Ian
Notorious member
This rifle was in my FIL's estate, no idea of the history or how he came into it. By the SN it appears to have been made in 1908 or 1909 (depending on whose records are referenced). Caliber is .30-30 Winchester. It appears to have been refinished at some point, both wood and metal, but I can't be sure. My clues to the refinish are the SN being heavily buffed in one spot, taking one digit down to about half its original depth. There are runs in the finish, it appears to be varnish of some sort, and there's a large chip missing behind the tang which has been varnished over. The front sight blade looks like it was made out of a nickel, hammered out and soldered into the groove in the original (?) base.
The bore is a sewer pipe and has been cleaned to death with a steel rod, almost no rifling is left in the muzzle end, but most of the rifling shape is present in the remainder of the bore, including right up to the end of the chamber (no ball seat cut). The action is very positive and tight, the magazine works and the counter is properly timed. Headspace is spot-on and the chamber is good. I shot about 20 rounds of very light, plain-based cast bullet loads through it (about 1050 fps loads) and it printed a respectable 3" group at 50 yards once I learned to aim almost a full two feet low and 6" to the left.
My question is what to do with the poor thing, fix it up or leave it alone? This is my first experience with the Savage 99, and I personally think they're ugly, awkward, and poorly proportioned, although after actually shooting this one it is starting to grow on me a bit. In its present condition we don't want to sell it, but it doesn't appear to be worth fixing to sell. I'm leaning toward buying it from the estate and re-barreling it, re-stocking it, and refinishing the receiver in an acid case-color, but a blank, reamer, and floating reamer holder add up to a lot of money, and I still would need at the least a tang sight to be able to shoot it (no scope base holes) with my eye condition. I'm pretty sure I can fix it up without it being a total "Bubba" job, but before I start down that road, some opinions from those more familiar with these rifles than me would be appreciated. A lot of folks seem pretty passionate about these old rifles and may have a better idea of what route I should take.
The bore is a sewer pipe and has been cleaned to death with a steel rod, almost no rifling is left in the muzzle end, but most of the rifling shape is present in the remainder of the bore, including right up to the end of the chamber (no ball seat cut). The action is very positive and tight, the magazine works and the counter is properly timed. Headspace is spot-on and the chamber is good. I shot about 20 rounds of very light, plain-based cast bullet loads through it (about 1050 fps loads) and it printed a respectable 3" group at 50 yards once I learned to aim almost a full two feet low and 6" to the left.
My question is what to do with the poor thing, fix it up or leave it alone? This is my first experience with the Savage 99, and I personally think they're ugly, awkward, and poorly proportioned, although after actually shooting this one it is starting to grow on me a bit. In its present condition we don't want to sell it, but it doesn't appear to be worth fixing to sell. I'm leaning toward buying it from the estate and re-barreling it, re-stocking it, and refinishing the receiver in an acid case-color, but a blank, reamer, and floating reamer holder add up to a lot of money, and I still would need at the least a tang sight to be able to shoot it (no scope base holes) with my eye condition. I'm pretty sure I can fix it up without it being a total "Bubba" job, but before I start down that road, some opinions from those more familiar with these rifles than me would be appreciated. A lot of folks seem pretty passionate about these old rifles and may have a better idea of what route I should take.
