Savage 99F .243 Win.

[swampmaster]

I just bought a mid to late 60's minty Savage 99f in 243 winchester came with a Same vintage Weaver k-12 scope.What can anyone tell me good or bad about these guns.It is my first 99 but hope to aquire more.

How do they like cast bullets or what weights do they favor?

[Maineboy]

I have a late 50's vintage 99F in 300 Sav. Mine's a nice gun, and a pretty good shooter except for one problem. When you fire a fairly rapid string, the first 2 rounds shoot right together, the third round will be about 3-4" away at about 10:00, the fourth round will be about 6-8" away in the same direction and the fifth round may be off the paper entirely. If you take about five minutes between shots, they'll all group together. I've heard a number of other people report the same phenomenon, other 99 shooters don't have the problem. My step-father's 99 in 308 doesn't do it. Since I hunt in some pretty thick stuff, you rarely get a chance to empty a magazine anyway, so it doesn't matter to me.
The 99 is a nice carrying woods gun. Mine wears a peep sight and has a big gold bead up front. I've tried scoping it but the balance was all wrong. I really don't use it much, I prefer to hunt with my Marlin 45-70, and have thought of selling it it finance other projects, but have decided against that. I have a grand child now with a second on the way. Hopefully one of them will be a hunter and this rifle may go to one of them.
I can't comment on how 243s like cast boolits, but the 300, in spite of it's short neck, does as well with cast as it does with jacketed bullets. My current hunting load is the RCBS 30-180-FN, which weighs about 195 grains, at about 2000 fps.

[Bret4207]

My late 60's 99 in 308 sticks the the boolits together in nice round groups if I do my part. The wandering zero problem is usally traced to the forearm bedding. Some 99's are reported to respond very nicley to glass bedding the forearm. I think the 99 is the best lever gun out there, bar none!

[Bucks Owin]

My late 60's 99 in 308 sticks the the boolits together in nice round groups if I do my part. The wandering zero problem is usally traced to the forearm bedding. Some 99's are reported to respond very nicley to glass bedding the forearm. I think the 99 is the best lever gun out there, bar none!

I sure liked the Win M-88 myself. Too bad it went away, too far advanced and "different" for it's time I guess....

Mine shot like a bolt rifle! (Which essentially it was....)

FWIW,

Dennis

(Liked the .284 cartridge too!) :(

[KCSO]

Years ago I shot a .243 Savage for quite some time. It was my main coyote gun and a good one it was! The Savage action is not quite as solid as a bolt gun and has a little spring with hot loads. I didn't hot rod the gun and had no problems. The wandering on mine was cured by glass bedding the fore stock and after that the gun shot 5 of everything into 1 1/2" at 100 yards. That K 12 sounds like a bit much on the scope end as i had a Redfield 1.5 t0 5 on mine. The Savage was ahead of it's time right up till the 60's when it got too expensive to produce. But a good old Savage is still hard to beat for a hunters gun.

[9.3X62AL]

I have a 99 in 250 Savage, 1930 vintage. It is a cast boolit machine, and is probably disappointed with its operator's skill level in offhand shooting. NO WAY IN HELL I would EVER part with it. Using its Marble's tang sight, I can do 1-1/2" groups at 100 yards with j-words, and right around 2.5" with the castings at that distance.

I have had GREAT luck with cast boolits in a Rem 788 in 243. Carpetman fronted me some of the RCBS 95 grain spitzers, and they just drove tacks. Using 12.0 grains of 2400 and puff of dacron, the loads will reliably hold 1.5" all day long at 100 yards, and have gotten within very small clicks of 1" several times. These are rat-slaying loads of the first order, and I'm hoping to try them on rockchucks next week. They do jackrabbits and ground squirrels no good whatsoever.

[swampmaster]

I have a 99 in 250 Savage, 1930 vintage. It is a cast boolit machine, and is probably disappointed with its operator's skill level in offhand shooting. NO WAY IN HELL I would EVER part with it. Using its Marble's tang sight, I can do 1-1/2" groups at 100 yards with j-words, and right around 2.5" with the castings at that distance.

I have had GREAT luck with cast boolits in a Rem 788 in 243. Carpetman fronted me some of the RCBS 95 grain spitzers, and they just drove tacks. Using 12.0 grains of 2400 and puff of dacron, the loads will reliably hold 1.5" all day long at 100 yards, and have gotten within very small clicks of 1" several times. These are rat-slaying loads of the first order, and I'm hoping to try them on rockchucks next week. They do jackrabbits and ground squirrels no good whatsoever.


I see alot of people use dacron and its always a puff or a dab I have several pounds of kapok on hand as I buy it whenever I find it but how much us a puff or a dab as I am going to try out the 2400 load

[StarMetal]

Swamp,

It's not so much a tuff or dab or whatevery, it is fill the airspace, the space between the powder and the bullet, loosely....not packed. Once you do one and find the right amount to cut off or pull what you are using, then it's a breeze. DO NOT PACK IT IN!!!!! I use both Kapok and Dacron, but what is nice about Dacron is when you stuff it in the case it springs out, that's great. Okay, understand? If not ask somemore questions.

Joe

[swampmaster]

Swamp,

It's not so much a tuff or dab or whatevery, it is fill the airspace, the space between the powder and the bullet, loosely....not packed. Once you do one and find the right amount to cut off or pull what you are using, then it's a breeze. DO NOT PACK IT IN!!!!! I use both Kapok and Dacron, but what is nice about Dacron is when you stuff it in the case it springs out, that's great. Okay, understand? If not ask somemore questions.

Joe

I think I have a better understanding,and I assume case size will have alot to do with it along with a straight case or a bottleneck

[26Charlie]

Swampmaster - I bought one of those '60's M99 Savage .243 back, oddly enough, in the late '60's. I started testing with it using 90 gr. remington bronze points, then 105 gr. Speer RN & Spitzers, mostly with surplus 4831 powder.
Finally began to get some moulds for .243 bullets, the first being a Lyman 100 gr. 243498 - could hardly get that one to stay point-on. Got some shorter bullets - a Lyman 243203 65 gr. plain base, good with 5 to 6 grains of pistol powder, then the shorter Loverin design 243496 85 gr., good with 16 to 18 grs of 4227 or 4198.
Then I happened across a 3-cavity SAECO mould for their RG6, a pencil-point design gas-checked bullet weighing about 100 gr. which has become my bullet of choice with the aforementioned loads of 4227 or 4198.
The bronze-point loads grouped about an inch and a quarter at 100 yards, and I finally began to get really good groups with the RG6 bullet about the same. I like it a lot, but have never hunted with it for some odd reason. If you get too hot on the loads, the lever gets hard to open and you know to cut back.