Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99 Savage Action Frozen

Need some advice here: bought a 99 in .358 Winchester online while recovering from an operation. Several months went by before the doc gave me the okay to shoot again. After a few rounds of factory ammo, the action began feeling a little sticky, so I stopped shooting and returned home. That night the action locked up completely. The lever comes down about an inch and will return, but that's all.
Guess I know why the previous owner wanted to sell.
Savage 'customer service' won't even talk about 99s.
I'm sure someone out there knows how to fix the problem, or can refer me to a pro who will.

Pull on the lever and give a sharp rap on the empty case with a cleaning rod at the same time.

Is there a stuck case?

Fortunately there's not.

Could this be magazine related? From what I have read, a lot of the problems with 99s can be traced to the rotary magazine being out of whack.

Okay...the sharp rap with a cleaning rod trick worked.😊 Action is now open. Thanks, Sqweeler!
What caused the problem, and how do I keep it from happening again?

Longbow, this exact thing has happened to me shooting fairly warm handloads in .308 in two different rifles. Some 99 receivers flex so much it puts the action in a bind creating the situation you had.

That said, the .358 Savage 99 I used to have could take very hot handloads pushing max pressure and I never had any issue including sticky extraction.

Some do it, some don't.

Inspect the chamber and clean it well.After you give it a good cleaning make sure it's sqweaky dry.An oily chamber in these things doesn't allow the case to grip the chamber and causes backthrust on the bolt...locking it.

What was the factory ammo you were shooting?

Some of it is pretty hot.

If you want to shoot factory ammo I would use regular old Green box Remingtons, White box Winchesters or Blue box Federals

Ammo was factory 200-grain Winchester Power Points. What boggles me is that the action didn't actually lock up until later. There was a sort of hitch to its gitalong at the range, which is why I stopped shooting it.
Obviously a good cleaning can't hurt anything. I did notice, however, that the magazine rotor seems a little sticky. When I reach in with a finger, it doesn't want to go much past 1 on the indicator. As I mentioned before, a lot of the problems I see online seem to revolve (pun intended) around the magazine.
I neglected to mention that this is one of the Brush Guns made in the late 70s.

I wrote a procedure for The Care and Feeding of the Savage 99 Rotary Magazine and posted it on the Savage 99 Club website on FB. If you are not a member of that group, let me know where I can send you a copy; email is easiest. I have had people send me 99s that had nothing else wrong with them and in many cases they could have fixed the problem at home.

Sam

I highly doubt the rotary magazine is the problem here.

Sometimes the bolt will not drop at the rear to allow the lever to pull it back. If it happens again tap on the rear of the bolt with the lever open and I bet it will cycle OK.

Tapping on the cleaning rod probably jarred the bolt loose and it dropped in the rear as it should.

Missedbycracky: Unfortunately I don't do FB, and at my current membership level here I am apparently not allowed PMs. Does it sound like a magazine-related problem to you?

I wasn't asked, but I agree with Lightfoot. Doesn't seem like a magazine issue. I'm not sure how it could be. Someone please enlighten me because I am always open to learning and being wrong.

If the magazine was empty when the bolt stuck, it is not a magazine problem. If the magazine was not empty, it is anybody's guess. You mentioned that the magazine was sticky, and an improperly indexed loaded magazine can cause similar problems.

srhurt1943gmail.com

It sounds like the magazine needs a tuneup but I don't think it is the stuck action culprit.

Thank you all. I wondered if having the rotor stick in the wrong position would affect how the bolt traveled. I'm headed for Minnesota now, but when I get back to SC I'll give everything a good cleaning, lubricate and see what happens. I'd love to have a copy of the Care and Feeding piece, though.

Might be worthwhile to take the buttstock off and having a look inside.

I had a 99R that the bolt locked up, turned out to be an obstruction inside that blocked the sear.

Just a possibility.

Also good advice.

Remove buttstoke and inspect if you have not already done so.
May be very obvious once you see the internals.
Good luck

Side note/tip of the day.
It is a good idea when you have purchased a used gun, to break it down as much as you can, to clean and inspect.
I learned the hard way.
Just saying.
Again, good luck

OK...back from the Gunflint Trail in MN. Cleaned and oiled action. It works, but for how long?
Should I be using grease on the bolt instead of oil, as I would on an M1?

What's your bolt face look like now?