New levergun,new problem...

[xxclaro]

I bought a Savage 99F in .308 from a friend and picked it up today. Turns out I got a problem. To be fair,he warned me that it had suddenly become erratic in the accuracy department. I saw a slight crack in the tang area of the butt, a loose forend and a dirty barrel. I figured no problem, I'll get this old girl shooting again.
I took it home today and set about cleaning it up. Didn't take long to find the problem. About 4.5 inches from the muzzle,there is a definite loose spot. Inspection with a flashlight verified there is definitley a ring in the barrel.My guess is someone stuck the barrel in the dirt or snow and didn't notice.
Anyway, my dilema is "what do I do now". As far as I can see, it's either rebarrel or cut it down. Since the gun is not pristine and barrels are not easy to find out here, I think getting it rebarreled might be cost prohibitive. Cutting it down will leave me with something less than 18" of barrel,probably 17" to be safe. What's your thoughts on this? I'd have to get a dovetail cut for the front sight too, but all in all I think it should still be considerably cheaper than rebarreling.
Has anyone tried a .308 with a barrel this short? I'm kinda concerned about muzzle blast and velocity loss,although at the ranges it's likely to be used at that may not be an issue. I'm hoping to fix the crack in the tang and perhaps try rebluing it,hopefully it can be salvaged into a decent shooter/hunting rifle.

[Chuck 100 yd]

17" will work just fine for hunting. The longish 99 frame makes them look longer then they are anyway.

[Malamute]

Before doing anything drastic, try cleaning it well and shooting it with a few different loads. It may shoot fine for hunting. If not, then cross that bridge when you come to it.


If it comes to positively needing to do something, the Jess reboring guy can bore it to 338 Federal or 358 Win for $225. A takeoff barrel may be available somewhere also. A few well placed adds may turn one up.

[xxclaro]

Living in Canada has it's drawbacks when it comes to gunsmithing,for sure. I'll see what Ican find around here.

[earlmck]

I thought I was going to be able to "make your day" xxclaro. A few years ago I had a 99 in 308 rebarreled to 260 Remington. I coulda' swore that take-off barrel is floating around my garage and I was going to offer it to you. But I can't find it, and can't remember the last time I even saw it. I hate to say it, but it might have gone by-by in one of the wife's metal recycling drives...

Anyway, there have to be bushels of old 99 barrels out there in gunsmith's scrap-barrel heaps. Somehow you just need to connect with one. Mine was in fine shape, I just wanted a different .308-based cartridge. And there have to be a fair number of other characters just like me who got that bug, and their barrels are sitting around gathering dust somewhere. I wonder if some of the gun-parts businesses like Numrich or Jack First gather up these take-off barrels and stock them. Might be worth a try.

[Old Savage]

Friend of mine had a Remington auto in 308 that I believe was 18 to 18 1/2". He used RN 180s and said it was very effective for woods hunting.

[shooter]

I think you will be fine cutting it down if that is the way you decide to go. My cousin has one of the Ruger compact rifles in .308 with a 16" barrel, and it shoots just fine, at least out to 300 yds. I think it will be more than adequate for the majority of your needs, and it will be a little handier to carry around and point.

[AJMD429]

Unless you're really attached to the .308 Winchester as your chambering, I'd be REALLY tempted to re-chamber to .338 Federal. THAT is a very practical, hard-hitting, and useful chambering. Although it would be 'unique', it isn't so exotic as to be hard to get brass for.

Granted, the .358 Winchester would be cool, too, but think about all the really 'pointy' bullets available for the .338, that just sail-along with their high ballistic coefficients, even if launched subsonically. The .358 bullets out there are nothing to write home about, and don't really take advantage of the box-magazine vs. 'tubular' one which you have in the Savage 99.

[Shasta]

I don't know if my experience will help, but some years back I bought a Model 94 Winchester rifle with a half-round barrel in 30-30 caliber for a mere $125 because it had a noticible bulge about six inches back from the muzzle. You could actually see it on the outside of the barrel. The bore had quite a bit of fouling too. I was going to rebarrel it, but I decided to see if it might not still shoot. After giving it a good cleaning, that rifle shot just as well as if it had a perfect bore.
If that 99 was mine, I would scrub it extra clean and try a few different loads in it to be sure it had lost accuracy. If so, then I would shorten the barrel and use it until a replacement barrel can be found. It is a good rifle. Good luck with it.

SHASTA