Forming 303 savage

[gatsby1923]

Hi any one know if there is any simple way to form 303 savage brass. I found a neat old Savage 99 take down model in 303 and don't want to buy it unless I can form brass for this lost cartridge.

Dave M.

[Vapodog]

gatsby, My father had a .303 Savage and I still have several original .303 savage factory rounds in a shell collection. The .303 is very similar to the .30-30 in shape and power, the .303 using 190 grain bullets as standard and the .30-30 using (mostly) 170 grain bullets as standard. do this: call RCBS and ask if they will make you a die set for .303 savage and ask them if resizing .30-30 brass to .303 will work. You may have to fireform .30-30 to .303 first.....I'm not sure about this.

This is Important:.....get the scoop from RCBS!!!!!

I can't even find the .303 Savage in old reloading books and therefore can't find the bullet diameter. Don't assume it's the same as the .303 Brittish!!! However, bullets are available in .308, .311, & .312 diameter.....one of those should work, but you got to know!!!!! Check with RCBS first and if they can't help you.....give it up.....I guarantee you there's a way to get that gun shooting......but if RCBS can't get you shooting it, it could get expensive!!!

[Rick Teal]

Most .303 Savages were designed to fire .307 bullets. Apparently some earlier models were intended to fire .311 bullets in a .308 tube, but Savage discontinued this practice early on.

The brass is somewhat of an orphan. I understand that the best way to make brass is to start with a .220 Swift, and form and fireform it to .303 dimensions. The semi rim of the Swift is a little smaller than the rim of the .303, but it is apparently serviceable.

The problem with starting with 30-30 brass is that the case diameter of the Savage at and forward of the web is greater than that of the 30-30. I once read an article by Ken Waters (I believe) on forming .303 brass from 30-30 brass, and he felt that it was possible. It would be best to get a copy of this article before proceeding, but as I recall, his procedure included fire forming the case with a light charge and then neck sizing the cases that hadn't split. I don't think you can get a lot of uses out of one of these cases.

[Vapodog]

Rick, thanks for taking me off the hook by following up with the .220 Swift idea.

Ballard of Cody Wyoming will machine brass for this cartridge for (last I saw) $2.00 each....they might even have some in stock.

If it's true that a .307 Diameter bullet is the nominal, I'd send this gun back to savage and ask them to rebarrel it to .30-30 or .300 Savage and the .300 savage is hard to find brass for as well!!

Gadsby, how bad do you want that rifle?????