Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors My grandfathers 99

I read more into it than was there. The OP said he had this done in the 80's. I just assumed they would not have a square thread barrel laying around anymore. Then again, when you look at all the crossed over models that turn up, who knows?
I would leave it alone too. The papers with it make it a lot more valuable if you ever go to sell.

Someone posted here a few months ago that led me to understand that the thread count was different.

Nope, the only difference is the V thread or square thread barrels. Before the 1 million mark they should all interchange. I would think there were plenty of square thread barrels still available in the '80s.

The TPI between a barrel with square threads and one with "V" threads is different. The others are right. You could mill the locator notch in the threaded area, put a latch hook on the barrel, and find all the hardware (Not cheap if you are buying) for the forearm.



I was checking out a 99 on Gunbroker that someone was halfway through converting to .358 WIN. Macmillan barrel, fiberglass stock and forearm. I was checking into it as a parts gun, but it sold outright in a day. Fireball, was that you that bought it?

I don't know when they dropped square threads, but the solid frame models were "V" threads way before 1 million.

Really? I've always believed the thread change occurred with the tang safety at the 1 million mark.

Mike, I believe you are right. 1 million is the cutover.

No sir, not me. I do like the custom 358 with the McGowen barrel on GB. That one looks pretty darn sweet, but not $1900 to this guy only because the $$ come hard for this ditch digger.

What is a "Cutover"? I kind of think they moved towards standard threads when they opened up the receivers and started chambering the longer rounds. I rebarreled a few .243's and .308's with "V" threads, but don't remember ever seeing one with square threads. I sold a .300 barrel that came off a gun with R model wood that was "V" threads.

Fireball, You missed the one I was talking about. It was not finished yet and was done on a older receiver. I think the guy wanted $400. for a "Buy it now" deal. I asked a question and it was sold before I got an answer.

Now that I think about it, I don't ever remember even pulling a barrel on a 99 with a tang safety.

Then every barrel that you've ever pulled must have been from a post mil M99E. No V threads before the million mark. Take that to the bank. Sounds like you're an "internet" smith. Do some basic research.

I still own a 22-250 I barreled for my self and it is in the 767,000 range. This looked like an R model when I got it. Even though it was a .300 Savage, it had the rotor support web milled out. It was original except for a bad swivel job and the barrel was bad.
I also have one that started as a .308 and I rebarreled to .260. It is in the 842,000 range, but there is an "A" in front of the serial number. I don't know if the "A" means 1 million plus?

If you have "Reliable" research, you should share. I and others on this forum may be interested. If you are using Murrey's book, forget about it. Other than using it as a restoration guide, it is of no value to somebody that works on the 99 Savage. The most valuable research would be to find a guy that worked on the line at Savage, or one of their toolmakers. I am assuming most of them are gone by now. I don't take anything to the bank with internet research. Not a year goes by that an "Absolute fact" about something historical is proven wrong.

But you are an expert on the 99 barrel threads?

This needs to move to it's own thread. Has the makings of becoming epic.

I'm done with it. I'm reminded of my favorite Ronald Reagan quote...

It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant.
It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.

Pretty much what I expected. I am not a nit-picking collector, but at least I can tell the difference between a square thread and 60* thread. What the hell does not knowing about serial number designations have to do with cutting threads? One of you collectors should be able to establish just where the 1 million thread switch information came from. I totally suspect it is an accepted rumor like the "Made the receiver longer for the .308 based cartridges".
Some one on here welded a bolt to install a barrel that was already threaded. If I remember correctly, it was a 22-250. I am kind of curious if that was a factory square thread barrel and how new it was.
I did look up the prefix "A" on a serial number. Apparently it has nothing to do with quantity produced.
There you have it. I posted two serial number ranges way under a million that I am absolutely sure of. I have done others with 60* threads and am not sure on the serial numbers, but I am sure none had a tang safety.

Serial number 842,000 would be 1953'ish.
Serial number A842000 would be early 1970's.

Do you see why the serial number designation on that might have just a bit to do with the thread since the change in threading happened at 1960 with serial number 1,000,000? All Axxxxxx serial numbered rifles would be V thread.


Now, as to the serial number 767,000 that is in 22-250.. that rifle would date to 1955'ish, and would have originally had square threads unless it also has a letter prefix. And there's no reason a 22-250 can't fit into any pre-1960 receiver without any modifications to the internals. The COAL is less than the parent 250-3000 case. The pressures are significantly higher than a 250 Savage or 300 Savage cartridge, but the cartridge would fit.

If 767,000 does have V threads... then something else weird happened to it.

So you are saying at "A', they reset the count to zero?

The 767,000 serial number WAS a .300 Savage. An R model. I changed it to 22-250. I took that .300 barrel and put it in an auction box. If it had square threads I would have put the lock slot in and sold it on ebay. People bid on T/D barrels like they are gold plated, even though they probably will not fit anyway.


I am pretty sure the .308 and maybe the .243 was being chambered before 1960. I am going with the change in threads came about when they introduced the longer cartridges. One million was probably a nice round number someone just picked out. I have never seen any reference to the thread changeover period in a book.
There is just not enough information to know. Really, until more .308 based cases became available, how many people wanted a barrel replaced on a solid frame 99 Savage?

Yep, it was called the Gun Control Act of 1968. In 1969 manufacturers had to provide a unique serial number for each firearm they produced. They could no longer put serial number 1,000,000 on a 99 and also 1,000,000 on a 110 without committing a federal crime.

This is very, very old news to Savage collectors.


Yes, again in information that we've had for a long, long time the 308/243 manufacturing started in 1955. With the square threads.


You would be wrong.


People on this forum own or have owned thousands and thousands of 99's. I myself have two 1950's 99F barrels in 243 and 308 with Chicopee Falls addresses and both with the square threads.

You can keep fighting the fact that there are people here who have been gathering information on Savage 99's for 15, 20, 30, 40+ years and might know a bit more than you even if they didn't write a book... or you can trust us. Feel free to doubt, it's how we learn. But it takes more than a sample of 1 to prove a point.

Oh... and the Savage historian Mr. Callahan was a Savage employee who assembled 99's. So don't think there's nobody with any knowledge left.

And to expand on this...

The skip from serial number 969,7xx to serial number 1,000,000 happened at the switch from Savage 99 production in Chicopee Falls to production in Westfield, MA. It also represented the introduction of serious changes to Savage 99 production such as tang safeties, stamped metal parts rather than all hand made and fitted parts, as well as the end to the "old" lines of 99EG's and 99R's. So a change in barrel threading that had been in use for 60 years being made at the same time as other huge production and configuration changes makes perfect sense.

Mr. C, you are letting facts get in the way of a good story.