Savage 99

[wallenba]

I came across a Savage model 99 today while cruising the local gun shops for interesting stuff. The bore is bright, chambered in .300 Savage, 1950's vintage. The stock has sling swivels installed, deminishing value. The side plate is drilled and tapped as well as the top of the reciever. Obviously it is not perfect as a collector gun, but the $350 price tag is tempting. Should I, or should I not? What would you guys do?

[Bret4207]

If I had the bucks I'd snatch it up poste haste. The 300 is a great deer round and will almost duplicate factory 308 ballistics. Whats 150 fps to a deer? The only draw back with cast is the 300's short neck. But, with careful attention to alignment you can have a lot of fun with cast in a 300. And as far as the 99 goes, COME ON! It's THE single best lever action deer rifle ever produced and that's a fact. You want it, you need it, there's nothing standing between it and you but a few measly dollars. In fact, I'm told owners of 300 Savage 99's are adored by small children and beautiful women everywhere and ownership cures both male pattern baldness and athletes foot. Not owning a 300 I don't know that for a fact, but it sure seems likely to me.

Your pal Bret, aka- Mr. Enabler!

[gnoahhh]

I would get it. It's a shame it's been swiss cheesed, but if all you want is a shooter then what the heck. What else can you get for that kind of money today?

Holes in the top of a 50's vintage gun may well be factory. If the holes go through the roll stamp on top of the receiver, it was done aftermarket. If the roll stamp is off to the side, then the holes are factory. D/T'ed holes on the side are definitely not factory.

[Gee_Wizz01]

That would be a great deal, in here in NE Florida. If its in good shape, go for it! I have never shot cast boolits in a 99, but with 150 gr j words, it is an excellent whitetail slayer.

G

[Maineboy]

Buy it! I paid $400.00 about 10 years ago for a 50's 99F with a great bore but with a few cosmetic problems. I think that $350.00 is a pretty fair price for what you're describing.
99s are pretty hard to find around here. Last one I saw looked about in the same condition as mine but it had a $550.00 price tag.

[bowfin]

Sling swivels diminish the value only if you are looking for a museum piece. If you are going to go into the woods hoping to drag out a deer, then sling swivels are very close to being mandatory.

[wallenba]

Five positives. Guess I'll go for it. It's 6:38 PM now. They closed at six. It was not there last week, so it just came in, and they have a lot of traffic in and out of there. Odds are it's still there, but I've lost out before waiting too long. This will be my first lever gun, getting kind of excited.

Bret made the most convincing argument for buying it, one that makes total sense to me. I am losing a little hair, and the pretty girls don't look at me as often as they did. Gotta have it.

[Hardcast416taylor]

GRAB IT!!! It is a hard gun to beat for deer hunting here in the mitten. You will find that the #311466 works about the best in the short necked .300 for a cast bullet, otherwise a 150 gr. "J" bullet has ended many a whitetails career as alpha male of the herd. If this Savage is at Williams in Davision I may bump into you over there tomorrow.Robert

[wallenba]

GRAB IT!!! It is a hard gun to beat for deer hunting here in the mitten. You will find that the #311466 works about the best in the short necked .300 for a cast bullet, otherwise a 150 gr. "J" bullet has ended many a whitetails career as alpha male of the herd. If this Savage is at Williams in Davision I may bump into you over there tomorrow.Robert

Nope not there, and I ain't saying where yet.

[fatnhappy]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I have a featherweight 99 in .308 and I'd be hard pressed to ever let it go.

[ammohead]

A friend calls and says a guy he works with has a 1898 krag nra sporter for $250. So I zoom over to look at it and it is not a nra sporter. It is a bubba with a side mount williams scope mount and it has been riding in a rear window truck rack with grooves worn in the stock that will not sand out and a sewer pipe for a bore.

At this point I should have walked....but....the action has little or no rust whatsoever. And it has a pretty nice k3 weaver in those rings. And he says he'll take $225.

You just never know on these kind of deals. Turns out that the bore cleaned up pretty nice and it likes to group cast boolits in tight little clusters. The k3 is going to work very nice on my 38-55 legacy model 94. And I have decided to putty the woodwork and spray a camoflage paint job on the stock. It will make a nice first rifle for one of the grandchildren that I know are in my future.

Go buy that savage, you just never know.

ammohead

[Bret4207]

Bret made the most convincing argument for buying it, one that makes total sense to me. I am losing a little hair, and the pretty girls don't look at me as often as they did. Gotta have it.

Glad I could help.:drinks:

[Southern Son]

I wish I could find deals like that. Parts guns sell for more than that over here.

[kbstenberg]

The only experience I have with a 99 is the one I bought for my GS. Functionally it works good, but it has one of the worst trigger pulls I have ever shot. There must be a half in of play in the trigger.
Kevin

[gnoahhh]

Trigger pulls shouldn't be that bad Kevin. I'd take it to someone who knows what they're doing. A 99 trigger will never break as cleanly as, say, a Winchester 52 but it shouldn't be soft and mushy either. If it is, there's something wrong.

[northmn]

My biggest gripe with my 99 is the triggerguard safety which for a left hander is awkward. My triggerpull is not great but usable. Mine is a shooter as it has sling swivels and the receiver is pitted from case rust. Bore is shiny and it shoots very well. I paid about 300 for mine but I would say 350 is a fair price. Savages do not last long at the local gun dealers as compared to the stuff that is consigned. You do not see that many of them for sale.

DP

[wallenba]

Well, I brought it home this morning. It slugged a perfect .308. And I feel no buyers remorse, I feel I did good. The photo's show the tapped holes and the sling swivels. Also, it is not a 1950's vintage. This website http://www.savage99.com/savage99_dates.htm says my serial no. 397xxx was made in 1940.
One more question. Will this action tolerate neck sizing?

[gnoahhh]

DP, yes the trigger guard safety wasn't one of Savage's better ideas. There were aftermarket kits back in the 40's-60's to convert that safety to a tang safety. Simple devices that worked. I know two lefty (left handed, not Commies!) guys who've put them on 99s and love them. They turn up occasionally.

As far as working on a 99 trigger, I personally wouldn't do anything other than polish the mating surfaces. The engagement geometry has subtle angles that can lead to a dangerous situation if altered by a novice. Usually a good cleaning and polishing works wonders.

I like saddle-worn used but not abused 99s and 1899s as much as safe queens. Those "shooters" have a charisma earned by a lifetime of honest use that can't be earned otherwise. It's the ones that have been Bubba'ed to-hell-and-gone and otherwise mistreated that turn me off like a wrinkled toothless old hooker offering a $5....

[gnoahhh]

Dutch, that's a sweetheart! You did good! Not factory d/t'ed, but a nice clean job of it.

[starmac]

When I aquired my 99 around 37 years ago, I loaded all my ammo with a lee loader, so yes you can neck size. I just couldn't use the brass from a friends rifle.

[Artful]

as long as you use brass fired in the rifle you should be able to neck size half a dozen times before you have to bump the shoulder back.

That's a good deal you go there, can't wait to see how it shoots for ya.

[azrednek]

When I aquired my 99 around 37 years ago, I loaded all my ammo with a lee loader, so yes you can neck size. I just couldn't use the brass from a friends rifle.

The best hunter I've ever known, when he is not using a bow uses a Model 99 in 300 Savage. It has been apx 10 years since I saw him but at the time he was using a Lee Loader and Herters components he got with the used rifle.

[starmac]

The best hunter I've ever known, when he is not using a bow uses a Model 99 in 300 Savage. It has been apx 10 years since I saw him but at the time he was using a Lee Loader and Herters components he got with the used rifle.

What is the old saying. Beware the man with one gun.

[atr]

for $ 350.00 I would not have hesistated even though I have no real use for a .300!
They are just fine rifles worth having in themselves

I have a 60's vintage 99 in .308.....a very easy rifle to carry in the woods and with decent accuracy. Shoots cast very well !

[wallenba]

I just finished ordering a set of Lee dies, brass, and an M die for it. I have a neck sizing die for my 30 Herrett that I might be able to make work, if not I'll pick one up later. I already have a Lee C312-155-2r that I'm using in my M77 308 Win., should be a good starting point.

[Maineboy]

Because of the short neck, I had trouble getting a firm grip on boolits. I got a Lee factory crimp die and that made a big difference. You should have good luck with the Lee C312-155-2R boolit. My gun likes most of the popular 30 caliber boolits with the 311 291 right up there in the top performers. Lately I've been hunting more with my 99 than with any other rifle because it's light and just plain fast to get in action. If you plan on hunting in the woods with it and are going to use jacketed bullets, consider the Nosler 170 grain flat nose partitian meant for the 30-30. It's very accurate in my rifle and a heck of a deer killer.

[richhodg66]

I have two 99s, the last one I bought was a basic in .300 Savage and I also payed $350 and thought I did well. They are good rifles, the trigger pulls aren't the best, but the .300 is better than my newer .250 I have. I think I'd buy just about any 99 that was complete and working for $350 lately, their prices seem to be going through the roof the past few years.

[johnny356ER]

You did real good....99's are getting harder to come by all the time.
johnny

[Bret4207]

If you can find a 'smith that understands the 99 he can get the trigger really nice. My Dad could get them into the 3 lbs range with almost no felt creep. In fact I had make one trigger heavier after Dad had passed on because the owner had a stroke and couldn't feel the light trigger anymore. It about broke my heart to do it because that trigger was superb, but- safety first!