Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Shooting the old Savage

Wow - what a treat! This rifle has been "around" for my entire life. Grandpa's house, later my father's house... It's an old Savage 99, with the brass rotary magazine - and interestingly two barrels that can be changed out quickly. One is the .22 Hi-Power barrel, the other a .410 shotgun barrel. The magazine only works with the rifle ammo, the shotgun ammo won't fit and must be single-loaded.

Back in the 1970's or early 1980's Dad was going to start shooting it, and found ammo difficult to obtain. He finally bought a box of Canadian 70 grain soft point ammo. Ballistics on this cartridge are supposed to be about 3100 fps with a .228" diameter 70 grain bullet. Interesting...

Dad never got around to shooting it and a couple of years ago he decided I ought to have custody of the rifle. Eventually I obtained a set of loading dies (Thanks!) and some old .228" dia Speer soft points... And a little research revealed that people were having success with commonly avail .224" bullets as well. I still haven't handloaded this puppy, but equipped with all 40 factory loads in my possession (the Canadian "Imperial" ammo and a box of 70 grain soft-point Norma ammo I'd unearthed somewhere) I headed to the range...



Told my friend that I thought the rifle hadn't been fired in 50 years or more and was asked "How do you know it's not going to blow up in your face?" I smiled and replied that it was a good gun.

You know what? It is a good gun.

Didn't blow off my face. Did hit the target. Now we were only a few yards from the backstop, but using the rear notch sight on the barrel (there is another flip-up rear aperture sight on the tang) the first shot hit dead-center of the paper plate, and clobbered that plate! I shot it a few more times and put it back in the Jeep, with a big ol' grin on my face. Very satisfying. Sent Dad the photo, told him that I'd finally shot that rifle and he was happy as all get out too.

I'm going to do some more shooting and loading for this very cool old rifle, and believe I will be carrying it on some coyote hunts, with a cougar tag in my pocket! It's not legal for deer here in Washington, but is legal for coyotes and cougar. Typical for a Savage 99, it carries easily. I think this is going to be a fun rifle to have back in action!

Regards, Guy

Love my Savage 22HP! look for 25-35 Brass, just run it thru your 22hp dies and your set for reloading! Buffalo Arms sells bullets for the 22hp in 228 dim. enjoy your New Old Rifle!

Had a doctor from India (older Gent) come in the shop one day. Looking for ammo for his 22 HP. He was here visiting his sons. Nice old fellow! Said he had inherited it from his grandfather. He was amazed when I found an old box of Remington red label on the collector shelf. He said "you have been to my pantry! I have this same box there at home!!!!"

I suppose they got a bit of popularity there (India) when Corbett killed a tiger with one??? Curious???

Ammo is still available as far as I know from a European company, Norma, in 5.6x52R, which is 22 hi power by another name. Try the Savage collectors site here on 24 hrcampfire, they will have a lot of info for you.

Good story. Nice to hear. What could be more fun than blasting away after 50 years?! I believe the 410 is 2 1/2" only BTW.

Ah, I'll have to check the shotgun barrel - never tried it before either!

Thanks for the input.

Guy

Hmm. Online serial number data base is telling me this is a 1899H, take-down, made in 1913. Cool!

Guy

I'm thinking Hornady still makes .228 bullets for that gun.

I dont think that Hornady is makeing these anymore, but they still can be found, for that matter so can the speer 228 bullet , it even better!

Looks like fun! I just took the dive into 22HP myself, having resisted it a long time as more trouble than it's worth,...boy was I wrong!!

It'd be a good gun to have "lettered" by sending a request (and donation) to the Savage arms historian (see the sticky in the Savage Collector's forum; useful information thread.

It may have been a boxed set from the factory with both barrels matched to the receiver. And you will find out a bit more detail of when it's life started.

Glad to see you get out and shoot that rifle and make Pops happy...

I too can relate to the fun factor of shooting a Savage HiPower. I have a couple of them, plus a couple spare HP barrels that get switched onto other rifles occasionally (I mostly own only takedowns)- and my log book shows that I have expended almost 4000 rounds over the last 10 years, maybe half of them being cast bullet loads. It's truly a versatile cartridge- whatever you hunt with a .223 can be hunted with the .22HP.

One word of caution: that 3100 fps claim for factory 70 grain loads is bunk. Don't pursue that goal with your handloads.