Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 1899 Question

I recently bought a 99 made somewhere around October or November of 1913 according to the serial number, it is in 303 Savage Cal. with the small 20 inch barrel and a sling swivel attached to the barrel just in front of the stock it is in great shape.
My question is was the lever color cased and the rest of the firearm rust blued and what letter designation would one be.
I wrote an historian in Massacuttes and talked to him on the phone, it will be about eight weeks before he can get to it to give me information. I am a gunsmith working for a master gunsmith and we have the means to restore the firearm, but I would like to get started now on the restoration. Any information you can give would be a great help.

Thanks
James

First welcome James!

Yes, the levers were always cased colored and usually the rest of the rifle (receiver and barrel) were blued, though a number of rifles left the factory with case colored receivers.

Without a saddle ring your rifle would have been designated a model "H". The purchase of a copy of Murray's "The Ninety-Nine" is a definite asset for someone entering your profession.

One question for you, why would you want to restore a rifle that was in "great shape" and lose all the genuine character of a 95 year old weapon?

Because some yahoo drilled and tapped it for a scope and to plug and match the receiver it will have to be reblued where you cannot see the plugs this is why I asked if the receiver was rust blue or hot blued.

Thanks
James

+1 to Bert, it should be an 1899H. Sweet little rifle, very light and easy to handle.

Welcome to the forum, but... it is a collector forum. So, from our point of view, any reblue you do will just lower the value more. Unless you can do a truly awesome, Turnbull'ish style reblue and even then it's only worth more if you don't tell anybody it's reblued.

Now, it's your rifle and you can do what you like with it..

The early 99's had a high grade mirror finish, i think that extended into 1913. Not sure if it was hot blued or rust blued.

That is correct. You might want to look at an early 1899-H or any 1899 in original condition from that period to see what one looks like. Where are you located?

The man I work for used to do Turnbull,s blueing for him and is a master gunsmith in his own right, he has taught me how to do the different blueings and restore a firearm to the original finish if we can get information as to what finish it originaly
had, he has four degrees, one as a mechanical engineer, another as a chemical engineer, and I forget the other two, so as I have said he is quit capable of very fine finish,s. As where I am located I live south of Fort Worth, Texas and the shop is in Haltom City, Texas. Hope this clears up why and how I can do the work of restoring this firearm as well as others.

Thanks
James

I don't know the bluing type but there is an 1899-H at the Buda, Tx. Cabela's that might help you with your questions... http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/c...y/buda/fine_rifle/944416_sav22hp_bud.jsp