Savage model 99 300 savage

[oldebear1950]

i picked one up at a last local gun show and am waiting to load up some ammo and go shoot it.
Any ideas on the gun and caliber?

[Bill in Oregon]

It's an absolute classic in a wonderfully capable caliber. My late uncle, a timber man, horseman and mule packer, preferred it with 165-grain bullets for elk. He also greatly appreciated the ease of slipping a 99 into and out of a saddle scabbard.

[Walt]

The model 99 was a popular deer hunting lever action, manufactured from 1899 until 2000 in a number of calibers. It was sleek and innovative, having a rotating magazine which showed the number of rounds in the gun. Unlike lever actions with a tubular magazine, it allowed use of pointed bullets. The .300 Savage was the design that evolved into the .308 Winchester which has a longer neck to function better in fully automatic firearms.

[FLINT]

The Savage 99 in 300 savage is in my opinion, one of the all time great combinations for deer. Awesome rifle and awesome cartridge. It gives you the best of all worlds.

1. it's a lever action.
2. The savage 99s that I have at least are VERY accurate.
3. Scope mounting is easy, should you desire
4. Plenty of power for any deer up to elk size. Falls probably right between the 30-30 and 30-06 and only slightly below the 308.
5. Handy enough for close range hunting, but the gun and cartridge are long range capable.
6. Very managable recoil. I don't know if it's the geometry of my EG rifle or what, but felt recoil is less than my marlin 336 in 35 rem.

bolt action performance in a lever action rifle.

What model and year rifle did you pick up?

[Dieselman]

I recently took possession of a model 99 300 savage as well. I have been working up a good handload for it. So far I am having good luck with Hornady 150gr SST with and around 41 grs of Varget in .308 winchester brass that I reformed into .300 savage brass.

[Mark in MO]

I had a Savage 99 with a vintage Lyman 2.5x scope for a number of years. I liked it, it was accurate and I killed several deer with it Eventually I traded it for an early model Winchester BB94 in near mint condition. Kids were young and excess money wasn't abundant. While I love the BB, it proved to be another move I regretted. Should have kept both.
My favorite load was a 150 grain Speer Spitzer over a near max load of IMR 3031 for a velocity of around 2550 fps.

[Lastmohecken]

I have owned a couple of 99's. My first one was a .308 bought used, and it had a problem with the fired cases being pretty hard to extract, It had a rough chamber or headspace issues or something. I didn't keep it long. Many years later I purchased a 300 savage, an old one that was not drilled and tapped for a scope. It worked find and shot very good with pretty light recoil. I sold it after a while, for no other reason than I just didn't use it much. Some models are kind of heavy, even though compact and sleek. However, I kind of wish I had kept it. They made a lot of different models, if I stumbled on the right model, I wouldn't mind buying another one. If I did, I would stay in .300 savage, probably, although I kind of always wanted one it 30/30 or 358 Win.

[AJMD429]

.
I always thought of the cartridge as basically what you would get if you necked a 7 mm Mauser up to 7.62 mm and shaped the case to be more suitable in a reasonably short throw lever action. I think both cases have about 52 'grains of water capacity' in terms of case capacity.

My only other thought would be if I had one I'd probably want to try to buy 500 pieces or so of brass, either as factory loads or new brass if possible.

A lot of people want one in 308 winchester, and I guess I don't blame them since it's a fairly common cartridge still, but 300 Savage is really more interesting cartridge and probably more appropriate for a lightweight and handy lever action carbine.

I guess if I had to rebarrel one for some reason I might think about something like 243 Winchester or 6 mm Remington, or 35 Remington, (since I already have a 6mm and 35 Rem), or something really wacky like at 257 Roberts...!

[Lastmohecken]

I think the 300 Savage was probably the most appropriate cartridge for the 99. And I have read about sprung actions and other issues in .308 Win. But I have not read about any issues with the 300 Savage. There wasn't all that many 99 made in .358 Win, but I find that one interesting, and I would consider a lightly used one in that caliber, which I might download just a tad, if I felt like the 99 needed it. They made it in a light straight gripped carbine if I recall. But it seems like at my age, I already have too many rifles to load for and use enough to be worth the trouble.

[Old No7]

i picked one up at a last local gun show and am waiting to load up some ammo and go shoot it.
Any ideas on the gun and caliber?

Yah! We have a levergun posting!!!

I think the 300 Savage was probably the most appropriate cartridge for the 99...]

Gee, I dunno... Having had both calibers, I'd have to give the edge to the .250-3000, aka 250 Savage.

[edit to add] Sorry, thought you'd said "most accurate"; for deer, the 300 Savage is great, but my l'il 250 does a nice job on them too.

Old No7

[Lastmohecken]

i picked one up at a last local gun show and am waiting to load up some ammo and go shoot it.
Any ideas on the gun and caliber?

Yah! We have a levergun posting!!!

I think the 300 Savage was probably the most appropriate cartridge for the 99...]

Gee, I dunno... Having had both calibers, I'd have to give the edge to the .250-3000, aka 250 Savage.

[edit to add] Sorry, thought you'd said "most accurate"; for deer, the 300 Savage is great, but my l'il 250 does a nice job on them too.

Old No7

Nothing wrong with the 250 Savage, I am sure it was a find round for the rifle. Although, I have never had any experience with it.

[FLINT]

The problem with the 250 savage in the model 99 is that for MOST years (1915 - 1960/1) the twist rate was 1:14, so they couldn't stabilize very heavy bullets. For this reason I stick with 87 grain speer hot cor with mine, which does work on Deer and I have killed two with it, but to be honest, I feel like it's about the minimum I'd feel comfortable with and only with broadside shots. I think the 250 savage would be AWESOME with the 1:10 twist and with 117 grain bullets, you'd have a super deer rifle. But they only made 1:10 rifles from about 1960-1980 and I don't love the newer 99s.

The 250 with light bullets I'm sure would be great for coyotes or maybe turkeys or other critters probably 25-100 lbs. Mine shoots very accurately and with almost negligible recoil which is nice.

The 300 savage is a very solid deer rifle. I can't imagine a scenario where you'd need more rifle for deer east of the mississippi. or honestly probably west of it either.

[Old No7]

A neat thing about the .250 Savage...

It's the first and only hunting-level rifle round where I saw "the bullet hit where I'd aimed" -- with the .30-30 or .308, I never saw the round's impact. I'm quite sure the deer weren't too happy with the .250, but I was pretty amazed by seeing the bullet impact.

Old No7

[ollogger]

The 300 Savage is a great cartrge, ive taken mule deer, whitetail & bear &a few coyotes
with the 300, it always worked just fine



ollogger