Bought some handloads at gunshow from an older guy whos been loading and selling components and reloads for years. They are supposed to be for 303 Savage made from 30/30 cases. The guy said hes run them for years in his 303's. Nice looking ammo 170 grain bullets, 28 grains of 3031, fairly mild loads. Told me he just resizes 30/30 brass to push the shoulder back. Looking at case dimensions tonight and the 303 is .020 larger than the 30/30 at the base. SEEMS EXCESSIVE. Perhaps I should just shoot them in my 30/30 to fireform them back to 30/30 dimensions? Any thoughts?
Feeding the 303 Savage
- Thread starter Mike Webb
- Start date
The case I use is 303 British. 30-30 are too small at the base. Number one rule with reloaded ammunition is don’t shoot other people’s reloads.
Brass is now available but when I acquired my Savage 99 I couldn’t find any so decided to make them out of other brass. The two options I found where 303 British and 30-40 Krag. Both rims need to be reduced in diameter and cases trimmed. I used 303 as I had lots. Once case forming is done it’s just regular reloading. 30-30 data can be used for jacketed or cast bullets. The older Lyman manuals have data that is slightly above 30-30 loads.
I had two or three .303 99's and had the big idea I would shoot them. Fired a few 30-30 rounds to form them , then found a batch of new Privi brass and some old factory loads. Never did shoot them again and sold them, guns and ammo and brass. As above, buy new .303 Savage brass. (Taking a chance offering my opinion here)
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