Savage 1899 SRC

Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
The local shop here has a nice 1899 in 303 SRC with a crescent plate. Can’t remember blue percentage but fairly high, basically in nice shape. And good shootable bore, strong rifling, but not pristine by any stretch.
My question is is how rare is this configuration and please put a ballpark price on it. I know I haven’t produced any pictures but give it a go. Keep in mind Savages are unusual up here.
He wants to much for it but it’s been in his rack for a year now so there’s some negotiation or trade room I’m thinking. So advise and options would be welcome
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
The Savage collector's forum on 24-hour campfire is a group with some real experts in it. My .303 is an H model, saddle carbine and is a good shooter. Prices on any kind of 99 have gotten crazy lately.
 
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BudHyett

Active Member
.303 Savage brass is rare and not easily made from other brass. If you want it as a shooter, see if there is ammunition that comes with it.
 
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david s

Well-Known Member
The last company I heard of loading the 303 was CIL out of Canada. I don't know if it's still offered or not though.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
There doesn't seem to be much sense to the prices I've seen here. Rotten bore unshootables with almost no finish for a grand is the norm.

I don't know what year model it is or how many times Savage made SRCs but I expect the configuration was rare. You know what that means.

Does the rifle have a square-back bolt or radiused?
 
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obssd1958

Well-Known Member
I bought a couple of bags of PPU 303 Savage brass a year or more ago. It's pretty good stuff, and Graf's currently has it in stock.
A good price around here for a '99 in 303, that hasn't been Bubba'd and is in reasonable condition, would probably be around $800 - the SRC version not withstanding.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
I’m good on brass, dies and all reloading components.
Ian I’ll check the bolt sometime this week when I next go to town.
They are asking too much for it if I remember, what I do remember is it was priced higher than my interest would allow. So first off I need to see if he is going to hold or be reasonable
 
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JustJim

Well-Known Member
Two factors to consider here: model and caliber. A lot of 303s have trashed bores, and brass can be hard to find at times. The SRC was model 1899F, and while not rare most of them have seen a lot of miles. You've addressed the bore condition and are good on ammo.

Around here (Nebraska) last year I saw 5)1899s and 20+) 99s. SRCs in approx. 60-90% condition were going for ~$800 on average. For comparision, I saw some EGs in 300 Savage, similar condition, at about the same price or a bit less. Locally at least, demand seems down unless it is a .250, a 99C in 243 or 308, or some oddball like a .358 or .375 Winchester.

Takedowns used to carry a premium of about $100; I didn't see that last year. The premium for tang sights--at least the common tang sights--seemed to be gone as well.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Personally I can’t remember seeing a SRC Savage before but I’ve been in Alaska for close to 50 years but when I travel I take a gun show when I can and certainly gun shops when on the road. So I do get around some but not east of the Continental Divide.
I paid $700 for a 30-30 1899 couple of years ago which is in good shape, with about 40% blue left and a dark, strong rifling that’s slightly rough but shoots good.
The SRC is certainly in better shape with a better bore and I’m not a collector anymore I like to shoot my guns. So not being a collector while a SR is cool, it probably won’t enhance the shoot ability of the rifle. So I think I’m taking myself out of buying unless the price is right.
 
Snakeoil

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
My Dad had that very rifle. Killed many deer with it. He brought it to Savage when they were still in Utica. I went with him. I was pretty young, maybe 14 or so. I don't remember why he brought it there. The first thing the Savage customer service guy did was pull out the go/no-go gauges. The no-go chambered and the action closed. He said that the rifle had excessive headspace and pretty much condemned it. He said they would allow my Dad something like $50.00 towards a new '99. He politely declined and we drove back home. He continued to hunt with the rifle and never had a problem.

Today, knowing what I know, I'm surprised that Savage did not offer to set the barrel back and recut the chamber, or even rebarrel it. My guess is they were not in the gunsmithing business and did not offer refurbishment services.

So, my point here is you may want to check headspace on that rifle before you buy it.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
If that or just about any of my rifles ends up with a head space problem I would think I’d just let the shoulder move forward a mite and take over the problem. Now if said rifle was going to be pushed to the max, well that’s a different story. I pretty much quit doing the hot rod thing. I personally can’t do any hot rod stuff so why ask a firearm that’s older than me do it.
But Snakeoil your point is well taken.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
My 1899 .30-30 would chamber the no-go gauge and if I held the rifle vertically and shook it up and down the gauge could be heard slapping the bolt face. I didn't bother to measure how much over max it was because I was completely rebarreling it anyway, but it was a bunch. I did shoot it and run some paper-patched loads through trying to save the sewer pipe and see if it really needed the barrel replaced, other than 6" groups at 50 yards from the coned muzzle I didn't have a single issue with the function. It might have separated case heads in short order if hot loads fully resized every firing were used, but the handloader can control that.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Yeah I had a couple of Winchester 94 takedown rifles that were very loose. One would wobble side to side don’t remember how much but I remember being slightly shocked that someone had been shooting it to get it in that condition and apparently survived with all body parts intact. I thought about shimming it but finally figured out that wasn’t a good option.
Call P. O. Ackley and talked to him through his daughter since he couldn’t hear worth beans. Anyway he put me on track to tighten the rifle back to specs.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have yet to personally see a Savage 99 take down that was tight. I have however seen several 99 TD's that had the barrel shank shimmed by various methods and then Loc-tited into place. Not many people need a TD lever gun to make their travel on the train to the Great American Wilderness more convenient!
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
Of my 99s, only one is a take down, a .22 Highpower. Seems tight, never taken the barrel off and won't. All I've shot through it is cast gallery loads.

It's been kind of a goal of mine to kill a deer with each of the Savage proprietary cartridges in an iron sighted 99, but so far, I've only done it with the .300. I have used a .308 and .358, both of which were scoped and also post one million serial numbers, so don't really count.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Bret4207 said:
I have yet to personally see a Savage 99 take down that was tight. I have however seen several 99 TD's that had the barrel shank shimmed by various methods and then Loc-tited into place. Not many people need a TD lever gun to make their travel on the train to the Great American Wilderness more convenient!
Click to expand...
Yeah but they’re cool.
Used to collect Winchester takedowns mostly 94’s a few 92’s, 95’s one low wall and one 86. Made about 3,500 94’s less 92’s and 86’s very few 1885’s I think around 800 or so, 95’s I’m thinking the count was right at 1,400. The 95 there were more 95’s than the other models except for 94’s.
Had a couple Savages, Marlins plus a few odd balls that happened my way but the Winchester lever And single shots were my interest for many years. Interesting rifles.
 
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