Savage model 99

[massmanute]

Any Savage model 99 users out there? I bought one in 1973... clip magazine model in .308 Winchester. It's a nice gun, but I kind of wish I would have bought the rotary magazine model.

[Ranch Dog]

I was married to a gal that had an early 99 chambered in 300 Savage, she is now deceased. I actually traded a fellow a turkey hunt for the rifle, it was in pitiful shape but Linda took a shine to it. I had the stock shortened to accommodate her small frame and the the barrel shortened to 18 1/2" to get it properly balanced and then ported. The metal was parkerized and the stock received a proper oil finish. She hunted with the rifle for years. I sold it a few years after her death. It was a very nice rifle but I have never had one I would call mine. I would buy one chambered in 375 Win if I came across one.

[hawkeyeearl]

I am a fan savage 99 but have never had one sofar. My wish list is for a 303 savage, unmodified. But most any caliber would satisfy the craving for awhile.

[Zippidydoodah]

I have a nice gently used 99 (rotary mag) in 300 savage with original scope mount system that used pins I guess to keep it aligned. I have since bought the long base to remount the scope. Just cut some 308 brass and reformed to the 300 savage to Make some plinking loads. Should make a good pig gun.

[Barry in IN]

I have a .300 Sav 99G (takedown) made in 1927. I like it a lot. It shoots pretty well with jacketed or cast, although I don't think I've shot any jacketed heavier than 150 grains. Velocity almost always runs slower than what the manuals say, for whatever reason(s).

[Doc_Floyd]

I shot my first deer with a 250-3000 in a Savage Model 99, and but regret that I didn't buy the weapon, but in 1954, $60 was a lot of money!

[silvertip]

I know this is an older thread, but I have always had a soft spot for the 99. I have only owned one, a 99E in .308 Win (rotary mag). Loved it. Purchased it in Hartford, Conn in 1968 just before the '68 Gun Control Act went into effect. I was a Hoosier living temporarily in Conn. A few weeks later and I could not have made the purchase. Didn't get a deer that year hunting in Mich., but got three with it over the next two years while stationed at Ft. Hood, Tex. Army friends would bring me 7.62 x 51 empty cases from the rifle (M14) and machine gun (M60) ranges. I loaded my deer rounds with these. Did have some head separations with the cases that had been fired in the MG. Those M60's really stretched those cases and in turn gave me a true learning experience.

I really loved that rifle and wish I could tell you I still had it, but I don't. Sold it after leaving the service when I got into skeet shooting and bird hunting. If I lived in a state where .308 Win was legal for deer, I would have purchased another in a heart beat. But such is not the case in Indiana.

[Arroyoshark]

Older thread that needs some traffic.

I've always liked the Savage 99 for its clean lines, but have not ever come to own one until very recently. The NM Dept. of Fish and Game main office in Santa Fe has a display case with the last grizzly killed in NM, back in the 1930's, along with the Savage 99 that killed it.

About six weeks ago, a former neighbor, now in his 70's, dropped by for a visit. He is suffering from neuropathy in his feet and is falling down a lot. He realized his hunting days are over, so was going to get rid of his Savage 99 in .308. He was on his way, he said, to a gunshop to see if they would buy it from him. Instead he and I reached an agreement and the Savage stayed with me. He told me he had killed several deer and antelope with the rifle, but he'd never killed an elk. I told him that I would try and get that missing elk with the Savage.

He told me he bought the rifle back in the 1960's at Cook's Sporting Goods in Albuquerque, and that it was the deer rifle he always used. It is a Savage 99E, with the blued metal in good condition, but the birch stock exhibits the wear of being carried a lot and knocked around a little. Some of the finish has been worn off from being carried. Overall it is in good condition, with a tight smooth action.

My 150 gr. and 165 gr. loads develop lower velocities than as shown in the reloadiing manual, but it is a 20" barrel instead of a 24" barrel. I also find that I need to stay one or two grains of powder lower than the top load or extraction can get sticky. It is a lot of fun to shoot tho. I mounted a Swift 1.5-4.5 variable scope, which seems like a good range for a .308 with a 20" barrel.

[Ranch Dog]

Very interesting rifle and nice that you know it's story!

[massmanute]

Arroyoshark,

It's a beauty!