The oldtimers knew it and today I reminded myself that there just seems to be something magical about the way the old .303 Savage with the old 190 gr bullet hammers game. Today I carried my 1929 vintage 99G, loaded with original yellow box Winchester "Super Speed" 190 gr Silvertips that are probably older than I am. I've shot a few deer with it over the years but it has mostly lived in the safe for the last decade or so. With the season winding down, I felt the urge to take it to the woods today and shot a smallish doe with it this afternoon at about 100 yards. She took off like a scalded assed ape and I soon her her crash. When I got to the point of impact, it looked like a crime scene there was so much blood. A blind man could have followed it. No great revelation that it "worked", but it reminded me that that heavy round nosed Silvertip just seems to knock the hell out of deer. Whether it is truly superior to the .30/30 or not, I can't say because I have never shot a deer with the .30/30. I have helped trail other hunter's deer shot with .30/30s and don't recall as obvious a blood trail. Dead is dead but for a color blind hunter like me, a clear and obvious trail of shiny red leakage is much appreciated....

Nice story and congrats. I hope to have my paws on a 303 soon myself!

Matt

Heard the old timers say many, many times that the 303 with the 190s penetrated and killed better than the 30-30 with 170's.

Those men are all gone now.

True or not, just repeating what the men that used the guns said.

Cool insights. Glad you had so much fun hunting, that's worth gold right there.

good story and congrats. nice to here the 303 is still in action.

Swag, anybody that likes the 99 has to have a 303.
good luck finding your rifle.

plab

303s are just cool! took a large doe with my 1901 B a few years ago, mass. blood trail, only went 30yrds. 190 grain silvertip also!

Congrats on the successful hunt! I just found a .303 myself, A little late for this years deer season but it'll be ready for next year.

I've been keeping an eye out for 190 grain ST bullets to load up but for right now I've loaded 150 and 170 grain RN bullets to see how that goes.

I've always had it in mind that if I ever draw an Arkansas elk permit that a model 99 in .303 would be the rifle of choice.

Congrats! Took a small buck with a 303 and 150gr Hornady flat nose a few years ago, dropped in it's tracks.

Mine gets 'em two at a time!

dam I wish I wish I lived down south..
nice Greg

plab

Hey:

You can't just post a picture like that without a story. Just bad form...

Nice deer, but tell me about the rifle and the load. Looks like could be an H?

Working with the 303 is on my list this year too. It's an EG. I don't have any of the 190 Gr Silver tips, but I do have a number of the 150 gr Silvertips meant for 30-30 that I plan to hand-load.

Jimmy:

Have you shot that gun or killed any deer with it yet.

Fill us in...

Jim

I bought up some of the 150 grain Silvertips the last few years at gun shows and they have been very accurate for me in a .30-30 and also not too bad in my .303 either.

It's a mixmaster. My father bought it, restocked it, jeweled the bolt, and gave it to me.The barrel is later than the receiver. The buttplate is either a Marlin or Winchester. The load was factory Hornady 150s.


It isn;t a collector by any stretch, but special to me.

It's a handsome gun and deadly too by the looks of things.

A very good friend of mine who is about 65 right now (when I told him about my Savage 99 "Problem") said his Dad and Uncles Used to pull the 190 grainers outta 303 ammo and reload their thurty thurty's with em. Worked better for bigger game he was told.

Do these folks hale from Minneesota per chance??

Just getting around to it. A busy year with wife's health problems in the spring, trying to get the youngest his hunters safety this past summer and actually getting him his first buck in the fall. It all worked out, but no time for the 303. We try again in 2015.

Brad:

What load do you like in the 303 with the 150 silver tip? PM me if you want to share privately.

Nope my buddy was a sheep herder from grays lake idaho. They then moved to Twin Falls idaho. Think they had elk & moose to harvest. Another funny thing he said was every basque employee they ever had on the ranch would buy a 300 Sav takedown 99 and ship it back home "to shoot spainards".

been busy thru the holidays but wanted to post this pic of a nice 8pt that I took with my 99EG in 303 on Nov 30 this year at around 5:05 p.m. I was in an old box stand that looks at a large clump of cedars and a mesquite thicket on the south end of my ranch. This old reliable 303svg is a non-checkered EG with serial #348xxx, mfg'd in 1934 fixed with an old 1960's Savage, (Korean made), 3x8x32 scioe. I have used it to take several feral hogs with 190 grs. but it had 150 gr factory Hornady's in it this day. I really didn't expect to see much but this nice buck came in down-wind at about 110 yards checking for does. I had actually been napping but something told me to open my eyes. One shot and down. The buck didn't even quiver when it hit the ground. This 303 is the most accurate '99 I own. It will do a 1/2" grouping at 100 yds with 3 shots everytime. Love it

http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/Mac1949/media/2014-11-29174656_zps1f7fb771.jpg.html

That's a dandy. Congrats.
Bruce

Wow!

Very nice, indeed! Sorta looks a little grey in some of the pics. Was he an older fella?

He's somewhere around 4-5 years old based on his teeth.

Nice buck!

Here's one I shot several years ago with my 1929 H in 303. I have about a dozen boxes of WW 190 Silvertips hoarded and this gun is amazingly accurate with them. Shot him in the brisket facing me and he dropped in his tracks, that is the exit hole in red.

Another nice buck!

Does anyone still produce a 190 grain round nose bullet suitable for loading in the 303 Savage case?

Being the load the cartridge seems to be designed around, it would be a shame to not be able to try and duplicate it.

Nice bucks guys! I've wondered about a suitable 190 grain bullet myself.

I picked up a couple boxes of old style Sierra 180gr RN bullets that I plan on loading for the 303. The bullets were originally designed for 308/30-06 velocities, so I'm going to write Sierra and see what their gurus think of shooting that bullet at 303 velocities and if I'll still get the expansion for humane kills. It has the cannelure in the wrong place so I can't crimp it, but that won't matter for the 99's. It will give me a good compromise between the original 190gr and the 170gr 30-30 bullet.
yooper

picked up a couple of boxes of 180 when I heard they were going to quit making them.
nice bucks by the way
norm

Savage's 1900 catalog actually lists 180gr and 185gr bullets and not 190's. So don't get too hung up on 190's.

http://stevespages.com/pdf/savage1899.pdf

And Hawk makes 190gr FP bullets, I presume the FP is Flat Point. You might contact them and see if they are good at 30-30 velocities.

http://www.hawkbullets.com/Pricelist.htm

Thanks. I was thinking someone had some. I sent an email asking about expansion at 30-30.303 Sav velocities, and if they had a cannelure in the correct place for crimping.

I wonder if those 280 Ross (.286") bullets would work well in my well worn Spanish Mauser. I'm getting patterns instead of groups from .284 bullets of different weights and makes.

I picked up some Winchester 190 gr silver tips fom 6mm250 here on the forum about 4 or 5 months ago...shot a couple of hogs with them.