300 Savage 99

[mustanggt]

Bought a Savage 99. I am most pleased. It is very nice and clean. It was made in March of 1945. Pictures: http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1080/savage99002.jpg
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/623/savage99003.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/787/savage99004.jpg
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/5320/savage99005.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9545/savage99009.jpg
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/1708/savage99010.jpg
http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/773/savage99014.jpg

[starmac]

Except for my muzzle loader and a very few times a 30 30, I have carried mine since 75, and it was made in 32. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have mine.

[excess650]

Very nice! They just don't make 'em like that these days.

Mine looks like yours except was mfg in 1922(?) and is a TD.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Mine is a dead ringer of yours! The only real differences is mine is a TD and the reciever isn`t tapped for a scope. One last difference is mine was owned by Brace Breemer (radio Lone Ranger) after he was moving from a house in Oxford, Mich.Robert

[mustanggt]

I bought it from a fella in Michigan as a matter of fact.

[pietro]

Your 1945'er looks to be a Model 99-EG, like my 1953, also in .300 Savage.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1056072/DSCN0354.JPG

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[Dan Cash]

[QUOTE=mustanggt;1116064]Bought a Savage 99. I am most pleased. It is very nice and clean. It was made in March of 1945. QUOTE]

Congratulations, you have a most excellent rifle. I cherrish the .300 eg and a later .250 tha I have.

[northmn]

I have a 300 similar to yours. Mine is scoped where you have a receiver sight. The safety is not very handy as I shoot left handed and the trigger pull is unusual. I also got a deer with it this year at about 100 yards threading the shot through the brush. So whats to really complain about it. Have not worked up any cast bullet loads for it yet. My daughter has a bolt in 300 savage and has nailed a few deer with it, with excellent results and my Brother in Law is switching to a 722 Remington in 300 savage. For my neck of the woods I could argue that that caliber is about as good a deer rifle as you can get.

DP

[mustanggt]

Pietro, I thought I was looking at my rifle. Wow what a mirror image. It is such a classic. I own some Marlins and I really like them but the 99 has always made me pause and admire it a little more than any other.

[rtracy2001]

looks a bit like mine:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t23/tracraym/IMG_0405.jpg

not a sure about the date on mine, probably in the 60s according to most SN sites.

[excess650]

looks a bit like mine:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t23/tracraym/IMG_0405.jpg

not a sure about the date on mine, probably in the 60s according to most SN sites.

What are the first 3 digits of the serial number? It appears that you DON'T have a top tang safety, so pre 1960.

[starmac]

A member just posted one in the swap and sell, it doesn't look like it lasted long.

[rtracy2001]

What are the first 3 digits of the serial number? It appears that you DON'T have a top tang safety, so pre 1960.

608XXX

Yes the safety is on the lever.

starmac, The don't last long, especially at a good price. The last gun show I was at, a guy had probably 20 or 30, and every one was priced well over $1K. He sold a few at those prices too.

[Triggerhappy]

There's one on our sales thread right now. $450 I think.

I also have one in .300, great rifle. Took it to the range just before elk season and it still shoots sub 1" believe it or not. Kinda surprised me.

TH

[excess650]

[QUOTE=rtracy2001;1117306]608XXX

Yes the safety is on the lever."

Looking at production numbers after WWII, it appears that 99s were being produce 26-40K per year. The last serial number in 1950 was 566,000, so yours was likely 1952. IIRC, during the Korean War the rotors were color case hardened steel rather than brass, so yours was likely made before that change.

[gnoahhh]

Easiest way to tell the age of a post-War 99 is by the date code stamped on the front of the lever boss. It'll be a number followed by a letter in an oval about 1/4" long. Typically they were struck lightly and are often hard to read.

Set your secret de-coder rings to 1949, and look at the letter in the oval. A= 1949, B= 1950, C=1951, etc. They skipped O and Q for obvious reasons. The number in the oval is either the assembler's number or the final inspectors number, we're not sure.

You'll find color case hardened and aluminum rotors sprinkled throughout the range of post-War 99's. They are by no means an indicator of exact age of the rifle. The LBC (lever boss code) tells the tale.

[pietro]

FWIW, Savage also skipped the letter "I" in the lever boss letter/date codes.

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[gnoahhh]

You're right. Forgot that one. (Probably need a dacron filler over the powder charge that pushes my brain cells!)

[old turtle]

You guys make make me sick (or should I say jealous) about these 99s. My brother has one which shoots cast bullets very well but he won't give it to me. I had a 722 in 300 Savage which I was lucky enough to obtain a 700 classic stock. I gave this to my son for his hunting rifle. Sub min. at 100 yds. This is a great round and those 99's are just now getting their just due as the fine rifles they are.

[starmac]

Lmao Old turtle did your brother tell you to buy your own. lol

At least my son ask if he could have mine after I'm dead. lol

[pietro]

My son doesn't want ANY of my guns - although he's in his mid-40's, he prefers plastic/fantastic & stainless stuff - "tools", I call 'em............. [smilie=l:

.

[mustanggt]

I have a few of those "tools" you said your son liked. I call them "like a microwave". Just a tool that does a fine job. But something that has a history like some of the guns I have or represent the past when we were better than we are now. I think of the old Savage 99 made in 1945 that I have. Did a GI buy it when he came home from the war to go out in the woods and pick his life back up and hunt deer? Did that same GI use the 03A3 in the war to save his life and the life of his buddies in a foxhole? That model 97 Winchester my grandpa got me when I was a kid, if it could talk what would it say? If it is possible for a gun to speak I think I would like what an old Winchester or Marlin or M1 Garand has to say than what my tupperware guns have to say. I hope that the history of Marlin firearms doesn't end with it being swallowed up by some conglomerate with no soul. Give me beautiful wood, case colors and deep rich blue any day.

[gnoahhh]

Amen.

[TNsailorman]

Unfortunately Marlin and most of the other old companies have been swallowed up by conglomerates run by "beancounters" and not gun people. I would bet that in the next 5 years you will see a lot of the old standbys go the way of the dodo bird; killed off by people whose chief interest is make 20% profit or get rid of it.. Too bad, but the world is changing and not all the change is for the better. It is what it is and we'll not see a change in that thinking in our lifetime. The old 99 Savage and a few other fine old firearms are gone forever. Too well made to be "stamped out" on a flully automated production line, they require humans to produce and companies will gladly spend millions of dollars on computerized autmated machinery but won't spend a few hundred thousand on workers to do a job. I don't like it but I am stuck with the situation whether I like it or not.

[starmac]

It comes down to supply and demand, if enough people demand it someone would supply it. With so many choices in types of firearms levers are a small niche and the people that will pay for a fine made lever is smaller yet.

[mustanggt]

Of course reality and the market bites. I'm an old romantic that will always be that way. Sometimes I think I was born too late.

[NHlever]

Some of the thinking of the bean counters is really funny, and not very well thought out for such bright minds. Of course they don't usually know much about the manufacturing process, and that doesn't help. The truth is that labor costs are a very small part of producing a firearm. The real cost is in not doing things right the first time, and trying to use tooling that is worn out. I can remember being in a discussion about a 10-22 part once. I was there, the head accountant (and VP) was there, the department foreman was there, the operator was there, one of my toolmakers was there, and the set up man for that job was there. I was telling the bean counter that we needed a new mold / die for that part, and he made the mistake of telling me what a cheap part it was, and how much it would cost to replace the die. I came a little unglued, and described all the folks that were standing around, and asked the bean counter if he could see any ****** parts coming off the fixture! We got the new die, and life was good again, but it sure was a hard sell. Training, good tooling, and giving the folks making this stuff an investment in the outcome, and a part in the rewards is much cheaper, and more satisfying than outsourcing is. Some companies are coming full circle, and are finding this out once again so there is some hope. To a company manufacturing good quality assemblies like guns the current reject rate on parts outsourced to China for example is running almost 40%. You still have to pay someone to try to save those parts, and you end up with substandard parts going into your product. Sending them back removes all the savings you got in the first place. Hopefully we will catch on before it is too late.
Sorry for the long winded response, but it is a subject near, and dear to me. The 99 Savage the OP just bought is a beautiful gun, well made, and functional along with having a very appealing shape. I've carried 99's in the past, and have seen one in my future lately. The .308 Featherweight with the top tang safety I carried when I worked in a game preserve was one of the most accurate guns in my hands that I have ever owned, and I've always missed it. I sold it when I was having some trouble starting over after Vietnam, and didn't want guns around for a while. One of the recent (maybe the latest) Handloader magazine has some good boolit suggestions for loading the .300, and it was a good read. The article is about cast boolits in cases with short necks.

[old turtle]

The classic was when the Leisure GP. toke over Lyman in the early 70's and got rid of all the old cherries just in time for the resurgence of old calibers and black powder shooting. I know the cherries were not worn out as I had ordered a custom order mold of one of their very old molds just before the take over. I still use this mold to today.

[mustanggt]

I subscribe to handloader and was very interested in that article. Now I have to search for the right mould for my new 99. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be willing to listen. I have heavier bullets for my 03A3 but need something a little lighter and a shorter shank.

[Arisaka99]

Well, my dad will get my grandfather's 99, I told him that I would be more than happy to take it because it would get used and taken care of. Right now he has it sitting in a case gaathering rust and dust. BUt, it is what it is...

[310Pilot]

Congratulations on the acquisition of your lovely 99! I'm pretty sure you're going to fall in love with it, they are great guns. I have a weak spot for 99s, myself. I have my grandfather's 99 carbine (H or G, I can't remember) in .30-30, which he purchased new in 1935 - still looks new, except for some carry wear on the forearm finish, and it has taken many, many deer. Over the last year or so, I picked up two additional 99s, one in .300 Savage with a color casehardened receiver, as well as the lever, a very rare gun; and a somewhat later 99E in .308. All are great shooters, and very enjoyable. An elegant design which should never have gone out of production.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Try using a Lyman #311466 and 50/50 alloy. I size mine .310 and use BAC red lube. Try Reloader #7 at 19 - 21 gr., or IMR-4198 at 24 - 26 gr. I use Winch. Large rifle primers and get very good accuracy from my 99 in .300 Sav.Robert

[mustanggt]

Is that 311466 a Loverin boolit? If so doesn't that have a long shank which would put it down into the case more? Does that have any negative impact on the boolit because of that? Thank you

[res45]

Is that 311466 a Loverin boolit? If so doesn't that have a long shank which would put it down into the case more? Does that have any negative impact on the boolit because of that? Thank you


Don't know about the Lyman bullet but I shoot the Lee .310 150 gr. RNFP and the Lee .312 160 gr. TL bullet sized to .311 in my Sav. 99. Both boolits will shoot 1" or less groups at 50 yds. from my initial test in the backyard range. Hopefully this spring when it warms up and dries up I can do some longer range test and tweak the load some.