Need some help from you Savage 99 experts. I bought an older Savage 99 in .300 Savage recently that the dealer said was built in 1939, according to the serial number. It's not in "collecter" condition, but is a decent shooter. It came with a Kollmorgen Bear Cub mounted in 26mm Redfield rings.

I know that there are numerous variations of the 99, (99-A, 99-E, etc.) but I can find no mark on the gun that gives me a clue as to which model it is. It has rear open sights and a 21" barrel with NO front sights, but doesn't appear to have been cut off (the crown sure looks factory, anyway). The stock is checkered, it has a steel buttplate with a stylized SVG on it, and a black plastic grip cap. It has a magazine counter and is a solid frame non-takedown gun. Serial Number is 386XXX.

Anybody know which model this is? Thanks!

Incidentally, it will place three shots at a hundred yards all hidden behind the two-minute dot of the old Kollmorgen, so no complaints about accuracy.

Go to savageshooters.net and ask in the lever action forums. They helped me out when I got mine. Good luck they are great rifles!

Try the Savage Collectors Forum on 24 Hour Campfire. That is the best source of Savage information that I've run across. Pictures of your rifle would help too.

What does the forearm look like? All Savage 99s were cataloged with front sights, so the absence of a front sight suggests that the barrel has been shortened.

Jeff

you didn't say if it has a streight stock, or where the safety is located! These two things are important. The counter is made of brass and is part of the magazine spool. If it has the strieght stock, and a safety that slides, and locks the lever closed, and has a cresent shaped steel butt plate, then it is a "E" . The barrel was never offered in a 21" length, and all had front sights. The barrel has been shortened, and the rifle was not factory drilled & tapped for scope. It was probably made in the late 30s, or early 40s. All this from memory of a few I owned over 40 yrs ago.
The link to the Savage website is most likely the best place to get the right info!

If it has a schnable forearm it will be an EG. If straight forearm then probably a cut down R. I'm not sure if a cut down T is also a possibility?

Thanks for the replies. The stock is PG, and the safety is on the lever. Buttplate is crescent. No schnabel on the forearm.

I would certainly have assumed that the barrel has been cut (particularly since there would have been no provision for other than iron sights at the time this gun was made). But the crown looks for all the world like a factory crown with a raised radiused -- most recrowns use a flat muzzle with a rebate. However, I suppose that whoever did the work did it many years ago, and must have put in some time and labor making it look like a factory crown. If the remaining barrel is 21" (and quite a handy length, I might add), then the original barrel must have been about 24". No?

Stonecreek,

Funnily enough I was perusing the 300savage load tables while on the thunderbox last night (thinking of a non military and non mag rimless 30cal) and amazed at the performance Hornady got out of theirs with 3,000fps from 130s and 2,800fps from 150s (24" barrelled 99)

Nosler (never pessimistic in their MVs) were considerably slower.

Would be very interested in what you find reloading wise.

I keep it pretty conservative in this old gun. While I might actually achieve 2800 FPS with a 150 grain bullet, the 2600 FPS that matches the factory load is plenty for the ranges at which I'll use this gun.

When I look at the dimension specs on the .300 Savage, I puzzle as to why anyone bothered to "invent" the .308 Winchester (7.62 Nato). There is really very little difference in case capacity (filled to the base of the neck) between these cartridges, and the Savage has the more "modern" sharper shoulder and less body taper. After all, the .300 Savage was designed to duplicate the original .30-06 ballistics (150 gr/ 2700 fps) in a short action gun, which accomplished nicely.

Chambered in a modern turnbolt, there would likely be less differnce in the performance of a .300 SAV and a .308 WIN than in the typical variation between two indidvidual rifles; in other words, one is ballistically the equivalent of the other. As a matter of fact, since I use heavy military brass in my .308, I doubt that its effective case capacity is any greater at all than the .300 with commercial brass.

Stonecreek mentioned using heavy military brass in his .308 thereby reducing case capacity to near .300 Savage levels. This is probably quite true. I use military brass for the .300 Sav and keep the loads to 2600 FPS from a 24" barrel. The brass lasts a lot longer than factory and I don't experience the stretch that I get with .300 Sav commercial brass. Just size the WC cases in .300 Sav dies and turn the part of the new neck made out of the .308's shoulder. Use mild loads and the brass really lasts. Ed

Oh no another cartridge I appear to want..... would be very nice in a Sako short action.

A picture would be nice and I could identify it for you....

It sounds like a 99R or RS as it has no schenalbe like an EG but its checkered and has pistol grip, so that lets the E model out...

One thing for sure the barrel HAS been cut, as ALL Savage Mod. 99 had intrgal front sights...

As a shooter that gun is not worth a lot of money, I would hesitate to pay over a couple of hundred bucks for it, and only if the bore is very good.

Here is my M99-R. This rifle is factory drilled for scope and tang sight. The rollmark is on the side. It was made in 1950. As far as I know the rifle is unaltered save the prehistoric K4 added by yours truly. If Stonecreek's gun looks like this it might be an M99-R.





ZM

"The rollmark is on the side". Please elaborate.

Thanks for the photo, Zeke. Mine looks very similar to your gun. If my dealer's information is correct and mine was made pre-war, I was unaware that such a model came factory drilled and tapped at that time, but this may be the case.

From the photo, I see no outward differences between your gun and mine, so the -R designation may be correct for mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
"The rollmark is on the side". Please elaborate.

Thanks for the photo, Zeke. Mine looks very similar to your gun. If my dealer's information is correct and mine was made pre-war, I was unaware that such a model came factory drilled and tapped at that time, but this may be the case.

From the photo, I see no outward differences between your gun and mine, so the -R designation may be correct for mine.

I"ll elaborate

This rollmark

Is located on the side of the reciever just below the front scope mount on my M99-R

On the M99 Savage's I have seen, most likely 99E models, this mark is usually located on top, right where the mounting holes for a scope would be drilled. Seeing scope holes on the M99E drilled right through this mark is fairly common.

ZM