savage 99 in 30-30 need advice

[tinsmith]

I was thinking about buying a savage 99 in 30-30 caliber primarily for cast boolit shooting. I've got lots of brass and a good set of dies. I would like to find something below collector grade with of course a good bore and mechanically good. Something for informal target shooting and to carry on my frequent woods walks and also deer hunting. I've always admired the classic look of the Savage 99 but have never owned one. I would like to ask if anyone has had experience with the 99 in 30-30. Is it a good reliable shooter? Is it picky on boolit profile and overall length of cartridge? Is the takedown model as good as the solid frame as far as accuracy? I may want to mount a scope on it at some time as my 64 year old eyes aren't what they used to be. Anything special to look for or avoid? Any advice along these lines would be greatly appreciated. Once I lay my money down at a gun show, it's mine!
Thanks, Jeff

[gnoahhh]

Good reliable shooter? Yep. Picky about cast bullets? Nope. The ones I have had experience with showed me they pretty much didn't care what I fed them. Standard parameters regarding bullet fit apply to the Savage just like everything else. Plus, you don't have to crimp your ammo like in a tube fed gun, and spitzers aren't an issue. I have found takedowns to be very accurate, as long as the threads are tight and not loosey-goosey from ham handed manipulation. My hellaciously bad 62 year old eyes don't make me use a scope on Savage lever guns. Get yourself a good tang sight and see how it works for you. There are simple tricks to employ to sharpen up sight pictures for aging eyeballs. In any case if you insist on a scope (which just negates one of the attributes of the 1899/99 Savage- wonderful balance and "carryability")- fer pete's sake get one that's already D/T'ed unless you want to devalue an original rifle.

Once you try a Savage lever action carbine, you won't go back to Marlins/Winchesters!

[MostlyLeverGuns]

If you can find a 99 already drilled and tapped the price should be greatly reduced. I have a bunch of 99's. They all function with total reliability. My wife and I use them almost exclusively for our elk, antelope and deer hunting. I keep scoped .300 Savage by the door and my walk around rifle is a pencil-barreled .303 with a Lyman receiver sight. A couple .243's, my .300 and a couple of .308's will shoot in MOA category. None are fussy as to bullets or powder. I have a beater .30-30 in the project stage. If you find a .30-30 that is no longer a collector, bluing gone stock in rough shape or recoil pad installed, having it drilled and tapped might be worthwhile. Be very careful about who does the work. There are almost no square surface on a 99. While I can understand wanting a .30-30 (ease of finding cases and cartridges, a very good cast bullet rifle) the .303 Savage is as good for cast bullets Prvi Partisan brass from Graf's or Powder Valley limits cases selection. The .303's are usually cheaper than comparable .30-30's. The .300 Savage is not as friendly to cast bullets, but I have several that I have used typical '30-30' cast bullets very successfully. The .300 Savage rifles are the easiest to find and least expensive. Brass normally available and .308 Winchester can be readily shortened. I spend a lot of time with the 99's. Most shoot very well. The take-downs shoot very well IF they are still a snug fit. They are yet another price premium for the collectors. I have probably ruined several for collectors by shortening stocks and installing recoil pads but that is how I enjoy shooting them. They were used when I started. They are used more now.
Good luck finding the right .30-30, but maybe consider the .303 or .300. Both work very well.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Another thought, again .30-30 cartridges and components are easily found, but so are .308 Win. I have several Savage 99's in .308. The Featherweight barrel contour is light and pleasant to carry. All the Savage 99 .308's that are know about are drilled and tapped. The top-safety 99's allow a very crisp trigger with an override mechanism similar to the Win 70 in concept. The featherweight 99's tend to be very well done. I am not fond of the removable clip models and the 99E's that were produced in the 80's do not always have smooth barrels with the 'hardwood stocks adding a lot of weight. My featherweight's in .308 are very pleasant shooting rifles (with a soft recoil pad). Only the .30-30 and .30-06 have more cast bullet information available. I am tinkering with a 99 featherweight in .308 for may wife's practice rifle using moderate cast bullet loads. A 311413 Bullshop at .310 is doing regular 3" groups at 200 yards when the wind isn't blowing. Again just a thought if you are looking at 99's.

[dragon813gt]

Know what you're buying before you lay your money down. There a lot of variations of 99s and they all come in at different prices. Here is a good place to start: http://www.savage99.com/index.php

Collectors start at around $600 by me. It's rare to find one for less than $500. There are a lot that are in some really rough shape. If you want my two cents I'd find a 308 model in fair condition. Ship it off to JES and have it rebored to 358. Cases are formed from 308 by simply necking them up. It's pretty much the perfect cast bullet rifle. Goodsteel has just such a rifle of mine and is working his magic to make it look as close to brandy new as possible

You can still buy new old stock stocks for them. One of the big things to look for is stocks cracked at the tang. A good portion have them. It's just a matter of to what extent. The more bluing and case hardening on the lever left the greater the cost. If it has a brass rotary magazine w/ counter it's worth more money. Baby is crying so I gotta cut this short.

[tinsmith]

Thanks for all the practical advice on the Savage 99. I'm going to the OGCA gun show in Ohio, so I'll have an opportunity to possibly find what I'm looking for. In the mean time, I'll do my homework and track what is for sale on Gunbroker and definitely visit the Savage 99 website. The 303 Savage caliber intrigues me. I can always sell my 30-30 dies & Brass. A receiver sight would be a better option than a scope for the 100yd or under shooting I usually do.

[Horace]

If you have 30-30 brass and dies stick with them, the two shoot the same. I have two 303 Savages and use 30-30 data with NOE 311041 and Lyman 311291.

Horace

[gnoahhh]

You can interchange .303 and .30/30 data, but you can't use .30/30 dies to reload .303's. The .303 has a much fatter case body. Some people shoot .30/30's in their .303's too, but I wouldn't recommend it. The case will swell like crazy, and sometimes won't even fire. Out of curiosity I tried that trick and gave it up as a bad idea. Plenty of .303 PRVI brass is available, not to mention a lot of original .303 brass can be turned up with a little digging.

[richhodg66]

I don't have a .30-30, but I do have a 1930s vintage 99 in .303 Savage that is the saddle carbine variant (99H?). Quite accurate rifle with cast, though it seems more sensitive to overall cartridge length for feeding than my .300 or .308. Mine came with a nice Redfield receiver sight, which helps me shoot well, but somehow seems to detract from the clean and simple look of that carbine style. Not sure if I'll leave it on or use the open sights. I would never scope it, and my '99 EG in .300 is unscoped too. I used it to deer hunt last season, great rifle, feeds like glass, isn't picky about cast loads and handles and points very nicely. You can't go wrong with a '99, as has been said here, they are vastly superior to every other lever gun out there. It's a crying shame they aren't made anymore.