The "best" Savage 99

J

jcrabbs

Inactive
I'm thinking about a model 99. Caliber? Newton's classic 250-3000, of course.

But - straight or pistol-grip stock? I think straight, again "classic."

Sights? no scope. What types of factory original (tang?) peep sights were available?

I'll want to shoot 100 gr. bullets and understand that they need a faster rate of twist in order to stabilize. Does anyone know when (particularly in terms of serial number) Savage made this change?

What else should I be thinking of in order to find the "perfect" example of this great American classic?

Thanks for your thoughts
 
I would put in an argument for the non-classic .284 Win. caliber... what a SWEET gun in .284...

pistol-grip stock, and scope too...

but I'm a .284 fan, so I might be biased...
 
Mine . . . of course!

Yep, I'd have to stick with my 99. It is a featherweight. 99F I think it was called. In 300 Savage. Lyman receiver mount peep.

I like the nice brass counter that tells you how many rounds in the magazine!

JPM
 
My family has one in .250-3000 with pistol grip and Schnabel fore end, made in 1917. A true beauty and a fantastic shooter, always capable of first round within an inch of POA. The 100 grainers group MOA. Low recoil, flat shooting to 250 yards and absolutely perfect on deer.
 
I don't have my Savage book here with me, but there were quite a few different models made in .250.

Straight or pistol grip? Depends on which you like. I prefer the pistol grip myself.

Factory original sighs were the buckhorns with ramp that were put on just about every American gun for a long time, but factory options, such as a tang sight, could be had.

Williams, Lyman, and Redfield all made excellent receiver peep sights. I have a 1950-vintage Redfield on my 99EG, and a bunch of sight disks for it.

Earlier guns will have to be drilled and tapped, later guns came D&T for the peep sights.

If you start looking at a take down gun, be VERY careful. Savage, unlike Winchester, had no adjustment on the take down that would snug up the gun once the threads started to loosen. The only way of tightening it up was either by peining the threads with a punch and hammer, or by brazing additional metal onto the threads.

Neither is very desirable.

I'll try to remember to check my Savage references when I get home this evening to see what else I can find out for you.
 
The 250 is a great deer gun if you can get decent hunting ammo. My brother had poor luck with his till I loaded him some hunting loads with a 117gr slug loaded down a little bit. My other brother has a 300 from the 30s with a peep he would not part for anything that he hunts with.
 
Every once in awhile even a blind hawg can find an acorn.

I was lucky enough to find what I was told later to be one of the last run of rotary mag 99s in my favorite caliber .308. It has the brass rotor, cartridge counter, lever safty, pistol grip. It came with a Pachmier(sp) swing away scope mount that I removed. The only problem is the stock. It is over large. I plan on reshaping it to a schnable and sizing it to the action one day. Also I will add the correct tang sight.:)

Good hunting,

ts
 
Lots of good information also available at

www.gunandknife.com/cgi-bin/forums/savageconfig.pl


There are several models available on the second-hand market, I'm not sure what's available in curent production. My 99 is a 99E which is the basic, economy model. Mike has a nice model with his EG. Mine is a .308, but if I could find one in .243 I would latch on to it.
 
My 99EG was made in 1936.

When I got it, I couldn't figure out why case life was so crappy. It was to the point where I was getting incipient head separations after 2 or 3 firings.

When I went to work for NRA, I got to use their tools, which included headspace gauges.

My 99 EG in .300 Savage would close on a .300 Sav. field gauge.

What was worse, it would close on .308 Winchester go and no go gauges! :eek:

Turns out that some "gunsmith" ran a chambering reamer into it to cut it to .308, but never re-marked the caliber.

Not a good thing to do.

An even WORSE thing to do considering that Savage had to redesign and beef up the action in the 1950s before the 99 could tolerate the .308 & derivitive cartridges.

A trip to my gunsmith turned it back into a .300 Savage.
 
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