sdh, sorry to remove you from my preferred guru list, my take is that the Savage 99 is one of the few intrinsically good looking repeating rifles, IMO it in fact looke best without fancy wood or engraving. Can't imagine why you dislike it. As poor Latin speakers say, de gustibus non est disputandum. there is no dispurisng tastes. Certainly the 99 is by miles and miles the handsomest lever gun.