I got a used Savage 99 in 308 and have put about 17 rounds through it over 2 days just checking it out. The last handful of rounds "Seemed" to be cratering and flatting the primers more then the first set. And when I look at where the barrel meets the receiver there is a small gap. Can ya all give me any info on this please? Also the foregrip screw is tilted, is that normal also?

And as far as proof marks, I have a SP ( which I figured out ) but also a "3X", "6X" on the barrel, a hourglass on the receiver, and a cloverleaf on the bottom under the foregrip. I have no idea about any of these except that the Cloverleaf I read was stopped in the 60's?

Anyways, here are some pics of what I am talking about.

Pics are to large to inline, sorry about links.

gap in receiver/barrel https://i.ibb.co/0hG1htV/Inkedgap-LI.jpg
flattened and cratered primers, fired in clockwise order starting on bottom right. https://i.ibb.co/Wv1yJGy/P4010398.jpg
3x and hourglass marks https://i.ibb.co/J7LC1HZ/P4010391.jpg
crooked forarm screw https://i.ibb.co/XzPzRJJ/screw-sposed-to-be-crooked.jpg

Thanks all for any info! This is my first Savage of any kind and I am stressing cause of some of these issues.