Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Advice appreciated

Hello all and thank you in advance. I've been lurking around here for a a while now and would like a little help. I bought a 99E model at a gun show a while back and it had gone through a house fire. I cleaned it all back up and its now ready to reblue. It is chambered for 308 and I would really like this rifle to be a 358. To make this more challenging I was looking through the Cabelas premium room on the web and there is an E model that was rechambered to 7mm-08 and has the shell counter. Looks like they used earlier brass parts and cut a hole in the side of the action for the shell counter?? Anyone?? Are the brass and aluminum parts the same dimension wise or are they completely different requiring alot of smithing to make this work. For the barrel, rebore or rebarrel? I have someone to rebarell the rifle for me unless there is something tricky about the threads on this rifle. While reading another forum for info I came across some things I didn't fully understand. Or, could we have the original barrel rebored and rifled in 358. Finally is someone sitting on the necessary parts to complete this project. The original magazine was gone when I got the rifle. I would need a magazine and all other related parts. Or a barrel for a 358 if you are interested in selling.

Thanks again.

I would bring it to a good gunsmith to check the metal to make sure it didn't lose temper/hardness. Don't know if it'll be worth the effort though. Be safe and if you decide to sell, let the next guy know it's history.

Tony

misplacedinnebraska, If that rifle got hot in a house fire i would just plain scrap it, not worth taking a chance. Don

+1 to that.

it wuld be a LOT cheaper in the long run to buy a 358... post-mil 358s can be had for less than $1000

Wonder if that's the same rifle I saw at the public sight in day out at Izaak Walton a couple of years ago? Hmmm... how many can there be in Nebraska?

Agree 100% That is real good advise from the guys.

Since the gun doesn't have any real family history I would consider turning that one into a boat anchor and getting yourself a real 358. Considering the costs and the safety issues involved in the project you just described ...it ain't worth it IMHO.

Shop around a little and you can pick up a pretty decent shooter post mil 358 for 800ish.

Just sayn'

Randy

A. Didn't get that hot. The action just got a solid coat of surfae rust on it from sitting. If they get hot usually the rifling in the barrel will be gone.
Shows really good bore. I think someone robbed parts out of it before I got it. If I can pick up parts this isn't going to be expensive for me.
B. We are gunsmiths, just have never tried a conversion on a 99 savage.
C. Picked it up from a friend in N.E. Nebraska a few years ago.

Are the magazines the same from .308 to .358?

You mean the internal dimensions of the receiver, or the rotor? The receivers will be the same size on anything in 308 or 358. The rotors will be different.

I figured the reciever would be the same, but the rotor is different? Thats what I really needed to know. Which opens a new can of worms. That rifle had an aluminum rotor, (correct if wrong) so is there a rotor that will work in this rifle to make a 358? Refer back to original post, but I've seen an E model with a brass rotor and shell counter added to it. Will the brass rotor, (if I got one for a 358) work in this rifle? Thanks again.

If it is indeed a .358 rotor it should work.

If you decide to scrap it out, I might like to buy the complete receiver (receiver, lever, bolt etc). I want a complete 99 receiver to put in a box frame to display on my wall at the office. I've thought about that ever since I first saw that receiver on gunbroker for $350. I'm just not going to spend that kind of money for "art" to hang in the office. I figure the other guys have their golf course pictures so I can decorate my office my own way too. A receiver that may have the heat treatment ruined would work great and it wouldn't take a sound 99 out of the woods.