Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 serial numbers

WELCOME TO THE FORUM ,looks like your in the first grade here as well

Hey long time reader on the forum first time poster.

ive been told this is the best place to ask this question about putting a rough date on my 99F, ive googled and come up with very vague and varying answers from "made after 1891" to "1951 or older" and finally "1957" so i figure you guys got a better handle on this so ill let ya give it a go.

serial # 9508XX
LBC 17I

not %100 on the LBC as it was hard to make out

thanks

Late `57, early `58. There is a lot of overlap in the "I"&"J"s.

thanks for the quick response, always wondered how old it was as i know its been in the family a damn long time so its nice to get a rough date on the gun.

welcome to the forum ,good old BC
norm

Hi Guys,
Can you help me date my .308 Savage 99C? I know, common question, but I've been to all the self help web sites, with no joy. Barrel indicates Model 99C series A and receiver serial number is C784903. I suspect fairly new, since blueing, barrel and wood look like it's been a safe queen. Appreciate any help. Course it has the clip, not rotary mag, factory tapped for scope, black plastic butt plate and grip cap. Hope that's suff info. Much obliged,
Lars

Your rifle will date to 1978.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks Calhoun. Owe you a cup of campfire coffee! Won't bother to ask how you found that so fast. Just happy someone was reading the forum. Cheers,
Lars

In your opinion, how big and what kind of (if any) difference in quality exists between the pre and post 1961 Savage 99s?

For hunting, or for collecting?

Many of the postmil 99's are perfectly good for hunting, though I'm not fond of many of the postmil features like impressed checkering, birchwood stocks, white line spacers, etc.

On the other hand, many of the premil 99's aren't ideal for hunting by today's standards, not having monte carlo stocks, d&t for scopes, tang safeties for left-handed shooters, or sling studs. But, they were all hand made and each piece hand fitted. Overall better quality than the postmils.

For collecting, there's no comparison. Premils are far more collectible than postmils.

Given a choice, I'll go with a premil rifle every time. Easy enough to find shooters that have been d&t'd and had sling studs added if you want those features.

Not for collecting. If it proves accurate enough, the gun will go from safe queen to campfire tramp come next hunting season. Picked it up from an acquaintance, because the price was right, but would be excited if it'll hold a reasonable group at a hundred yards. When I bought it, I was going on the notion that Savage had a good rep for well made lever guns. Didn't realize that when they retooled, their quality took a hit. Guess I'll find out soon how big a hit. What have you found shooting pre and postmil models (either iron sights or scoped)?

I shoot everything scoped, and I'd say a 99C in 308 should shoot fine. You probably won't get 1" groups at 100 yards with factory ammo, but 1.5" to 2.5" is likely. Which is plenty good enough for 99% of whitetail hunting.

And plenty good for Alaskan sheep too, but will have to be pretty sneaky to get within a hundred yards of those fellas. Copy and thanks for all your input. Cheers,
Lars

Are there any factory post-mil EG's? or are they all bubba delux stock switches

No EG's after 1960 or with a serial number higher than 1,000,000.

Seems like all us new members are hijacking this thread, so why not me?

My first Savage was actually a model 1907 .32 pistol I bought from an old boss about a decade ago. This past year I wanted to pick up a rifle to start shooting at the range with some friends, so naturally I thought "I wonder if Savage ever made a lever action rifle....." and found out about the 99.

A couple of weeks later I walked into a local retail store, and there on the used rack was a beat up 99E in .243 Win, serial number A903XXX. I couldn't whip out my credit card fast enough at the price on the tag. I refinished the wood, since from lurking here I figured I wasn't hurting the value of a late "E" by doing so, and it was seriously scratched up.

Here it is after the refinish:



I've since scoped it with an old Weaver K4W (OK, I had bought a newer scope for it but it just didn't look right.) It's a really nice shooting rifle that I'm enjoying a lot.

Anyway, from scrounging through the posts from many of the forum regulars I was guessing this at very early 70's?

Pretty darned good job on the refinish. It would be a 1971 rifle.

Thanks, it isn't high grade walnut but at least the grain of the birch is visible now. The original finish was opaque brown muck......

I have a 99A with the serial number 9994xx. It appears to have a o stamped on the side off the lever. It is also a tang safety with a steel counter on it. Any help would be great!

Can you find anything stamped on the front of the lever?

Sure theres not a letter in front of that serial number?