.303 Savage

.303 Savage
Round-nosed .303 Savage (center) with .308 Winchester (left) and .30-30 Winchester (right)
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Savage Arms
Manufacturer	Savage Arms
Produced	1895
Specifications
Case type	Rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	.308 in (7.8 mm)
Neck diameter	.333 in (8.5 mm)
Shoulder diameter	.413 in (10.5 mm)
Base diameter	.442 in (11.2 mm)
Rim diameter	.505 in (12.8 mm)
Rim thickness	.063 in (1.6 mm)
Case length	2.015 in (51.2 mm)
Overall length	2.520 in (64.0 mm)
Primer type	Large rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 170 gr (11 g) SP 2,090 ft/s (640 m/s) 1,649 ft⋅lbf (2,236 J)
Source(s): .303 Savage reload data at Hodgdon

The .303 Savage is a rimmed, .30 caliber rifle cartridge developed by the Savage Arms Company in 1894 which was designed as a short (as short as the .30-30 Winchester) action cartridge for their Savage Model 1895 later 1899 hammerless lever-action rifle. The cartridge was designed for smokeless powder at a time when black-powder cartridges were still popular. The .303 Savage round was ballistically superior to the .30-30, but only marginally.^{[citation needed]} The .303 Savage remained popular through the 1930s.^[1] Savage produced a half dozen loads for it. With its 190-grain loading, it was used on such animals as deer and moose.

The .303 Savage and the .303 British cartridge are not interchangeable with each other. Neither the bullet diameter nor the cartridge dimensions are compatible.^[2]