Savage 99E in .308, what a deal!

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Cosmoline

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Just stumbled across her on my way home from work. A Savage 99E with a mint bore and near-perfect crown for $300. Chambered for .308 Win., smooth as butter action. I've been after one of these for a long time to use as a general hunting and all around rifle. It could use a re-blue, but I see no rust on it and the existing blue has a nice "old gun" color.

SN is A562xxx (A+six digits). Any idea when it was made? My SN books are buried deep under the snow.

She has an existing buckhorn rear "tangent" sight of the cheap American style I dislike (ie, piece of sheet metal welded on the barrel and pried up by a loose riser. That's gonna get replaced with some folding express sights for the '99 I saw at a pawn shop near hear. Just gotta remember what obscure shelf I found those on and track them down again.
 
Great find! I've been looking for one of these myself for over two years now, but they're very thin on the ground in this neck of the woods. Treasure her as she deserves! :D
 
Pics! We want pics.

I've been thinking the 99 in .300 is lonely and would like a mate in .308
Might have to start looking harder, didn't realize the supply was low.

Congrats!

Smoke
 
I'm jealous

I think you should get rid of that old, outdated lever action to a deserving south paw shooter, such as myself :D

Congrats, I hope to one day stumble upon a deal like that!
 
I found a 99E in .308 with a pristine bore and the rifle is in about 98% condition in Childress TX last year at a pawn shop. It had just come in that morning and was priced at $350.00.

I didn't even barter I just snagged her up on the spot. What a fantastic little rifle that thing is!!!

I put some AO ghost ring sights on it she's shooting about 2.5" at 100yds. I've killed several hogs with it and I use it to kill bison on my buddies ranch. Not hunting just shooting them for slaughter. It is just a handy little rifle that's always with me.

I love that little critter.

Here's a picture of my buddies 14 year old daughter and a hog she killed with my 99E.
 
You can check date of manufacture here http://www.savage99.com/savage99_dates.htm

I had a 1st year 308 some time back. Lovely brass rotary magazine with the cartridge counter. Horrible trigger, among the worst I've ever seen. No luck in make it better. It shot about minute of barn. I traded it off. I'd really like to find a good one. It's a handy little rifle and an engineering marvel.
 
Horrible trigger, among the worst I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

My 99 was a hand me down from my Maternal Grandfather, he wasn't much on having work done to any firearm. "Unwrap it and shoot it" was his way of thinking.

Yet the trigger on this 99 is phenominal. I always assumed it was this way out of the box. I don't know if he had it tweaked or not. Other care to comment on their 99 triggers?

Smoke
 
Yikes who wants one then... I got a prisiitne one (99E in 308) in the rack, and I mean prisitine, and Ill probably be real resonable on it too

Wildhowboutonein358toojustjokingAlaska
 
One day, I'll have one in .250 Savage...the original high-velocity cartridge! :D
 
Mine's a tad more washed out in the blue than the one Wild's got. Just did some test shooting this morning--much much better than expected. Off hand 2" group at about fifty yards with 150 grain Federal Classics through mixed underbrush and forest into a partially obscured backstop of logs. The bullets went right where I aimed, so no complaints here. Recoil was non-existent even with such a light rifle.

These were very popular in Alaska prior to WWII. Along with the Remington Autos they were the high-tech rifles of the era. I've seen many vintage pics of bear hunters from that time sporting '99's. I understand they weren't nearly as popular in other regions of the country where shooters were more conservative. Now of course the Alaskans have moved to the .338 and similar boomers, which is fine. But I've got a soft spot for nostalgia.

Can't recall the source, but I also remember a famous "Indiana Jones" style explorer in Central Asia and Tibet in the 1920's sporting a '99 in a high-velocity Newton chambering.

One bad note. When I examined the rifle in the direct sunlilght I saw a number of rust patches starting to develop, so I'll probably take her in next week and have the metal sent in for a cleanup and some hot fresh blue. I'll likely just clean the wood and layer BLO on, topped by a generous protective coat of wax as usual. The checkering around the pisol grip is great and I wouldn't want to touch it with sand paper.

Though I'm not a big scope fan, this one has mounting brackets and is balanced for a scope so I'll probably mount a durable vintage or vintage-looking 3x and zero at 150 yards with 180 grain loads for black bear and moose. Around my place it's unusual to be able to see more than 25 yards in any direction, so that's plenty of range.

All in all it's a keeper. It will almost certainly become part of my permanent arsenal and stands a good chance at taking first blood this Spring :D
 
My 99 has a real useable trigger. Not a sniper smooth death wand trigger but real passible. I don't know if it was worked or not.
 
This is not too old, so different category (forget when they stopped makin this one) ... but three years ago ... gun raffle ... lucked out ..... Savage 99C in .243.

No ''Accutrigger'' but oh my .... a sweet and tight shooter -- considered myself one lucky dude.:)


99c_s.jpg
 
Chris, for the good of your soul, and without entertaining the concept of personal gain (perish the thought! :D ), I think you should donate that rifle to the church. I'd be happy to accept it on their behalf... :p
 
As it happened I just saw the new re-released DVD of the original "Dawn of the Dead" last night. What should the main characters find in a sporting goods store but a Savage 99E!

Peter: "Ain't it a crime."
Stephen: "What?"
Peter: "The only person who could miss with this gun is the sucker with the bread to buy it."

He uses it with great effect until a zombie, no doubt admiring the rifle, snatches it from him.

And the 99 would be an ideal zombie rifle--accurate enough for head shots out to 200 yards or more, yet fast shooting enough for close combat all in a light-weight package.
 
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