doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 1956 (as new) Model 99 in .250-3000

Since I was back in the land of my youth last week, I visited the wife of another dear friend I'd lost several years ago (this getting-old stuff is a bit wearing). We've been in contact somewhat regularly lately as she'd finally reached out after I'd found some photography of her late husband this Spring that neither of us had ever seen before. The photographs caused me to catch my breath when I first saw them and when I arrived for our visit, she'd even had the best one framed and on her living room table. Her world has been very hard since her husband's passing (she has no other immediate family) and she only is just now starting to deal with her surroundings on more-even terms. As I had been back there for another funeral, I'd hoped this visit would be more of a nostalgic tour of my old stomping grounds (and a break from all the painful, emotional stuff) but this visit was almost as emotional as my earlier duties. Oh well...lots of things had been unsaid for several years now and my visit did seem to be somewhat cathartic (for us both). After several hours, I left feeling pretty good about it all and... she had even gifted me with one of his rifles (which he'd evidently wanted me to have). I've never owned anything like it before and wondered what the general feelings were about these firearms here. She included two boxes of clearly early (antique? from the 40s and 50s) ammunition and one more modern box as well. This is easily the nicest Savage I've ever handled. Machining and blue are quite flawless and the wood is clearly wearing it's original finishes. The weight is minimal and the 24-inch barrel is wearing it's original iron sights. Many of his other 99s had been fitted with early Weaver scopes, but this one is unmolested and I seriously doubt that it's even been afield. While it's almost too-nice to use, I was considering using it on a mule deer doe hunt this coming Fall.

These guns seem to have an almost cult-like following back in that part of the world, as does this cartridge. What says the cognoscenti here on the subject?

I deeply regret not buying one several years ago. I will make a very fine mule deer rifle and you will think of your friend while you are waiting for one.

There is a Savage collectors discussion group on 24hourcampfire.com that includes the author of the definitive book on Savage 99s. It would be worth your while to post an inquiry there.

I like 99s. My primary whitetail rifle is a 1950s 99 in .300 Savage.

Remington 40X: At your suggestion, I joined the 24hourcampfire site. Need to be blessed by their administrator first, but you're right about the resource. Thankyou for that.

Lloyd:

You are most welcome.

Rem

My first deer rifle is (I still have it) a 1950’s Savage 1899EG in .250/3000.

I bought it as a south paw it because at the time there were no left-handed .243 rifles on the market in the UK.

Actually, thinking about it now, it was the second one I bought. The first, bought at auction, I had tapped for a scope but went back to grumble when the scope did not align with the barrel.The gunsmith discovered that the barrel had a “run off” to the side of a few degrees from the centre line of the action.Either the shoulder of the barrel or the action face had not been trued up.

The previous owner had fitted it with a Parker-Hale peep sight and probably never noticed.

Anyway that one went back to auction but I still wanted one and a friend found my present one for me in Yorkshire.

When it arrived something seemed strangely familiar about the serial number. Had I bought the first one back again?

I checked, it wasn’t but they were consecutive serial numbers!

It proved very accurate particularly with 86 or 87 grain bullets.

Lloyd, if it has a 1 in 14” twist you may find it is fussy about bullet length with 100 grain bullets. Semi pointed flat based Speer 100 grain bullets should shoot well but longer pointed boat tails might not stabilise.

Parabola: This is an EG as well and... yes, that seems to also be the consensus on the Savage Collectors site. An issue to contemplate, I suppose. Purely by accident, I had accumulated an 8lb jug of Varget powder before the great COVID component famine descended on us all. And, even well-before that, I had put back a large brick of the appropriate primers (during the great Bill Clinton/Janet Reno primer famine of the 1990s, remember that one?). Assuming that I can find the lighter (87 grain) Speer Hot-Cor pills out there somewhere, I should be able to work up a load for this venerable cartridge & rifle. My great concern now is that it will be just too-nice for me to use (if that's at all possible). Yet another good problem to contemplate.

Lloyd,

Use it and enjoy it, that is what it was built for and I am sure your friend would want you to.

I have found with mine that the FPSN 86gr Remington bullets for the .25-20 group well even though they are being pushed at about double their design speed.

I have noticed however that on paper targets they leave a swirl of lead vapour around the bullet hole. And on a hot day from a warm barrel one turned into a puff of smoke about 50 yards down range.

They should work well on varmints.

I did use one once (and I concede it was not the best of ideas) to cull a Roebuck in a very small field where I was anxious to avoid an exit wound and any risk of over travel.

It did the job, but to my surprise chopped a one inch hole out through the far rib as it exited into a safe background.

I used to have 7 or 8 Savage 1899/99 and a couple 1895 Savage rifles. I think they're one of the finest lever action repeaters ever made. They used to take a backseat to others with exposed hammers, but not so the last 20 years. They gradually crept up in value and I've watched a lot of them sell at larger gun shows like CGCA shows for mid $2k and higher prices.
The .250-3000 is one of those cartridge chamberings every Savage collector wants to own, so they get a premium over more common chamberings. It's a fantastic cartridge that can be loaded to higher velocities in a Savage than in most other lever actions.
I'd certainly not hesitate to take it deer hunting as long as the weather isn't nasty or you're not hauling it through thick brush.

50 years ago I had a beautiful, older, 99 takedown in .250-3000. Just couldn't get it to shoot to my satisfaction so it went away. I'd like to have another crack at it now.

I just heard from my buddy back in Pennsylvania. The 99 will likely get here Thursday. The shells will follow with my 80's Italian LH Flintlock .50 a few days later (clearing my stockpile of guns back there, people keep dying on me). I've never owned a sub-caliber rifle before (all 30s, .30-3O [the dirty-dirty]. .308, .30-06. .300 Weatherby) so this should be interesting. I did find some Speer 87-grain Hot-Cors at Midway that are on their way as well. Fun thing to contemplate, way better than funerals and flooded grouse camps. I've looked into the market for these guns a little further and like most of the decent weapons from the post-war (WWII) years, they have climbed in value significantly (they used-to be fairly common and quite inexpensive where I grew up). The commentary over on the Savage collectors site is that nobody owns just one. I guess we'll see...

Edit: I guess I did own a another Savage before (bolt gun, Model 340) and in .22 Hornet. I'd forgotten that one.

It's here....









and as I had feared, neither the bolt face nor the muzzle show any signs of use.

Now all I need is brass.

Very crisp.

If you can’t find .250 brass necking out .22-250 should get you started.

To ensure correct headspace it may be worth expanding them to 7mm and then adjusting the .250 FL sizing die until the breech closes with a slight resistance.

In a parallel world, once upon a time I found myself with 2 new Steyr-Mannlicher carbines in 22-250 but only one stock. I decided to send the stockless one (unfired!) off to Snapp's in Michigan and asked for him to rebore it to 250 Savage. This was very successfully accomplished but my old die set slightly oversized the brass so I adjusted the die to not approach the shoulder and give a firm seat on closing the bolt. At a gun show, I was looking at stock blanks and spotted a very dusty one in "Mannlicher" length that had German railway shipping labels on it. For $10 how could I go wrong for a well aged piece of European walnut. A friend mated the 250 to the blank and presto, my favorite non-single shot deer rifle.

I've gotten quite the education over on the Savage Collector's Webpage (on 24HourCampfire forum) about this gun. Because it isn't drilled and tapped for a scope, the denizens there didn't think it was a mid-50s gun. They asked me for the SN and then responded that from the records they evidently possess (or have access too) it was one of only 501 made in that rather-odd serial number range, and was made in October/November of 1953. The date code is evidently misstamped with an "E" that looks like an "F" (at first glance, I though it was an "I"). All of that means very little, of course, but is part of the fun of discovering the history these old guns. They all have a story, evidently.



Love that brass rotary magazine.

My old warrior, I hasten to add that it was not mint (indeed somewhat battle scarred since it was made in 1948) when I bought it some 40 years ago.

The buffalo horn fore-end tip was the result of a misguided attempt to fit a sling eye too close to the original fore-end tip.

The cheek rest was cut from the shattered remains of the stock of a Ross Sporter.

The sling is a Parker-Hale SportTarget.

I like it. Looks like it means business. Way-more utility than mine has.