Gone, But Not Forgotten

[lizziedog1]

The Remington Model 788 and the Savage Model 99 are both great rifles. Why are they gone?

There are many guns that are no longer being made with good reason. There are current guns being made with no apparent good reason. But there are few obsolete firearms that make you scratch your head.

Over the last few years several new cartridges and bullet designs have popped up to improve the ballistics of lever action rifles. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that. Some shooters like lever actions and making them capable of shooting a little farther could help a hunter.

But, didn't the Savage 99 fill that void?

It didn't have a tubular magazine, pointed bullets could be used. It also came in some calibers that extended effective range. The 300 Savage is a cartridge that goes beyond short range. It even came in 358 Winchester, a pretty good thumper.

So, why is this rifle gone?

Can you think of other guns that are no longer being made and it makes you wonder why?

 

[230RN]

Repeat this after me: "Marketing."

Then repeat this: "The latest-and-greatest syndrome."

Then: "Jones-keeping-up-with."

And you are then back to: "Marketing."

Repeat ad infinitum, or at least until the concept settles in to your brain.

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

 

[forindooruseonly]

230RN, I think you forgot to throw "production costs" into that list. But yeah, I agree.

 

[rule303]

Marketing, and limited demand, for one. Cost of production for another. The production costs on the Savage 99 were way too high to compete with the Browning BLR, and when the company was having financial problem 20 or so years ago they stopped production of everything but the 110 series, and it must have worked, since they now seem to be "king of the mountain" of the bolt guns. Lots of great guns are gone due to the high cost of manufacture, and some have continued on in a cheapened form (870 Express), or are now produced offshore (Winchester 94, etc).

 

[CONNEX 3300]

Yeah I kinda scratched my head when Hornady and Marlin brought out their "revolutionary" long range lever guns. Nothing that the Savage 99 couldn't do in .308 or .243. Don't get me wrong, the marlins are fine guns, and I'm glad that Hornady is pushing the limits with new technology. More power to both of 'em. But I'm not fooled into thinking that this is a new breath of life for lever guns. That happened decades ago with Savage and the BLR.

 

[Dave Workman]

My guess is that, at least with the 99 Savage, they could no longer make it economically. That was, and remains, one of the finest rifles ever made.

I have my grandfather's Model 99. Killed my first buck with it well into the previous century.

He gave it to me when I graduated from High School. It is a straight-shooting nail driver that has killed more deer than I'll ever know. His is in .300 Savage. It;'s got the old rotary magazine, steel S-curve buttplate, Schnabel forend, safety along the lever, and he put on a full buckhorn rear sight.

It will one day belong to one of my sons.

I added a scope several years ago, and am working up some light-bullet loads to add some velocity.

The 99 has one of the strongest actions for a lever action I've ever seen. The guy who designed it was a genius.


SAY...anybody know where I "might" find a lever for that rifle?

 

[Smokey Joe]

The elegant Savage 99...

IMNSHO, the Savage Model 99 is by far the nicest-looking lever-action ever made. I don't need another rifle, Heaven knows. But if a 99, especially in .300 Sav, double-especially an older one with the rotary magazine and the window that tells you how many rounds are left in the magazine and the schnabel fore-end, were to come knocking on my door, I sure wouldn't tell it to go away!!

Like many fine firearms--and other things for that matter--far too costly to manufacture in today's marketplace.

 

[akodo]

Not all methods of manufacturing are equally economical. Take a look a the Thompson SMG vs the Grease Gun, extremely different cost for a very slight improvement in functionality.

The savage 99 was made for almost 100 years, but everything you say about it could also be applied to the Winchester 1895...which could also handle longer bullets.

Honestly, there just isn't enough of a market for these older styles. People talk about 'if they made it again we'd all buy it!' but the few times that a company has revisited a 'retired classic' we have NOT bought it. (Ruger Deerfield in 44 magnum anyone?)

We decide what guns stay based on what we buy.

 

[rbernie]

The Savage 99 had two significant issues; poor extractor design, and high production cost. The first was fix-able but never fixed, and Savage tried for almost a half a century to fix the latter without success.

After WWII, when bolt guns became all the rage, Savage was hard pressed to maintain a high retail cost in the face of Rem700 and Win70 competitors.

 

[bowhunter]

Well the savage 99 I can see crying over BUT

the Remington 788 was junk IMHO I had one in .308 and won't ever miss it.

Bring back the colt Woodsmans .22

 

[Millwright]

Model 99's aren't gone, they're just lolling on tables at gun shows ! Iv'e seen a couple of dozen at the few show's I've attended this past year !

If memory serves the Savage bolt "locks up on the receiver" so changing one to a more "universal cartridge" - provided cartridge dimensions fit the works, and "bolt thrust" didn't exceed OEM specs - would mean only a barrel change ! >MW