Savage .303

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Cfour

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Hello
I see a lot of Lee & Enfield .303 rifles. Did Savage make a .303 that was sold as surplus long ago? I thought they did but haven’t seen any.
 
Not into the surplus rifles myself but Savage did make a lever action in 303 savage. Totally different cartridge than the 303 British.
 
Cfour said:
Hello
I see a lot of Lee & Enfield .303 rifles. Did Savage make a .303 that was sold as surplus long ago? I thought they did but haven’t seen any.
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yes, savage made enfields in 303 british, still currently available on the surplus markets
 
Mike Webb said:
The guy mentioned Lee Enfield and "sold as surplus" so guessing he's referring to No.4 Lee Enfields.
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Yeah, but look at how its worded. It doesn't really sound like he's asking "did Savage make Lee Enfields" to me, it sounds more like "i know about the LEs, but did Savage make some other 303?"

By all means, he COULD be asking about Savage made LEs, that's just not the impression I get by how it's worded. Until the OP comes back we'll never know for sure though.
 
Suther said:
Yeah, but look at how its worded. It doesn't really sound like he's asking "did Savage make Lee Enfields" to me, it sounds more like "i know about the LEs, but did Savage make some other 303?"

By all means, he COULD be asking about Savage made LEs, that's just not the impression I get by how it's worded. Until the OP comes back we'll never know for sure though.
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I don't read it that way. What i got was He said he'd seen Lee Enfield 303s, but did savage ver make any?

What he actually said was "did savage make a 303 that was sold as surplus."

Either way he got an answer.
 
I did a write up on Savage produced Lee Enfields for a Savage Model 99 collectors group a few years ago. Here is a photo of the two rounds under discussion, 303 Savage on left and 303 British, right. The 303 Savage came out in 1894, designed for the Model 1895 rifle, which became the Model 1899 and later the Model 99. It uses a .308 bullet, originally at 190 grains. It is very similar to the Winchester 30-30 round and considered marginally better. The only quasi military use of the 303 Savage was an order of around 800 rifles for the Montreal Home Guard (MHG). The Montreal Polo Club formed the MHG and placed an order with Savage for Model 1899 rifles in 303 British. Savage replied that that was not a standard chambering and it would take a year to re-engineer for that caliber. MHG didn't want to wait and agreed to delivery in 303 Savage, a currently produced caliber for the rifle. The Model 1899D differed from other Model 1899s only in the stock. having a full as shown below as opposed to the standard sporting stock like the one Suther posted. Savage also made bayonets to go with the rifles. Because so few were made, 1899Ds are a hot item in the Savage 99 collector community, going for $5K+. A bayonet with scabbard will set you back $2500.
 

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