Rebarreling a Savage 99 in .260 Rem

[mergus]

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I am slowly refinishing a Savage 99E that my wife and I found amongst my mother in laws effects when she died. Several of you were very helpful in helping me diagnose a feeding issue, and for that I thank you.

I am just about ready to strip the gun down to the bare bones and start sanding the metal. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at things, I read an article in this months Shooting Times about the .260 Remington. All of the things the author praised, the low recoil, ballistic effeicency, etc appeal to me as this will be a rifle for my kid.

My question is, do any of you folks know of any reason why I shouldn't do this? If I read the article correctly, the .260 is a necked down .308, so I assume its about the same length. I'm guessing the chamber pressures of both are in the same neighborhood. Any collector value the gun may have had evaporated when the surface rust arrived.

Any suggestions as to who I'd send the barreled action off to to make the switch? Thanks in advance,

Mergus

[Hobie]

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I am slowly refinishing a Savage 99E that my wife and I found amongst my mother in laws effects when she died. Several of you were very helpful in helping me diagnose a feeding issue, and for that I thank you.

I am just about ready to strip the gun down to the bare bones and start sanding the metal. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at things, I read an article in this months Shooting Times about the .260 Remington. All of the things the author praised, the low recoil, ballistic effeicency, etc appeal to me as this will be a rifle for my kid.

My question is, do any of you folks know of any reason why I shouldn't do this? If I read the article correctly, the .260 is a necked down .308, so I assume its about the same length. I'm guessing the chamber pressures of both are in the same neighborhood. Any collector value the gun may have had evaporated when the surface rust arrived.

Any suggestions as to who I'd send the barreled action off to to make the switch? Thanks in advance,

Mergus

Pepe Ray did just such a project. You might contact him to get the skinny.

[mergus]

Thanks Hobie, I will.

Mergus

[Old Savage]

Should be a fine choice I would think.

[Pepe Ray]

Hi mergus;
The most important aspect of this job is to be certain you have a receiver that will feed the .308 Win. The 300 Sav just won't cut it. A removable magazine model will be clearly manufactured after they started chambering the 308W. In the spool magazines you must use ,either a .308W model or determine by serial number, that it was made after the receiver was modified to accept the longer cartridge.
Regretfully, I do NOT have that information. My conversion uses the removable mag. I gave up trying to find the serial number change over point. It was easier to find a known quantity and was acceptable to me.
I can only say that the conversion was entirely successful for using factory dimensioned loads. My preference in loads required functioning with a 160gr Hornady. It took some careful loading technique but it works also.
The job should be no big deal for a competent gunsmith with a legitimate shop.
Pepe Ray

[mergus]

Pepe Ray, thanks for the reply. My Savage 99E (from what I can tell from searching the internet) is one of the economy models with spool magazine and the stained birch stock. The barrel is marked "High Pressure Steel" on one side and "308 Win" on the other.

I know what you mean about trying to find something out about Savage serial numbers. I thought I knew what confusing was till I started looking into this.....

If you don't mind me asking, who did you have do the rebarrel job on your rifle? Who made the barrel? Did you have them replicate the original contour? I'm pretty sure I want one with no iron sights on it.

Thanks again for the reply,
Mergus

[Pepe Ray]

Hi again;
Because of my unique requirements, 160gr. RNJ bullets, I had to use a military take off bbl.so I could get the twist needed. None of the bbl makers offering "Off the shelf" bbl had what I needed. Of course, "deep pockets" can get what they want, but a SS monthly check wont reach that far. If your happy with the std.140 gr factory loads, or equivalent, most of the makers offering a 6.5mm bbl will have what you want.
I'm fortunate in many ways. For one, I can drive 60 miles in any direction and find 4 gunsmiths capable of the job. There are several "shade tree mechanics" who do smithing but I'm not familiar with their work. Not all of them have web sites.
I did not use the original bbl contour. I had a light wgt carb. configuration, made for an old man to hunt with.
Sounds like your Sav. is an ideal prospect for conversion. BUT, before spending any money on the rifle I'd make 3-6 dummy ctgs and be certain of feeder function. The 260 Rem should feed and function in the 308 chamber. If the head space was tight enough to cause concern remember, that will be changed in the re'bbling. But check the feeding.
I've always had a concern with sending my firearms away, for any reason. However, if you want contact info for these Maine 'smiths, PM me and I'll do what I can.
Pepe Ray

[6pt-sika]

A couple years back I had thoughts of getting a pair of Browning BLR's in 270 WSM and 325 WSM . But after picking up a couple of the rifles at gunshops I saw the error of my ways !

Now this 99 Savage thing has me thinking in another direction !

A pair of 99's that had originally been 243's or 308's could be rebarreled to 260 REM and 338 Federal . And that would pretty much accomplish the same thing I wanted to do with the Brownings .

And I gotta say I truely like the 260 REM and 338 Federal . Heck I've owned two rifles and two pistols chambered for the 260 and still own one of the rifles . Had my little Model 7 since the inception of the cartridge !

As for the 338 Federal I've had a Encore barrel for that one for a year or so now . I had wanted a rifle for that ever since I read Ken Water's article on the 338-08 . And so far this rifle has not been a letdown !

So I think the two calibers would make a really nice North American combo . With the 260 get a twist that would shoot the Nosler 125 and 140 Partition bullets equally well . And for the 338 Federal get a twist that would be optimum for the 200 grain Accubond and the 210 Partition .

And as someone used to say , "thats all I have to say about that" !!!!!!!!!!!!

[mergus]

Pepe Ray, thanks again. This thread is becoming more interesting and valuable to me with each posting.... I'm going to get some .260 cartridges and pull the bullet and powder and try the feeding test. You are lucky to have some decent gunsmiths around. The guy I've been using is going through a divorce and isin't available at the moment.

6pt Sika, its funny you bring up the .338 Federal. Thats a cartridge that caught my eye when it came out. If'n I ever get the urge to augment my lever gun arsenal any further, a Savage 99 or BLR in either would interest me greatly.

Mergus

[H_Talon]

I. Had two 99's in 308 re-barreled ..

1 a 99E went from 308 to 358win .. had to have the rotor changed the 308 won't work
with 358. a smaller bullet shouldn't be a problem ..



2. I had a 99F converted 308 to 7mm08, I love the cartridge but I really hate the feeding
of the 99C I have in 7mm-07. so I had a 99F re-barreled to 7mm-08 . LOVE IT !!!

sorry no pic of it

this is the 99C I had it restocked, doesn't shoot as well as the 358, and the feeding really
isn't very smooth. it's the bottom one. the middle one is the 358win before I had the stock
painted.



have to admit it did bring home the meat



the re-barreling was done by Mazy's in Arizona .. a little steep but they did I great job.
the 358win shoot minuet of bullet hole @ 100yds.

the 260 is based on the 308 shouldn't be a problem in a 99


good luck with your conversion ...

Talon

[MagnumMan300]

Hello:

I just joined the Leverguns.com community, so please be gentle with me (Ha-Ha)!

A Google search on the internet turned up this discussion thread on rebarreling the Savage 99 from several years back. I read through all the replies, and wanted to ask a question or two to those who were involved, and to anyone else with some insight on the subject.

I am preparing my 14 year old nephew for his first deer hunt this fall. I have a Savage 99-C in .308 that we (my brother-in-law) and I thought would be a good choice for him to have as his first big game rifle. But we have been discussing the possibility of re-barreling it to a different caliber, possibly the .260 Rem, for two reasons: one, slightly smaller caliber will recoil less, making it easier for him to shoot, and two; his dad also has a rifle in .260, so there would be no ammo mix-up's etc. I had proposed loading up some reduced strength handloads in .308 for him to use to build confidence in the rifle, and this may still end up being the plan, but I thought I would at least investigate the re-barreling topic for his dad's sake.

So, with that in mind, to those of you who DID re-barrel your 99's....did your gunsmith use a pre-existing barrel from some other gun, or order a new barrel from a barrel maker? I have found another internet discussion where someone converted or modified a Remington 700 barrel to work on the 99. I noted on this discussion that somebody mentioned obtaining a barrel from Pac-Nor; are there any other barrel makers that offer Savage 99 barrels besides them? Or is this something best left up to a gunsmith to decide?

Second question, and this is specifically directed to H-Talon if you read this: you posted a picture of one of your 99's restocked with what appears to be a synthetic stock, done in a spiderweb pattern. Love it! Do you have a source for the Savage 99 synthetic stocks? We're going to have to cut down the current wood stock a bit to fit the kid, but it would be nice to possibly lighten the load a tad as well. And this leads back into the re-barreling issue: if we swap to a lighter synthetic stock, the .308 recoil will be even more pronounced on him, so going down to a .260 might be beneficial. Besides, that spiderweb paint job would look "cool", and not some old fuddy-duddy rifle his uncle gave him!

Thanks for your replies in advance. Much appreciated.

Brando

[Pepe Ray]

For Brando - - MountainMan300 -
Five years is a long time to wait for a response to an inquiry so I apologize for that. I suppose that by this time your Sav. 99 project is completed and the youngster, now a young man, has bagged his first game with it. I hope so. I wanted you to know that I didn't purposely ignore your question. I was unavoidably sidetracked .
Would you be so kind as to tell me how the project worked out?
Pepe Ray

[Old No7]

For Brando - - MountainMan300 -
Would you be so kind as to tell me how the project worked out?
Pepe Ray

Gee, it seems his last sign on was back in 2013...............

Old No7

[Pepe Ray]

Old #7, still havn't figured out how you did that, but thanks any how. He musta got lost on that hunting trip.
Pepe Ray

[Old Savage]

Should be a good match.