Suggestions needed on Rebarreling a Savage 99

[earplug]

If barrel is truly ruined by rust and your son is a cast bullet maker, do some research on some wildcat .333 or larger rounds that can be made from the basic .300 Savage. Then consider having the barrel redrilled and rifled an chambered for the the wild cat. That way you can keep the barrel and have a cast bullet custom gun in the family.
I have a 1956 vintage 99 in .300 Savage, I need to go pass a patch of Breakfree down its bore tommorrow.

 

[Meatco]

Earplug:

Actually, I did think of redoing the bbl, and the .338 was the first caliber I thought of. However, not only will the .338 will cost more per round, my son would have poorer bullet selection, and he would also be unable to buy off the shelf ammo should he do a fly-off hunt. If he were to just shoot this at home, he would also use more lead every time he pulled the trigger. So, I'll just buy the use 300 Savage bbl (assuming my receiver has the square threads it requires)

Thanks,

Richard

 

[Ash]

By the way, metalurgy from the 1930's and 40's is plenty safe and fully the equal to 1960's or today. A 99 made in the 1940's would be functionally no different than one made today.

Ash

 

[Harve Curry]

Meatco,
My 2 cents is .308 win. Investigate all the options of getting there, like a Savage take off barrel, custom barrel, etc.
That campfire website sounds interesting, I'll have to read that to. If your son is a shooter he will appreciate the 308 ammo availablilty, components, price, being able to shoot it just about anywhere.
My 1972 vintage 99A is a 308 I bought as a teenager and I don't think I could have made a better choice as to the cartridge. 20" barrel. With a K3 Weaver scope I could hit 500 meter rams with it, 3/4 MOA was my best group for 3 shots. I thought I shot it out when groups got big and hung it up. A freind came by and was looking
at it, tapped on the scope and you could hear it vibrate across the room.
Broken scope.
So the 99's are capable of good acurracy and a custom barrel could be even more accurate.
There was a tapered octagon barreled Savage made to, looked real nice. A professional job of rebarreling to 308, maybe even some engraving
sounds good to me.

 

[Ash]

Just remember what was said about the magazine feed system. 308 may not even be possible.

Ash

 

[goon]

I just checked to see if a .308 round will fit in my Grandfather's old Savage.
It won't. The action lacks about 1/4" of allowing a round to fit down into the magazine and the inside of the action also seems to have the wrong contour to allow a .308 round to feed even if it did fit. Looks like sticking with the original cartridge is definitely the way to go.

While I had the rifle out, I naturally found time to put a thorough coat of oil on it.
It really is about the quickest handling and most graceful rifle I've ever shot or handled.
If I fould find just one like it in .308 I'd probably have to sell my FAL to buy it.

 

[Harve Curry]

I asked a old friend of mine about Savage 99's. Like what was said above and I missed, he said "on a 99 you stick to the cartridge it came with".

 

[Meatco]

Well, the old bbl is off, and I'm awaiting the arrival of the new (used) bbl for Numrich.

Turns out, it had the sq threads after all, and the 24" .300 Savage bbl was in stock.

The whole business will take less than 2 weeks, and the total cost will be less than $200.00.

"I think that's understood. Just realize that most folks who know a thing or two about collecting firearms are going to think it would be monumentally stupid to rebarrel your Savage. An ugly original barrel will always be worth more on that gun than a nice new one. " Ok, JesseL, you ready to buy this old bbl now??

Thanks,

Richard