Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Can someone explain the .303 Savage to me???

Maybe I have been lucky, but every .30/30 I've owned was a MOA gun, usually with cast bullets, too. Had a 54 Winchester w/Unertl 12x that would plop my standard .30/30 hunting load (190gr. cast lead flat nose at 2000fps- sounds like a .303 load to me)into 5/8inch all day long. In my 99A that load groups into a solid inch (Stith/Weaver sighting). My old man's .303's (2 beautiful 1899A's and a minty B) could be counted on for 1 1/2-2" @100M, tang sights. Just couldn't make them shoot any better. My head was in a different place back then (18yrs. ago)- some would say up my **s- so I sold them off. **s-kicking line starts at the rear!

The 303 is steeped in Savage lore ..... you have to like it .

I prefer the 30-30 WCF purely on the availability of components / ammo ...... It's just not as romantic as the 303 .


Both the 303 Savage and 30-30 WCF were one of the first sporting cartridges to be offered with the " new " smokeless powder ... it was a advertisement battle from the drop of the hat .

Savage started offering the 30-30 chambering as an option in 1900 ......

Winchester never offered the 303 as an option ......


Opinion :

How did this help / not help Savage ? ( offering the 30-30 alternative )

Was this Savage's humble admittance to Winchester that the 30-30 was winning the popularity contest ? ... I mean , " imitation is the ultimate form of flattery " .... right ?


Or do you think this actually helped Savage gain popularity by offering the 30-30 option in the new 1899 / 99's .... you can like a cartridge but not the original platform it was unveiled in ( Win. 1894 / 94 ) ....right ?

I have alway thought that the .303 was named thus in competition with the 30-30. However, .30WCF was the designation for years, so I am most likely (again) wrong. Probably the 30-30 became popular because of the inexpensive and handy model 94's. Who knows the prices of each in their day? Seems Winchester went to 3 or 4 million when Savage was still under 1, so availability is part of it. Winchester couldn't use a pointed bullet loading, so couldn't offer the .303. I still want one.

Calhoun: many thanks for your article above, the big print makes it easy to read! I finally got the marble sight off my octogon 99 .303 after i soaked it in kroil. i took the sight off after i lined up the lyman tang sight. I replaced the marbles with a lyman folding sight. I got the bolt catch (safety spring) ordered from gpc and will order lee dies soon. Hopefully graft and sons will have .303 sav brass available soon. The article gets me all inspired to reload and shoot it. Kind of afraid to take the gun hunting, however but since it is a grey rat with not much original finish - i might! Thanks again, sir!

Yes, thanks for the .303 article, Calhoun. I was almost ready to bite on a .303 yesterday at the Mason MI Gun Show, but passed on it. It was a well-worn 1921 takedown with no blue left on the receiver and a small tang crack, but the bore was great and it hadn't been messed with. It was priced at $375 including a box and a half of ammo. I'm saving my cash for another project or I might have brought it home.

Rory, just wondering, where did you get that article, tis a good one. Les

From the 1923 edition of Townsend Whelen's "The American Rifle". Google Books is wonderful for books over 75 years old..

http://books.google.com/books?id=7vBCAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+American+Rifle%22