Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Official Campfire Savage Powder Can Thread

Okay folks.. time to get serious about powder cans.

I'll post up my single sample, let's see if we can't get good pictures of all the variations.

If it's okay for me to post your pictures up on my website as a permanent reference, please say so.

1903 can, Number 1 powder, Smokeless

Thanks Rory

I had no idea that Savage sold powder.

Interesting that they recommend 4 more grains of powder for the 303 than the 30-30....

That #1 must have been pretty fast burning... 27gr for a 303 load. That's about the same ballpark as modern load data for 4198/2015, etc.

Could be a little product promotion going on there.

303 Savage is being fired from a stronger action than Winchester/Marlin actions. Might be pushing higher pressures in the 303.
They have to publish loads suitable for any rifle on the market, not just Savage 1899's.

There is an old tale that the 303 hits harder than the 30-30. Perhaps because they were loaded hotter at the factory level with longer heavier bullets. The old timers may have noticed that and been “correct” in that assumption?

Weren't no 30-30's that shot lengthwise through grizzlies!

I don't understand the surprise with the higher loads for the .303. All of my older reloading manuals that include the .303 have the starting charge 3-4 grains higher than the .30-30 for the same bullet weight.

I always viewed the .303 as a .30-30 on steroids! Just what Arthur intended, I'd say.

More cans on the way. You will see that the 1901 loading was the same for both 303S & 30-30. Was there a pressure reason of just a sales reason? Maybe a little of both.

I'm thinking that Savage bought powder from several different suppliers over the years. That required changes in the loading info. The 1899 powder looks pretty fast. probably why it was only around for 2 years.

Agreed!

I never hand loaded 303 or 30-30, so it's a revelation for me. Have always heard load the 303 the same way you would load a 30-30. As a young lad growing up in the Adirondacks and an up and comer in the 70's, and hanging on every word the old guys said while they were sippin' Canadian whiskey and putting wood in the camp cook stove, I heard the old timers say many times that the 303 hit harder than the 30-30. So, this is all starting to make sense to me.

Still learning.

Is that pre WW2 data?

In the couple old Lymans I have (43/44) the loads for 30 Rem, 303S and 30-30 are all really close to each other, within a grain or so depending on the bullet. Some of those loads are also HOT when compared to modern data for the same powders.

There's some 110gr 303S data listed where I couldn't even get that much powder into the case. I have no old brass to do a volume comparison, but I'm guessing the newer PPU stuff must be considerably thicker than old casings were.

Savage is better than Winchester in all ways.

I think there has been changes in some of the powders over the years and better ways of reading pressures.

Here are the Savage Repeating Arms powder cans, which to me would mean they are all 1895 powder cans.

Repeating Arms #1 powder (can style 1) Loading info is painted on the side of can, .303S, 30 grns powder
The first two pictures are front and back of same can of #1 powder:
SAVAGE .303.30 EXPANDING
and the other side says:
SAVAGE .303.30 SMOKELESS

Third can is Repeating Arms #2 powder (can style 2, smaller can) Loading info is painted on, .303S, 100 grn bullet, 5 grns powder








And here's the 1897 catalog pictures of the powder cans. The cartridge on the can in the picture on the left says SAVAGE .303.30 SMOKELESS. The "30" is the powder grains.
Can on the right is the powder can for loading the miniature round and shows a 5 grn loading. Both cans still match the above cans.

has always been my thought, my .303 loads were heavier than the 30-30

1899 No. 1 powder (style 3 can and still has the original 30 grain loading painted on the side of the can)
Did they sell the original #1 powder (30 grn loading after Repeating was dropped from the name and before 1899...?







Picture from the 1899 catalog. These are #1 powder (note different loading info that actually used) and #2 powder in Style 3 and Style 2 cans (without the "Repeating" in the label). I have not seen a Style 2 can that does not have the "Repeating".

Mentions “charge cups” for measuring. Sounds similar to current LEE offerings. Wonder if the “cups” were marked Savage or made by some other company? Anyone ever seen one or a set? Did they come with a can of powder or separate purchase.

Back of the can directions and data certainly thin by todays standards.

That's a good question. I have not seen or heard of a Savage marked measure. Most of the adjustable generic measures were for black powder or shot. I've seen no advertising for a Savage specific power cup. Given that the 1899 powder was only listed for 2 years there wouldn't have been a lot of 22 grn dippers distributed if they did.

If you had been raised loading with black powder changing over to small precise amounts of smokeless would be quite a change. Might be why some receivers cracked.

At some point during the Savage ammo production years the boxes dropped the statements about reloading cases. I'll have to look that up. (edit: appears to have been dropped around 1907).