Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Dad's 99

I recently came into possession of my dear departed Dad's 99 in 300 Savage. Although Dad passed away in 2002, the rifle only just came back to me in the past month or so (long story). Anyway, I found this forum in researching the history of the 99, and I was impressed by the depth of knowledge to be found here. I was wondering if I could get some help identifying Dad's rifle...I believe it's a mid-fifties EG, but I'm not sure: it's serial number 761xxx, and has a pistol grip and schnable foregrip, both checkered; steel "shotgun" butt plate, lever safety and barrel markings indicating manufacture in Chicopee, Mass.

This gun is a joy to shoot, by all indications more accurate than I am, and has a lot of sentimental value. It's in decent condition, the barrel still blue with scattered light pitting, and average wear on the receiver, with the most wear around the bottom. The wood is OK, but there's a fairly good-sized chunk (a little bigger than the nail of your little finger) missing just behind the top tang. As far as I can tell, all the parts are original.

I'd like to take the gun deer hunting next season, but I'm thinking about putting on replacement wood so the original doesn't get any more banged up; Boyd's appears to be a good option for this, having what I need by way of a stock and foregrip at a reasonable price...I'd be interested in any feedback on their products. Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have.

I can't advise on boyd's....I think your pop would be tickled if you used the wood thats on it...you caint hurt it.

Welcome to the forum! Definitely mid-fifties, look on the front of the lever and you should see one or two digits followed by a letter. What's the letter? This is what's known as the lever boss code.. Starts at A for 1949, and goes up by one for each year (skips O and Q). Pretty accurate means of dating the rifle from 1949 through 1970.

Like Jed says, since you've already got a chunk missing, I wouldn't worry about saving the wood. Go to http://www.oldwestsnakeoil.com/ and pick yourself up a container of Snake Oil, will do wonders for old stocks on bringing them back to life and helping protect them.

If you do want to restock it, cabela's actually sells old EG style stocks, gunstocksinc.com sells them also.. haven't yet used any myself. It's quite a bit of work to fit and finish it (unless you're a experience woodworker). You'll probably want to get it checkered also after you fit it but before you finish it..

Somebody here recommended these guys for duplicating a stock.. No experience with them myself, and you might want to check and make sure your old stock wouldn't be hurt by it.
http://www.gunstockduplicating.com/

i looked at cabela's and Boyds was WAY cheaper...at least half the price....as i recall a set of just standard american walnut was about $65 from Boyd's ...closer to $140 from Cabela's ...did not check the gunstockincs.com...yet.

[color:"brown"]Without knowing the Lever Boss Code, your rifle's serial number easily falls among those Model 99s made in 1955.

1955 was a "transition year" in that Savage was moving from the mid-to-high 750xxx into the 900,000 serial numbers as you can see from the excerpt (below) from my Savage Age List:

[color:"blue"]G= 1955: 75858x(14G), 759100(�early �55�), 7674XX(17G), 768058(17G), 9001XX(23G), 903xxx (�The last of the 700,000 serials & the 1st of the 900,000 overlap."-Rick99)[color:"brown"]

However, like Calhoun wrote, the most accurate method of determining the year of manufacture of rifles made from 1949 to 1971 is by using what is called the "Lever Boss Code"... even more accurate than the rifle's serial number.

Savage began stamping an inspector's number and a letter in a faintly stamped oval on the lever boss (the extension on the lower, front side of the receiver in which the lever rotates) in 1949. This is what is called the �Lever Boss Code�.

Unfortunately, with Savage, you can't be SURE of anything, but these LBC's are the most accurate way to determine the year of manufacture for those Model 99s that have the LBC stamped on them.

Savage continued to use Lever Boss Code numbers & letters until 1971. The letters "O" and "Q" were skipped and not used in the Code series due to their similarity.

The number was the inspector's number plus the letter indicating the year of manufacture... ("A" was used in 1949, "B" in 1950, "C" in 1951 and so forth)... and so, if a rifle were made in 1955 & inspected by Inspector #12, it would have a Lever Boss Code that looked like this (inside the oval): 12 G

Please take a look at your LBC and let us know what it is... you may need a magnifying glass since the stamping is usually so faint. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

I am waiting for a replacement stock for my mid 60's 99E. I ordered a monte carlo but and a scnabel forend in semi-fancy walnut. It cost $157.57 shipped. I think standard grade would run about $75. I plan to post pics of my "winter proect" when I get it done. The people at gunstocksinc seem to be nice folks; the better grade wood required a wait of about a month (Oct 30 to Dec 1) since they do not make up better grade stocks until ordered.
Tbury

Tbury, sounds like a cool project. Turning a base rifle into a pretty shooter at a reasonable price. If you could, please take before, during and after pictures with details. Never know how much time I'll have come spring... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for all the replies, and the information. The lever boss stamp is indeed very faint, as if the die were at an angle when struck...however, it appears to read "2C", which based on what I'm reading above, would put it at 1951.

My concern with missing wood on the stock is that it would lead to splitting/cracking if fired enough; I'll try to post a picture in the next few days to see if anyone has any thoughts.

Actually, just re-read Ron T's post, and it would make sense if my LBC was "2G', not "2C"..."2G" would put it at 1955, and given that the right side of the code is very, very faint, it could definitely be a C as opposed to a G.

Another place to check for the Lever Boss Code is on the side of the tang(s). On this 1950 99R it is on the left side of the lower tang (see picture). My lever boss was unreadable because of rust caused by water damage in a house fire.

A little closer look.

I also inherited my Dad's 99 but the stock was a lot rougher than you described. Here's a photo of it with a replacement stock from Boyd's. It took a LONG time to get it whittled down to fit well but it was quality time during the winter.

Brent, that's a great looking job! Is that a reblue job on the receiver as well? Regardless, very nice...

Indeed, very nice!

OK, so I took the wood off Dad's rifle, and found that the stock, forend, inside of the buttplate and the lower tang are all marked with an H, X and 3; in addition to these markings, the forend is stamped with the number 7.

What do these markings indicate? I've determined that the gun was probably manufactured in 1955, based on a serial number of 761xxx and an LBC (very faint) that appears to read 2G, but I'm curious as to the meaning of these other marks. I was hoping to find the LBC stamped again on the covered part of the lower tang, but it wasn't there.

I too would be interested in before, during and after pics...especially of the semi-fancy walnut...and good luck

I received my gunstocks inc semifancy stock set 12/5 and have not begun to whittle yet. As others have mentioned these stocks will require lots of work to finish fit and remove tool marks before I can get to the finish stage. I have some pics I will put up when I get them off the camera.