Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 190gr bullets

Since this thread has resurfaced I'm curious about what you mean by saying "the 190s did not work for me." Was it accuracy, performance as a hunting bullet or feeding problems? Thanks.

Although not quite 190gr as per the original design, I have had very good success with the Hornady 180gr Interlock Round Nose in my .303 Savages. Even they were a bit tough to get but once I started loading with them I was very impressed.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../re-the-tale-of-two-savages#Post13763845

Hornady 180gr Interlock Round Nose

Some Barnes 190 grain testing today with 20" 1899H 303 Savage with Leverevolution:

Shot a couple trial 303 Savage loads today with Leverevolution (LVR) and the Barnes 190FP bullet. I put them over the chrono.

There is no load data for LVR with the 190grs. Hodgdon online lists a 30-30 Win LVR starting and max load for a 170gr Sierra FP as 33.0 and 36.3C (2145 and 2332 fps) in a 24" barrel.

Based on the 170 grain 30-30 data, I loaded up a few 303 Savage with 30.0 and 31.0 grains LVR with the Barnes 190FP in new PPU brass.

I fired two of each from my 1920 1899H 303 Savage at 50 yds. 30.0 grains averaged 1772 fps, 31.0 grains averaged 1823 fps. About a 1.5" group, Lyman 57SA sight. Easy extraction, no signs of any pressure on casing. For comparison, back in 2015, I chrono'd six of the factory Super-X 190 grain silvertips in the same 1899H rifle; they averaged 1791fps.

And the moral of the story is......??

Just curious. I don't reload and run Super-X.

You have to just search the ammo dealers at the gun shows and watch the online auctions, but every now and again you can find these, albeit a little on the pricey side but this is what I shoot out of my .303 Savages.

Just last week I ran 5 rounds over the chrono from my 1899 H (made 1913). 20" barrel. Carbine in very good mechanical condition with no head space issues. I used the data published by Hand loader magazine, authored by Terry Wieland. I won't state the powder charge load data (you can look that up online easily). The bullet was 190 Hawk and the brass was once fired Winchester Western. The powder was Hornady's Lever evolution. The carbine averaged 2100 fps in the 5 shot string. Absolutely no issues whatsoever. I did not target the shots so I cannot speak to it's accuracy performance. I will do that when the snow goes away. I am posting this as the Wieland authored data used the Barnes 190. I would imagine the velocity of the Hawk would pretty much be the velocity of the Barnes. Wieland used a 26" rifle in the tests and got even higher velocity. Lever evolution puts the .303 Savage into a higher performance class than the .30-30 by far. The Hand Loader article gives some very good updated data for the 190 grain in the .303 Savage.

Darryl

Shot this bear two nights ago. Well over 300 pounds. 65 yards with my 1899H in .303. The 190 Hawk worked well.

Darryl

That's awsome picture!
Congratulations!

That rifle sure looks like an EG, but nevertheless:


THAT IS AN AWESOME BEAR!!!!

It is an 1899H. The front sight is not original as the old one was damaged. For some reason the photo makes the barrel look longer than it's 20". better pic of carbine in this one.

Darryl

I'll take your word on it.

Nice bear.

Never been bear hunting, but that looks like a great black bear. Congrats!

Congrats! Darn nice bear!!

1899H, with ramped front sight and no takedown? New one on me!

I posted this little guy in the 2019-20 kill page. Took him with my 26 F in 303. I wimped out and just bought 10 boxes of 190 Silvertips from Roy. This one is for you Oldotter!

Very nice bear!!!!

Yeah, that straight stock sure does disqualify it as an EG, but it sure does looks like one in the crook of his arm in that first picture.

But, it's about the bear, not the gun...

Barnes has now published 30-30 load data for their 190 grain Barnes Original; Listed on page two. Many of us use 30-30 as a reference when working with the 303 Savage.

https://www.barnesbullets.com/assets/data/308/30-30-Winchester-Web-Data-5-12-2020.pdf

Outa stock everywhere. Who’d have guessed it??!!?

What's the rate of twist in the old .303 and .30-30 barrels? I'm assuming it's the standard 1-in-12 twist of my 50's versions in .300 Savage(?)

Some say the 1-in-12 twist is not enough to properly stabilize any bullet over 150 grains. To stabilize heavier bullets you need a tighter twist. For instance, a Remington 760 chambered in .300 Savage has a 1-in-10 twist (or slight tighter in some guns it seems, 1-in-9 more like.) This could be predicted to shoot heavier bullets more consistently.

A 2014 issue of Handloader ran some tests and found the ultimate round for the Savage 99 in .300 Savage was a 150 grain roundnose bullet intended for .30-30 tube magazine lever guns over 42 grains of Varget. They got 0 spread from this one.

Seems the heavier bullets intruding into the case with the .300 do strange things to the pressure curve. Dunno if any of this translates to the .303 or .30-30 - perhaps not in given the longer neck on these cases. I am sure the rate of twist applies. On the other hand, if you are hunting larger game with it you don't need MOA and i'd much rather have a heavier bullet going after elk for instance. I feel somewhat undergunned with a 150 grain bullet when elk are a possibility.

You are failing to understand how bullets are stabilized. It's not the weight that's important. It's all about length. So would a 190gr spire point stabilize well in a 303 Savage? Probably not. But a flat nose/round nose works just fine, and has for 125 years.

And... 1-10" twist.