Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors My first rifle

I have started my journey in hunting and shooting fairly late in life, being recently started on my 50th trip around the sun. When I was young, I did the BC hunter training course (C.O.R.E) twice, once with my neighbour across the road who was the instructor and once at school. My father had hunted when he was younger, but hadn't gone out since I was a baby. His old model 99F .300 Savage has been sitting around unused for almost my entire life. I have a number of friends that hunt and they've convinced me to give it a shot (literally). The death of the long gun registry here in Canada came at a perfect time for my Dad to pass down his rifle to me.

It's in very nice shape and has been stored carefully. I believe it's had factory scope mounting (Savage Model 99 is visible under the left side below the foreward mount). The iron sights are still there. Serial number is 722xxx. It has an "Inland King" 4x32 scope, which a friend of mine says I should swap for a 3-9 (any recommendations on what would fit, or should I just bring it in to a local shop and find out?)

I'll be hunting black tail deer, black bear and possibly moose with it and shooting at the range enough to be ensure I can make clean kills. We took it out to the range last week and sighted it in. My groupings are a bit loose but I'm sure that will improve after a few more boxes. I used to be fairly good with pellet guns and .22's target shooting as a kid. Hopefully this will be my one size fits all gun, though I'll need to pick up a 12 gauge for deer in the immediate vicinity due to regs.

Mike, welcome to the fraternity of hunters. That Savage will serve you well.

I can't imagine living in Vancouver and not hunting. I love Canada. I've been to BC (flew to Vancouver) as well as Saskatchewan and Alberta for hunting and fishing trips. Beautiful country and great people.

Best of luck!!

Russell

So with that serial number its not likely a 99F, guessing its a 99R. Is the barrel 22" or 24"? Is the barrel raised into a "boss" at the rear sight?

The 300 Savage cartridge is a great all around "one size fits all" choice so you are lucky there. Not 100% on how it would really do on moose but I suspect if you keep your shots to a range that you are very comfortable with and only take a shot that you are very confident will result in lead and copper in the kill zone, it will probably be sufficient (and use heavy bullets).

If you can, post up some pictures.

Congrats, welcome, and its never to late to start hunting!

What they said plus:

3-9x Leupold or Nikon. I personally like the 2.5-8x-36mm Vari X lll Leupold. Don't try and save money on your optics, you'll eventually be sorry, especially in BC where the weather can turn really snotty.

Also, I would not feel under gunned with a 300 Savage shooting 180 grain bullets on moose. There have been a bazillion and one moose killed in Canada in the last 100+ years with the 303 British and 30-30 Winchester. I'd trade either for a 300 Savage.

Randy

Lots shot with .303 Savage too

While a new scope is probably a good idea (improved glass and coatings etc), I don't think I would put a 3-9 on. I'd probably stay with a fixed 4X, or a 2-7 variable.

Welcome and Good Luck,

Dale

I too re-started late in life, having hunted as a teenager and found it too hard for my delicate sensibilities (tracked a gut-shot deer with my brother and father for 12 hours until we found him dying in anguish). Then my dad took his life with his hunting rifle and it all seemed absurd.. Savage 99 brought me back, beauty and tradition won the day. picture of my "first deer" age 50

Those EG's sure do kill the deer. Congratulations!

Drew:

It's stamped 99F to one side of the rear iron sight while on the opposite side it's stamped .300 Savage. Dad grew up in Quesnel in the Caribou and as the oldest boy supplied meat for his family from the age of 12 on with his Cooey .22. When he got the .300 he figured he had a gun that could do anything he wanted. He says he spent his first paycheck on it (I'm not sure if he meant working the green chain at the mill or his first teaching job, but it was $250.00). One of his boyhood friends hunted pretty much everything with a 22 long.

I doubt I'll even think of shooting at anything past 200 yards.

So 180 grain is the consensus for larger animals?

Russell: Vancouver Island is a great place to live. The hunting is probably better on the mainland in many places, but my friends do all right here. We have to go to the mainland for moose (none here), but we do have deer, elk and black bear (I'm only after things I like to eat so the cougar and wolf aren't on my list).

Jeff - sorry to hear about your dad.

A great rifle to re-start with.

But you gotta get over that "trip around the sun stuff". Don't they teach you Canadadianians ANYTHING?

mike thats a great looking rifle, definately well kept .i am presently here on the island,in Victoria,look on top of forum list ,and see a red flashing flag,click on that ,i,ll give you my ph no , we can talk ,

norm

If I had that gun, I would probably consider it, too nice to use.
We always thought the 150's work better on deer in 308's,
I've never used a .300 because .308's were preferred.

300 Savage 150g nosler BT with H4895 perfect whitetail dose!...180's for mooose maybe, still I'd prefer the faster frangible well-placed 150.

That is a seriously preety F

Welcome. That's a great rifle you've got there. Many here consider the 1950s 99F to be the very best hunting rifle savage ever made.

As for scopes, I'd suggest a Leupold 4X or VX II 2-7.

Rod

very nice rifle for sure! The collectors here would highly encourage you to NOT put sling studs in it.

Can you double check the serial number? Is it possibly 752xxx?

Right idea! It isn't either of those, but it is 772xxx. Sad to hear the no sling stud thing, a sling would be quite nice on a long day. I ran into my Dad today at the grocery store and he said he got it in '56 or '57.

there are slings available that slip over the stock and around the barrel

norm

Man that's nice. There were 3 Savage 99's in my family. Grampa had one. My Dad has one, I'm currently bringing it back to life. And my Grandmother had one, just like that one. My cousin ended up with it. Those 99 F's just might be the perfect deer rifle. Certainly have the kool factor locked up.

Is it possible that I could swap the scope on this straight across for a Leupold VX1? The current scope has very little clearance over the rear sight, so I expect many scopes would be a pretty tight fit.

Norm: thanks for the tip for a sling.

Mike, that's a really pretty rifle! BTW, cougar meat is excellent. The meat is lighter in color than venison or beef - more like pork. The taste is not strong at all and has a slight sweetness. Good stuff.

Regarding the sling, as Norm said, there are slings that slip over the stock and barrel. That's what I use with my 300 Savage. It's leather and works great. I think I bought it online from Midway USA.

Happy hunting, Russell