Thread: savage 99

i know where one is that has been social distancing for well over a decade ...... are they good ? any inherent problems ?
any idiosyncrasies i should know before i put in an offer?
.308 (detach mag from memory)

Owned a couple, both had internal mags with little gold numbered round counter on side of action. Never had and problems with them but struggled with safety on the lever being left handed.

Probably the best and strongest lever action ever made.

I had one in 308 , clever piece of engineering with the internal rotary mag, really good bush rifle. Sold mine as the barrel was pretty tired but good rifle.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Probably the best and strongest lever action ever made.

And most accurate

The detach mag ones are relatively new in the scheme of things, not as desireable as the ones with rotary mags. Or in other words they should be cheaper.

damn good rifles

On the top of my want list.

I had a .300 savage in a 99. Mechanically nice but the trigger was not flash and not a diy job for most. I found it hard to love. If it’s your first have a play with it before you drop the cash.

Originally Posted by tetawa

Owned a couple, both had internal mags with little gold numbered round counter on side of action. Never had and problems with them but struggled with safety on the lever being left handed.

Likewise with the left handed thing - even the Finnwolf needs a conscious effort to keep trigger finger off the safety when working the lever quickly

Yeah I had a 99 .243 Great rifle. I've had a couple of Win. lever but prefer the 99. The rotary mag feed perfectly. Downside was the action was a bit rattly when stalking.

Need picture...……..please.

Shoot a 1960's sav 99 in 243 causal hunting for years. Great fun.
More recently I brought a mid 70's (rotary mag) in 308 and had truefite fit a 358win barrel to it.

The 243 had some trigger work done on it and is nicer to shoot. Would say the trigger is smoother. Both have a bit of travel before let off.
Practice sorts this out for you.
Never had any feeding issues with the 243 or standard rounds in the 358. However I have a had some issues in the 358 when loaded with short pistol bullets. Cartridges work forward on mag under recoil so the bolt dose not pick then up properly or they can be too blunt nosed to run up the feed ramp.
Anyway I love mine, both have the lever slide safety. Probably the tang safety is more universal to use.

PS Don't disassemble the rotary mag. Just a squirt of solvent, then wipe out as best as possible and re oil.

Had a 99 Savage rebarreled by MM to 300 Savage, trigger was pretty mah, lovely action and feeding from the rotary mag, easily shot 30mm 3 shot groups with 150 speers but stupidly sold it on.

Good point about try before buy.
I had one as my first centrefire. Bit of a pian to unload, didnt like the safety, wasnt THAT accurate. Nice to carry, blueing wears off where you carry them on the magazine belly.