Blame Bill/Oregon for tweaking my imagination. I have a M99 ca 1950 250-3000 takedown that I re-stored a few years ago. It's a real sweetheart, but has the old 14" twist. Anyone care to opine on how this would convert to 284 Win? Ammo should fit the rotary mag. Savage did chamber the 99 for 284 Win, as I recall.

The rotors are different for one. I'm not a 99 expert but sticking with the same parent case would be best. May be a nice 6.5-250 or a 300 Savage?

Or maybe a 270/300 Savage wildcat.

Mart

You would definitely need to swap out the rotor, plus some other minor modifications to shoe horn a .284 into it. Plus, it would have to be done on a receiver already used for a .308-class cartridge. The pre-.308 receivers (late 50's) are too small internally to allow it.

Then there's the issue with .284 rotors. They are rarer than hen's teeth. In fact hen's teeth are as common as cigarette butts on the ground in comparison to .284 rotors.

Oh poop! My gunsmith told me that there are several reasons it won't work, including the receiver steel, etc. However, the 6.5 x 250 wildcat sounds really interesting. The 300 Savage is certainly doable, but I'm more interested in a smaller caliber. I'll check dimensions and see if the bore would clean up at 6.5 or .277. Also will check case capacity of the 300 Savage as a parent for better performance. The 250 case would likely produce anemic results.

Stirring the pot here always raises some interesting stuff previously stuck to the bottom.

Mart, Ambidextrous rifles like the 99 can be interesting, too. Fellow left here.
Brice

"I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous."

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:
Mart, Ambidextrous rifles like the 99 can be interesting, too. Fellow left here.
Brice

"I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous."

Brice,

You're absolutely right. I should change my sig line I suppose. I meant it somewhat tongue in cheek as a take off from Townsend Whelen's famous quote, "only accurate rifles are interesting". I actually find a few right handed rifles interesting. And yes Savage 99's are very interesting. They of course were intended for lefties anyway.

Mart

The 6.5-,250 Savage is essentially a 6.5 Creedmore so factory brass is available. It is an extremely efficient round.

Won't matter if you use the .250 or .300 as the parent case for a wildcat. They're the same case, different shoulder/necks.

I think the sav 99 in 284 was a mag fed, not spool fed. I'm sure anything could be done though.

Hi back 40. You're right. And, everything could be done, but it would be like building a new rifle. I'm liking the 6.5 approach.

Would a re-bore to 7-08 work? Check it out, as it is closer to what you initially wanted.

Geoff

Brice -- Bill/Oregon just has you worried about your manhood. It's easy to feel a little underpowered with a 250-3000 when reading about all the 375s, 400s, 450, and 500s on this forum. Perhaps it's sort of like being caught in the locker room when the basketball team is taking their showers. But don't let it get you down. The 250-3000 Savage was an instant success because it launched 87gr bullets at 3000fps and you can and should do that with your rifle.

Your Model 99 has the wonderful ability to be both a great varmint rifle and a great deer rifle. There isn't a blacktail deer in the Pacific northwest that can withstand a well placed 87gr soft point from a .250-3000 Savage. Some of the many .257 caliber bullets available to handloaders can achieve surprising accuracy in the Model 99.

You say the rifle is "a real sweetheart, but has the old 14" twist". But you're talking about reboring it for wildcats that require you to reload anyway, so..........

I say --- Keep it as is and just load the rifle for what it was made for and go for it!

There are many great 75gr to 90gr bullets available to cover both varmints and medium game.

Don't be embarrassed using a smaller cartridge. Remember, it's not the caliber that counts. Its what you do with it.

I killed a number of elk and a couple of big black bear and many deer in my mispent cowboy youth, with my Sav. 99 in 250-3000, most with factory ammo eithe 100 gr. Silvertips or 117 gr. Peters ammo..Try it you will like it.

Today, I have a number of larger calibers but I still hunt with the 250 on ocassion, its easy on the shoulder, accurate, and deadly on deer and antelope.

I usually use handloads and premium bullets these days for deer and antelope for whatever reason, but the results have not changed at all.

Good advice Ray, Grenadier, et al. Time to leave it alone. I was thinking of getting a bit more accuracy and being able to use 100-120 gr bullets. I went back to my load records for the rifle and found one using W760 that looked promising. Don't know why I didn't pursue it.

By the way, any opinions re best 87 grain bullets?

Incidentally, when I rescued this orphan I took it totally apart and stoned, polished just about all of its innards. Added a trigger overtravel stop, etc. Today I have on my bench a near-virgin M99 Model A (straight stock)from a friend. Doubt it has 20 rounds through it. Quite a difference in the feel and operation. I'm replacing the scope, will sight it in, check it out for his young son's first deer hunt this fall.