good Gunsmith in So. California for Savage 99?

[Valley Forge]

Two of my old Savage 99's that are "near and dear to me" have headspace problems. I have experienced case head separations and verified the issue with my go, no-go gauges. They are take-down versions and I want to find someone with experience with these guns. Any suggestions?

[rintinglen]

Fireforming your cases and then being careful not to set the shoulders back will allow you to keep shooting. but to correct the head space issue, the barrel will have to be pulled, the barrel shoulder lathed back one turn, the chamber probably recut, and then the barrel re-installed. Mike'sGun Shop in Long Beach can handle this work, really any competent smith can. But there are darned few Gunsmiths of any sort left here in So. Cal. I have also heard good things about Bolsa Guns, but I have no experience with them.
Matthews and Son was my favorite, but after George passed away, the business was sold and it failed about a year later.

[Bret4207]

IMO, and my opinion only- Get you some permanent Loc-tite, use it on the barrel threads and never use the TD feature again. The Loc-Tite will loosen if heat is applied, but leave it alone. Fire form your brass, adjust your dies accordingly and live happily ever after. The TD feature will be an issue for setting the barrels back. Headspace is only an issue with short brass or when in becomes way over size to the point the brass is no longer supported.

[Jon K]

Are both the caliber?
Anneal and fireform brass, and keep brass seperated for each gun. Unless you know that both chambers are cut exactly the same length, it is possible your problem lies there.

Jon

[MtGun44]

Tight headspace is not necessary if you fireform your brass and then do NOT set the
shoulder back, adjust the dies so that the shoulder is just being TOUCHED by the die shoulder.

You will not be able to use factory ammo safely, and if you do not reload, then the headspace
is a real issue.

The only issue with headspace is to provide a standard so ammo will safely fit the chamber.
If you custom fit it, ammo can be fit to almost any chamber - although severly long can
stretch the brass too much on the first firing.

If this is the problem, neck NEW brass up a caliber by running it into a .32 SPl or .35 Rem expander
ball, then back into the original caliber die BACKED OFF about 2-3 turns. This makes a false
shoulder well forward of the real shoulder and will hold the brass against the bolt face for
a low pressure fire forming load like 10 gr Unique. You'll have to adjust it down about
1/8 turn at a time until it will JUST barely chamber for fire forming.
Now you have a case that has never been over stretched and if you keep on using your
dies set out to not set the shoulder back, you'll have custom brass and no shorting of your
brass life. The rifle will be entirely safe with your special ammo, but may be unsafe with factory
loads which are too short.

Bill

[Artful]

probably a silly question but with both being takedown and both having a problem, the barrels didn't get swapped around did they?

[helice]

V.F.
What calibers are they? Old guns are half the fun of casting and reloading. If you do as posted above you'll have no problems. I share your admiration for the Savage 99. Just gave my 308 to my new nephew-in-law who plans to use it in a Nebraska deer hunt. Only have a 250-3000 left. They are really fun rifles.

[HeavyMetal]

Matthews and Sons didn't "fail" the property was sold and the new owner jacked the rent into the Ozone layer.

You are right this was about a year after Steve sold the place, because he didn't want to deal with the public as a "salesmen" and continued to work as the gunsmith.

The new owners of Matthews tried to find a new location for the shop and found out that the city had passed "ordinences" preventing them from opening a gun shop within about 200 foot of every dang public place in Downey.

It was nothing more than a gross and obvious attempt to do away with one more gun shop in So Cal. I had talked this over with the new guy and he just didn't have the kind of cash flow it would have taken to fight city hall so he took the loss and moved out.

Another example of our "government" looking out for us.

But the upside of the story is Steve Matthews is working at Bain & Davis in Allhambra?? At least he was a couple years ago and replaced a barrel on a 32 Win spec 94 I bought about that time.

[Valley Forge]

Thanks for the input guys. The older of the two is in .250 Sav and the other is .300 Sav. and I have plenty of unfired brass for both. I will follow your suggestions for fireforming them first and then keep the rounds separate from my other 99's. Thanks again fellas.