Never any doubt it will get shot as-is before doing anything. I scope everything I can to help cut down on shooting errors when working up reloads or checking out factory stuff. How many people do you know who bought a Buehler mount for their 4" Colt Diamondback to check out a variety of .22s? It's just about a disease.
Much as I'll buy ammo for a gun I don't even own yet, I plan on getting a tang sight either way and want to shop for what would be correct. My Marlin 1984 wears a Williams FP, the 9422 a Marbles tang sight, I know any of them would work on the 99. Outside of a letter, is there a way to determine if a 99 was originally an R vs. an RS?
I don't know about class, billy336, but I'll at least go for "atmosphere". My grandfather owned a 99 but I don't know which model--he gave it away to a business friend when he bought a .30-06--but I remember seeing it in the gun cabinet. His dip was variously Skoal or Copenhagen, up to his 90th birthday, but the drink was brandy or vodka. Somewhere in there he went wrong, I guess, but the vodka fits in with being Ukrainian. Refinishing the stock will kill that wintergreen smell, but the sling should retain enough for surreptitious sniffing when on stand. I think it fits the gun just fine.
Metal cleaned right up, the lever would drag a bit when opening and initiating bolt movement. There was a lot of buildup packed in at and below the bolt's frame cutout, but it scraped out with plastic tools. Much smoother now, like the prior EG. Also found that KG stamp on the side of the tang metal, was that a way to keep track of parts as they were being worked, or a worker's stamp?
All of my factory stuff is 150gr; Federal, Remington and Winchester current production plus some older Winchester Open Point Expanding rounds I picked up from an estate. For reloading I bought 125gr Sierra spitzers from the factory's outlet of seconds plus a friend just got into reloading and traded me into 500 Speer 150gr Grand Slams. Hoping the rifle likes them.
