drop within feet , and one hog that wheighed 200lbs dressed shot through the right sholder had the bullet lodged in the left hip). 1 shot each.

If you can get a .300 Savage then by all means try it and enjoy!

300 sav just less than a 308
303 sav just more than a 30-30

that's it.. but DO NOT shoot 300 sav in 308, or 3030 in 303 sav

...i thought the save shot a .311 bullet, but my mind is slipping on that
jeffe

have not shot either, but am pretty sure the 303 sav took an oversize(0.311-0.312")bullet--cb

The 300 savage is the round that the 308 design was based on, its typically about 100 fs slower than a 308 with considserably lower pressure. For a 1920s design it was a fine round in its own right.

I believe you are thinking of the 303 British, which usually has a .311-.312 diameter. i think the 303 Savage was .308, as almost all US 30's are. - Dan

It is my understanding that the .303 Savage in it's original incarnation DID use .311 bullets, and was thus a legitimate ".303", BUT, Savage began to use .308 bullets pretty early in the manufacture of their .303. I don't know the reason for this change, nor do I believe there was any change in the barrel specs foir the .303 Savage. I have used .308" bullets with very accurate results in both .303 British rifles, and in 7.65X53mm Argentine M1909's. The .308", 190-grain .303 Savage load has a good reputation, but are the old Savage barrels .311's?? Dunno!!

Now I'm curious. I'll just have to buy some more old 99's and find out. Ah, the sacrifices we make for science. - Dan

I had a 303 Savage which I have since given to one of my sons. I slugged the barrel out at .311. Using bullets in that diameter made for a substantial improvement in accuracy. The rifle has very little recoil, develops very modest velocities, and should be considered as a good short range deer rifle. I believe I used 180 gr. Speer round noses.

An article I read years ago indicated that the original .303 Savage actually shot .311 bullets out of a .307 barrel. This was apparently accomplished with the use of a bit of free boring (to .311) ahead of the chamber.

The cartridge was originally designed to be a .30 calibre that would out shoot the 30-30, however, when it got into testing it fell a little short. Savage came up with this design as a solution to the velocity problem, and cranked the velocities up into the 30-30 range.

Unfortunately, some problems developed as a result of the increased pressures, and Savage redesigned the cartridge (or retro-designed it) to be a .30 calibre.

I carry an old 99 made in 1926 in .303 Sav. behind the seat in my pickup and it is basically a 30-30. I read a story one time that Savage called it a 30-30 originally, but Winchester threatened a lawsuit, so Savage dropped a 0. I was fortunate enough to find 10 boxes of old stock Winchester SilverTip ammo for it a couple of years ago. It is a good pickup(or saddle) gun. I also own a .300 and if either has any recoil, I have never paid any attention to it. I reload for both, and if was choosing between them, would opt for the .300.

[ 08-11-2002, 14:48: Message edited by: Bubba John ]

i have a old remington 760 in .300 savage
very accurate,
also have a M99F savage .308
caint tell much differance in performance,if any,
like them both,,
just have allways thought the calibers where backwards,,,
buckweet

I'm the proud owner of 3 Savage 99's one in 300, one in 303, and the other in 38-55 win. To answer your question, the 303 does in fact shoot .311" bullets.

It's time for a HISTORY LESSON before someone wrecks a good rifle.
When the 1895 Savage came out in 303 savage it had a 308 dia bore
it shot a .311 bullet. The pressures proved to be to high so they went
to the proper bullet .308 diameter. The .308 bore holds true for all 1895
savage (1895-1898) 1899 savage (1899-1917) 99 savage 1918 +.
Do Not Use .311 Bullets.

Rich.