I was a long-time poster over on the rimfire forum, then I went inactive for a few years (after I got interested in Trapdoors and Flintlocks), so my user name got deleted... But I just set it up again, and now I'll be coming here for the Vintage Savage Rifles, and maybe for some .22 posts too. We'll see... It's good to be back! Here's my first post for this forum...
Usually you would see a post saying something like “50 Years With an XYZ…”
But in this case, I went that long without something. If you’d asked me 5, 10 or 20 years ago, I don’t think I’d say I was interested in a Savage 99 at all. Or even 6 months ago… But over the last couple of months, something made me start to look –- and I liked what I was seeing! And holding! So I’ve now added a new-to-me Savage 99 to my stable!
It’s not like I didn’t know what the Savage 99 was...It's just that they weren’t common among the hunters that took to the woods with me. Oh, I’m sure if I could have asked my late father or uncle about them, they might have had a story or two to tell me, but I just had “no exposure to", and to be honest, "no interest in” these leverguns earlier in my life. Now, I’ve always enjoyed the Winchesters and Marlins that I’ve shot or owned, and the first-ever gun I shot was a lever-action Daisy BB gun. And this novel Savage design came just on the heels of the old single shots like the Ballard's or High Wall's that my father introduced me to at a very young age. But I just never got bit by the “99 bug” -- until recently, that is…
I looked at many .303 Savages, a bunch of .308s, and a smattering of .300s, but I never found a .250-3000 Savage, which really would have sealed the deal for me. Without getting into the serious collector-type pieces, I was seeing 99s range +/- $200 from a $600 average, with stock sights. Scopes or octagon barrels always added more. I think I did well at getting this one, with the $120 to $200 value (depending on where you look and how bad someone wants it) Lyman tang sight on it. My price was $550 out the door for all, and I think I did OK. Did I???
Here she is, a 1938 Savage 99F Take Down with the desirable (at least to me) straight-grip stock, schnable forearm tip and tang sight. Those are 3 features I inherited a love for, from my late father. Come to think of it, my vintage .22 & replica .38-55 High Walls have all those features too:
You can see from this angle that I’ll need to fill the dovetail slot with a blank. The rear sight was still on it when I got her, but I like the clean sight picture of not having the rear sight there when a tang sight is used.
Here’s a shot of the receiver and the Lyman No. 1A tang sight, followed by an original ad for that sight. Mine has the flip-down “combination” smaller aperture inside the larger peep, but it’s stuck for now, so I will have to soak it in Kroil overnight. I'll fill that drill & tapped hole too, and there's 2 more on the receiver bridge (those may be a reason why the price was low for this one).
There’s a low white-bead front sight on the ramp for now, but the sights are too high at 25 and 50 yards, so I’ll add a slightly taller brass-bead sight instead. This should be just the ticket to use in the thick woods here in Southern Maine or when it’s pouring and I don’t want to take a scoped rifle out in the woods.
I went a long time without having a Savage 99… And I had never shot one before a couple of days ago either! But 10 shots went downrange well, and now that I’ve got her –- yippee!!!It's odd, but the older I get, it seems the more I find myself attracted to the guns that my father would have (or could have) enjoyed in his younger years. He's been gone 6 years now, so maybe this brings me closer to him... As he's just a "heartbeat away" anyway...
I sure will enjoy cleaning her up some, re-pointing the checkering, staining the buttstock & forearm to match (it is odd that they don't as they both have the rifle's serial # stamped in them), changing out the front sight and sighting her in. I have plenty of time to get her all ready for this fall….....................
After all, I waited almost 54 years for her to come along; so I guess just a little more time won’t hurt us any.
* Does anyone have any good .300 Savage reloads to share?
...$2.00 a round for today's 15-minute adventure at the range... Yikes!!! :shock:
* Or do you have any good Savage 99 memories or hunting stories too?
Tight groups!
Old No7
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