Took antelope with old 99

[dogwood2]

A few days ago I shot a doe antelope with my 99eg .250 and its vintage Lyman receiver sight. It made for a fun hunt. I had to sneak around, do some stalking, and pick my shot carefully. (I took my shot at about 100 yds.) It feels good just to carry that old rifle around. I could use a finer front sight, though, for longer shots. Any suggestions as to where I could find one?

I had to do some research for the right bullet. I have 1 in 14 twist and it won't handle any 100 grain bullets. The 87 grain Speer Hot Core worked very well with good penetration. I intend to give the .25-35 a rest this November and use the Savage in deer season. In any case, using the old guns adds an extra dimension to hunting, as if I need to state the obvious to this forum.

John

[earlmck]

Now that's how hunting is supposed to be done. Nice report there, John. But don't you have a picture of the old rifle?

Sounds like you don't need to look further for the right bullet, if that one did the job for you. I've got my 14" twist 250 loaded with the 90 grain Sierra Gameking -- boattail hollowpoint. Seems to have a good reputation as a game bullet but I haven't yet shot anything with it.

[earlmck]

Ooops! old earlmck was looking thru pictures to see if they were relevant to the post -- decided they weren't. Actually, that is my old 99/250/14" but the group is from a 10" twist 250. But although I thought the pictures were deleted, once I hit the "submit" button, there they still were. And they didn't come out when I tried an "edit". Sorry about that, John and other levergunners.

[86er]

Nice hunt with a great rifle. Congratulations!

[bdhold]

that really is some hunt, to get a 100-yd shot on an antelope, make it with irons, and make it count.
Congratulations.

[Pete44ru]

A few days ago I shot a doe antelope with my 99eg .250 and its vintage Lyman receiver sight. I could use a finer front sight, though, for longer shots. Any suggestions as to where I could find one?
John

It depends if you've a dovetail-mounted front sight or one pinned into an integral barrel ramp.

Measure the height of your existing front sight, from the top of the bead, down to the bottom - if a dovetail sight, measure to the bottom of the dovetail; if a pinned sight, measure to the bottom of the sight slot (it might have to be unpinned/removed to measure).

Several sight makers - like Lyman, Williams, & Marbles - have front sights available with the thinnest bead size being 1/16", in your choice of Gold bead, Ivory bead, or a green (or red) fiber-optic.

Buy the sight of your choice from Brownell's, MidwayUSA or directly from whichever company - in the height you've measured.

If your rifle has a flat sight blade that's pinned in, a dovetail front sight of the proper height can be ground flat on each side & cold blued or otherwise colored, then drilled/pinned after fitting into the ramp's sight slot.

.

[Bill in Oregon]

John, congratulations on taking an antelope with the 99 and iron sights. Very few hunters today would give it a serious try. My 99 dates to the late 1940s and has the Lyman peep as well, It is also a 1:14 and does not appreciate bullets approaching 100 grains.

[stew71]

Now wait just a minute. You expect us to believe that you filled your tag without using the latest composite-stocked SuperMagnumDeerSlayer? And no scope?

Unpossible.




I really really want a Savage 99.