My Savage Model 99E

[finfanatic]

I have been wanting one for awhile and today when I saw this one at the gunshow I couldn't pass it up.



A Savage Model 99E in 308. It has the rotary mag but not the round counter.

Someone has removed the factory rear sight and installed a Williams peep rear sight.



This one says it was manufactured in Westerfield, Mass. Using Savage99.com I dated it to 1951.

I used to see several at the gun shows, but lately, they seem to be drying up.

I am still looking for one in .300 Savage.

 

[redneckdan]

That's not an 'installed' rear sight....thats is a bubba'd on rear sight....:banghead: Otherwise, nice shooting iron you got there. Gotta do something about that sight though...it messes with the natural feng shui of the savage lever gun....

 

[Vern Humphrey]

A Savage Model 99E in 308. . . . This one says it was manufactured in Westerfield, Mass. Using Savage99.com I dated it to 1951.

The .308 Winchester cartridge did not exist in 1951.

 

[finfanatic]

You are correct VH. I went back and typed in the serial number again and it says 1951 OR LATER, so....

I shot the rifle today. I had bought some cheap ammo at Academy Sports to try out the rifle. Monarch. The Savage would not extract it. It fired fine but both rounds I tried I had to pry the cartridge case out with a screwdriver...er I mean customized extraction tool.

I examined the cases and could not see anything to indicate the extraction problems?

I switched to UMC .308 I bought in the 1980s and it functioned perfectly.

The second problem...the rifle was shooting about 14" high. I lowered the Williams peep down as low as it would go and it was still shooting about 8" high.

The rifle grouped well. I managed a 2" group at 100 yards with the unfamiliar peep sight
... even though it was 8" high.

I am planning on putting a scope on this rifle. Any suggestion for scope, rings and mounts?

 

[Random Discharge]

Scope suggestion: 32 mm or less. While this limits you to ~7x (think 2-7) on the high end, this really is no limitation at all for 308 hunting ballistics. Downsizing the scope is in better keeping with the handling properties of a lever gun. If you are going to over scope a lever gun, you might as well get a bolt gun. Beautiful rifle. Enjoy it.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

My dad hunted in Sumatra in the '30s with a .250-3000 Savage (and got a nice tiger) and in the late '40s in Etheopia with the same rifle (and got a lion, a cheetah, a kudu good enough for the record books and a lot of lesser hoofed game.) His rifle mounted a Weaver K2.5 scope. If I had your rifle, I would mount a small scope -- a 2X7 with a 32mm bell is as high as I would go.

 

[sebtool]

That's not an 'installed' rear sight....thats is a bubba'd on rear sight....:banghead: Otherwise, nice shooting iron you got there. Gotta do something about that sight though...it messes with the natural feng shui of the savage lever gun....

+1 redneckdan!

Gotta agree - the William's gotta go, or get moved to the back of the receiver, where it belongs....
I'm checking out the Burris Timberline scopes, they have a 3-9x32mm, and a 2-7x28mm available. I just posted on here looking for info/reviews on them. They might be a good option for your 99.

BTW - I'm jealous! Nice rifle!

 

[Kernel]

The .308 Winchester cartridge did not exist in 1951.

"The 308 Winchester was introduced to the public as a sporting cartridge by Winchester in September 1952...."

http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm.308winchester.html

 

[Vern Humphrey]

And Savage had to open up the action a bit to accomodate the .308 -- which basically killed off the .300 Savage, as it's little brother, the .243 Winchester did in the .250-3000.

 

[22lr]

I just got a 99 in 308, probably one of the best deer guns available, very nice guns. To bad I live in Indiana were you cant use 308 to shoot Bambi. :banghead:

Big thanks for mentioning that site, lots of good info.

 

[JonB]

This site has some Savage 99 aficionados. A lot of good information and knowledge. They may be able to help pinpoint the year of manufacture for your rifle.