A Tale of two Savage 99's

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BenT
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A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by BenT »

Well, in 2015 I walked out of a Gun shop with my wallet $800 lighter and a 99 savage in each hand. Which it's not uncommon to walk out of a Gun shop with a lighter wallet, but it was much lighter today.

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Both guns were takedowns. The bottom one is a 250 Savage made in 1919 with the layman peep sight, a little dickering and it was mine for $500. It has honest wear for deer rifle excellent bore and shoots 100 grain
bullets great. The stock was cracked at the wrist. You can see the previous owner put three nail in it. The lever still has good case coloring. I picked up the correct period stock with checkering off of Ebay this last fall.

But this story is about the top gun. It is a takedown in 300 savage made in 1921. Fully custom, tapped for a scope, check out the added cheek comb and recoil pad for this hard shooting rifle. Now the fore stock, I am not sure what they were trying to do with it. But what I do know is that someone was King of the north woods with this custom deer slaying machine. I am sure it killed many a deer and when tracking this gentlemen stayed on course, never loosing a track. I can tell this because it had the Marbles brass compass in the stock. (the other side)

Fast forward about 100 years and I am at the Gun shop looking at this project, because that is what it is. The 99 that I always wanted was 250 carbine. This had the straight grip, but would need a bunch of money to get it to where I would want it . When the shop owner said $300 since I was buying the other one it was hard to say no. It was a custom gun so it was time for a custom make over.

Now this project took a few years to complete but my first purchase was a barrel. Midway was closing out their Adam & Bennet Savage model 10 barrels. There was one chambered in 250 Savage, $99. I measure the barrel dimension at the chamber of a Savage 10 barrel and that of the 99. There was plenty of steel in the model 10 barrel to turn it down and thread for the 99. It was medium contour barrel not the pencil, which I liked. I took the the barrel and gun to my Amish Gunsmith that I use. In about 8 months I had it back with the barrel fitted , cut to 20 inches and polished and blued. The lever was also blued since the case coloring was gone. I purchased wood and the correct butt plate. Fitting a savage 99 stock it very challenging. Lots of curves, work on it a little, then put it away type of a job. Well when I was sent to work from home in March of 2020 it was time finish fitting the wood. The fore arm channel had to be opened up a little for the fatter barrel.

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Here it is with no scope

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Here it is with the Leupold 2x7 scope which is perfect. The stock has 18 coats of boiled linseed oil. I would preheat the wood next to wood stove. I thinned out the linseed oil and let it soak in, then buff off the excess in 15 minutes. Let bake next to the wood stove for 24 hours and repeat. I was very pleased on how this turned out.

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I inleted a rear sling swivel.

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This was a take down rifle and I was not planning on taken it down to travel on a train anytime soon. I might regret this, because the way things are going, gasoline will be outlawed and we all be riding on an electric train. Not a Lionel either. The front take down mechanism on this gun was broke and the previous owner secured the forearm with a screw. So I tried looking for a replacement mechanism to no luck. So I decided to make it fixed with an integrated sling point. I started out with half inch square stock, drilled the holes then ground and filed it into shape. One screw secures it to the barrel with a blank in the front dove tail hanger. The second screw goes into the wood. I am very pleased with how this 2020 custom gun turned out. It shoots great and is a joy to carry for hunting. This one is a keeper.

Now as for the 300 Savage barrel that I took off this gun. I fitted it to the 250 Savage takedown. I swapped the rotary carriers between guns and the 300 carrier works just fine feeding 250 savage also. I just need to make a velvet lined travel case for the gun and it's two barrels. Just in case I need to get on an electric train someday.
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ollogger
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by ollogger »

I always like a bit of flair in a good story, and the fact that you have two nice guns ads the class!



ollogger
Oldncrusty
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by Oldncrusty »

Great story and nice work. Good to see an old classic rehabilitated.
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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

My mouth is watering over this take down combo .300/.410
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gamekeeper
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by gamekeeper »

Great project and nicely executed too...... :mrgreen:
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

Ben that is really good work. But here is a tip, don't get on the train....electric or diesel, don't get on the train.
BenT
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Location: Northern Wisconsin

Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by BenT »

Scott Tschirhart wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 8:54 pm My mouth is watering over this take down combo .300/.410
That is a beauty. I need a case like that but with some room for a couple vintage boxes of ammo.

I don't plan on getting on the train. :)
piller
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Re: A Tale of two Savage 99's

Post by piller »

Nice rifle. Now, Don't go riding that long black train. :wink:
D. Brian Casady
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