New to me 99 EG 300 Savage

[hunter5567]

I just picked up a 1951 99 EG in 300 Savage in pretty good shape with 3 boxes of Remington ammo. I am wondering about the collectability of these. It appears to of had the stock shortened and it had an ancient recoil pad on it that was hard and brittle with age. I removed it and put a slip on limbsaver pad for the time being. I've read these were common rifles and of not too significant collector's value.
I'm thinking of having it drilled and tapped for weaver scope bases and am wondering which bases will fit it.
It has the tapped holes for the peep sight but with my old nearsighted eyes I need a scope to able to hit anything much past 50-75 yards and also like the early morning and late evening light gathering ability of a scope. Iron sights get pretty useless in first and last 30 minutes of shooting time. Anyways I like my levers and want to hunt with them and currently have 3 Marlins and 2 Henry's and a pre-64 Winchester 94 32Spl. My Marlin 308MX is my go to deer killer and this Savage had about the same performance.
Anyways am I committing a mortal sin by tapping this Savage for scope bases?
PS I gave $400 for the rifle and ammo.

[KeithNyst]

A 99EG in 300 savage was my first 99; it's a great hunting rifle. You are correct, a 99EG in .300 Savage in one of the most common 99s. IMO $400 with 3 boxes of shells gets you a really nice hunting rifle. In addition to the D&Ting option, there are two other mount options than can be used to mount a scope, both utilize the rear sight dovetail and the two rear tang sight screws. The older, vintage approach is a Stith mount, which is limited to specific vintage era scopes tailored to the mount. You see these listed once in awhile on ebay and Gunbroker. The second is a "Lightfoot" mount currently built by a fellow out in California. First pic is a 1946 99EG with a Stith mount and a very early Weaver K4; 2nd is a 1950 99EG with a Lightfoot mount and a 1" Leupold. Hope this helps.

[hunter5567]

Thanks for the info. How much did the Lightfoot mount run? I contacted him at 24hrcampfire but haven't heard back yet. My gunsmith wants to charge 35 a hole for 4 holes to drill and tap it for weaver bases. At least with the Lightfoot mount I can return it to original condition if I wanted to.

[KeithNyst]

Thanks for the info. How much did the Lightfoot mount run?

I paid under $150 a couple years ago; don't know what he is charging currently.

[hunter5567]

I got an email from him. They are 165 now. It's a nice mount but I think I'm going to get it tapped for weaver bases so I can put a larger objective scope on it and also a lower powered scope or red dot for brushy areas. That way I can change out scopes easily and also use the iron sights. Or I may just see about putting a red dot on it which is faster than a peep.

[hunter5567]

I found a gunsmith that will do the tapping for $100.
A scope is a heck of a lot better sighting arrangement than iron sights. If you can't see your target you can't hit your target. Also needed to evaluate the rack as we have antler restrictions at my hunting club. We try to let the deer mature and grow bigger racks and also cull the lesser bucks. A lot of shots at deer are thread the needle where you have to shoot at the vitals through an opening in the brush and you may only see a small portion. Anyways I believe back in the day if they had scopes they would have used them.

[hunter5567]

The gunsmith advised me that the Weaver bases #14 and #19 were not a good fit on the receiver of the older 99's, so I went with a Leupold base to be fitted.