My friend has a Savage 99 that he inherited but has never fired. It is stamped simply ".303" on the side. Safe in assuming this is .303 Brit, not some obsolete cartridge? Just making sure, since I know Savage had some proprietary rounds like .300 Sav and .250-3000. My friend nevr told me he had this rifle til yesterday, the spithead - I could have been borrowing and shooting it... :banghead:
Quick dumb question
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jonnyc
Member
Most likely one of those whacky rounds, the .303 Savage. It is similar to, but not interchangeable with, the .303 Brit.
joab
Member
Ye3s, it's 303 Savage not 303 Brit
303 Savage rounds for sale at Gunbroker
303 Savage rounds for sale at Gunbroker
Vern Humphrey
Member
Similar to but not interchangeable with the .30-30. The .303 Savage, despite the name, is a .308 diameter bullet.
rbernie
Contributing Member
This place appears to have it for $30/box. Considering how scarce the brass is, it'd probably be worth buying some and saving the brass - seems like nobody's making 303 Savage brass these days.
Depending on the date of manufacture, it wouldn't be terribly hard to get the Savage 99 rebarreled to another chambering, e.g. 300 Savage or (if it's a late enough model, which I doubt) 308/243.
Depending on the date of manufacture, it wouldn't be terribly hard to get the Savage 99 rebarreled to another chambering, e.g. 300 Savage or (if it's a late enough model, which I doubt) 308/243.
Don't let a reamer get close to it. Leave it as a .303 Savage.
Bertram makes the brass, and 100 pieces would be enough to last the lifetime of the shooter and rifle. It's a low-pressure round, much like the .30-30 Winchester, so brass life and wear and tear on the rifle will be negligible. A fine piece of history you have there, let me know if you ever want to sell it!
Bertram makes the brass, and 100 pieces would be enough to last the lifetime of the shooter and rifle. It's a low-pressure round, much like the .30-30 Winchester, so brass life and wear and tear on the rifle will be negligible. A fine piece of history you have there, let me know if you ever want to sell it!
Errrm, ok, good to know. Guess it wouldn't have mattered, as the first .303 brit round we'd try to chamber in it wouldn't go in anyway, but glad to know what it is. I hadn't been familiar with that round. So did the .303 savage predate the .30-30, or, as I suspect, vice versa? OK, I'll tell him to leave it as is, for collectibility's sake.
Sunray
Member
Go here for brass. http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,108.html
I have load data in my old Lyman manual if you want it. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. [email protected]
There is lots of data on-line too.
Go here for lots of info on the cartridge. http://www.savage99.com/ammo.htm
I have load data in my old Lyman manual if you want it. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. [email protected]
There is lots of data on-line too.
Go here for lots of info on the cartridge. http://www.savage99.com/ammo.htm
Vern Humphrey
Member
The .30 Winchester Centerfire (WCF) which was popularly called the .30-30 came out in 1895 -- the very first smokeless powder sporting cartridge. The 1899 Savage had a predecessor, the 1895, but the .303 Savage cartridge came later -- it was Savage's proprietary answer to the .30-30.
rbernie
Contributing Member
Good to know Buffalo Arms has some brass in stock - I can't find anyone that has the Bertrams in stock. I had been using Shooters Choice or Midway for my Bertrams stuff, but neither offered the 303 last time I went calling. I know some folks that were trying to use 30-40 brass and trim down the rim, but it was clearly a low-volume proposition and I wasn't interested in all that effort.
G98 - I wasn't suggesting reaming out the old barrel. I have a 1928-ish vintage 303 Savage Model 99 sitting here myself, and I also have a small pile of pre-WWII Savage 99 barrels chambered in 250-3000 and 300 Savage. I've been contemplating pulling the 303R barrel off and chucking up the 300 Savage barrel (and changing out the spool), if only so I can quit dorking around with trying to feed the 303. It's not a hard thing to do, and it can always be 'un-done' if somebody really wants my 303 as a collector. If you check AuctionArms regularly, you'll occasionally find the odd 30-30 or 300 Savage barrel for the Savage 99. No need to hack up the rifle you've got; you can find plenty of parts from rifles that have already been hacked up.
BTW - my present search in Savage 99's is either a F model in 7mm/08 or a takedown model in 30-30. Anyone that has a line on one of those, drop me a PM.
G98 - I wasn't suggesting reaming out the old barrel. I have a 1928-ish vintage 303 Savage Model 99 sitting here myself, and I also have a small pile of pre-WWII Savage 99 barrels chambered in 250-3000 and 300 Savage. I've been contemplating pulling the 303R barrel off and chucking up the 300 Savage barrel (and changing out the spool), if only so I can quit dorking around with trying to feed the 303. It's not a hard thing to do, and it can always be 'un-done' if somebody really wants my 303 as a collector. If you check AuctionArms regularly, you'll occasionally find the odd 30-30 or 300 Savage barrel for the Savage 99. No need to hack up the rifle you've got; you can find plenty of parts from rifles that have already been hacked up.
BTW - my present search in Savage 99's is either a F model in 7mm/08 or a takedown model in 30-30. Anyone that has a line on one of those, drop me a PM.
Vern, wait a sec. That's very interesting. You say that the .30-30 was the very first commercial smokeless powder cartridge, in 1895. Whereas I had been thinking that it was formatted like .45-70, meaning that it was 30 caliber bullet over 30 grains of black powder. But I guess not - so what does the 2nd '30' mean? Good to have human encyclodpedias like you guys around.
Vern Humphrey
Member
The military .30 Army cartridge preceeded the .30-30 in the US, and was our first smokeless powder military round. Because it held about 40 grains of smokeless powder, civilians called it the ".30-40." They followed the same practice with the .30 Winchester Centerfire, calling it the ".30-30" because it held about 30 grains of smokeless powder -- and of course other rifle makers adopted that designation because it didn't force them to put "Winchester" on their rifles.
Shortly after, Winchester introduced the .32 Special -- this was a modified version of the .30-30 loaded with smokeless powder, but designed to be reloaded with black powder.
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