303 Savage Man
03-08-2014, 07:44 PM
CBI finally said yes after a half hour of deliberation and I took delivery of my new (to me) Savage Model 99 rifle on March 7th. I got the owner who is a gunsmith to take the latch down and allow the barrel and forend to separate, and got the barrel unscrewed from the receiver. I think I got a good barrel, and aside from the usual scratches and bluing wear on the lower part of the receiver, the finish is good.
One question I do have is, is my rifle a 99 "B" or "F" ? on the front left side of the receiver looking back towards the breechblock, there is an "F" stamped into the metal which is covered up by the forearm and barrel. I had thought my rifle was a 99 B, but this F has me confused.
I did clean the bore out with Hoppes Synthetic bore solvent, and the patches came out dirty, but not as dirty as I thought they would be; evidently the previous owner(s) took good care of the rifle, and the bore looks good. the muzzle crown is good too, and there is the usual minor scratching of the wood on the forearm, and the usual scratches and occasional dent and the all too common hairline crack on the left side of the buttstock on the left side of the tang, which looks like someone did a repair job by inserting wood dowels of a very small size, and gluing or epoxying the stock together here.
I also scrubbed the entire metal surface down with a M16 cleaning toothbrush soaked in Hoppes, dried it all off, scrubbed it again with gun oil, wiped that off, then put a light coat of oil on all the exposed metal surfaces of the rifle, so it wont rust or corrode till I can shoot it.
I am sending off for .303 Savage dies from Graf and Sons this weekend, and will buy 100 .303 Savage cases soon thereafter. I am looking for .308 caliber bullets and can find very few. I would like to find the Sierra 180 grain round nose bullets, Remington 180 grain round nosed Core'Lokt, and other, similar round nosed bullets, but with the current hysteria running rampant again thanks to the Crimean Invasion and the continued usurpations of the Obama Administration, bullets of any caliber and weight and configuration are Not to be had. I'll keep looking.
Here are some pictures of the rifle I took in the Jeep on the way to an assignment, before I got home.
http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014092_zps15cb1abd.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014091_zpsba50c303.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/Savage99294263037_zps8680e31f.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014096_zpsa4135575.jpg
One question I do have is, is my rifle a 99 "B" or "F" ? on the front left side of the receiver looking back towards the breechblock, there is an "F" stamped into the metal which is covered up by the forearm and barrel. I had thought my rifle was a 99 B, but this F has me confused.
I did clean the bore out with Hoppes Synthetic bore solvent, and the patches came out dirty, but not as dirty as I thought they would be; evidently the previous owner(s) took good care of the rifle, and the bore looks good. the muzzle crown is good too, and there is the usual minor scratching of the wood on the forearm, and the usual scratches and occasional dent and the all too common hairline crack on the left side of the buttstock on the left side of the tang, which looks like someone did a repair job by inserting wood dowels of a very small size, and gluing or epoxying the stock together here.
I also scrubbed the entire metal surface down with a M16 cleaning toothbrush soaked in Hoppes, dried it all off, scrubbed it again with gun oil, wiped that off, then put a light coat of oil on all the exposed metal surfaces of the rifle, so it wont rust or corrode till I can shoot it.
I am sending off for .303 Savage dies from Graf and Sons this weekend, and will buy 100 .303 Savage cases soon thereafter. I am looking for .308 caliber bullets and can find very few. I would like to find the Sierra 180 grain round nose bullets, Remington 180 grain round nosed Core'Lokt, and other, similar round nosed bullets, but with the current hysteria running rampant again thanks to the Crimean Invasion and the continued usurpations of the Obama Administration, bullets of any caliber and weight and configuration are Not to be had. I'll keep looking.
Here are some pictures of the rifle I took in the Jeep on the way to an assignment, before I got home.
http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014092_zps15cb1abd.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014091_zpsba50c303.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/Savage99294263037_zps8680e31f.jpghttp://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p782/spacemanperry/March7-82014096_zpsa4135575.jpg