Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Confusion over Date of Manufacture of new EG

I just picked up a "new" EG in .300 that came into a local gun store. Really nice gun apparently used for elk mainly, really well cared for.

I'm confused about the date of manufacture. The lever boss code is 13F, with the "F" suggesting a 1954 DOM, if i'm not mistaken. Yet the bolt is damascened, and didn't this happen in '56 or '57? It's also factory drilled and tapped.

Any thoughts on this from anyone? Thanks...

A finished receiver that didn't pass its original inspection, got put into a "rework" box that got set aside for several years and then got "reworked".

Jeff

The 'jeweled' bolts are seen all over the place. That's one of the last things to gauge a date by.

What's the SN range?

Factory d&t of all EG's happened in 1954 (towards the very end of the year, I believe). I've seen a few from that year with jewelled bolts, but more without.

I own 7238xx in an EG with an F date code but a non-jeweled bolt.

My first Jeweled EG is 7588xx but has a G date code.

I once seemed to have owned an EG in between but did not record the LBC or bolt info on it.

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+1...



My 1953 Model 99 (EG) #709xxx with a "3E" Lever Boss Code has a jeweled bolt.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Sounds like it is a '54 then. The serial is 751xxx.

Thanks folks.

Yes, Gulo... there's really no confusion.

Your rifle's Lever Boss Code indicates the year of manufacture is 1954. Moreso than the serial number, the LBC is the more accurate indicator of the year of manufacture.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Ron T, ever been stationed at Ft Campbell?

I just picked up a 99 with serial number 554XXX, LBC 15B. This all indicates a 1950 manufacture, but I have never cracked the code on determining the various models of the 99. Any good reference material on the forums?

That is an easy one because you only have two choices in 1950. If it has the fat for end it is an "R". If it has the skinny tapered one, it is an "EG".

Thanks Jimmy. Much appreciated. It is an EG then.

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TL Hodgson...

Yes, I was a "brown boot" (in R.O.T.C. Basic Training) stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky (Home of the 101st Airborne Div.) in the summer of 1957.

My training platoon Sgt. was Sgt. Wolf... a good & decent human being.

Got arrested in Clarksville, Tenn (just across the Tenn/Ky border) for loud glas-pak mufflers on my V-8 Ford, didn't have any money to make bail, but the cop took my watch as "bail" and gave it back when I went back to the barracks, borrowed $25 bucks from some buddies and took it to the cop whereupon he gave the watch back.

I was surprised he didn't try to "rip" me off.

I figured that "bail money" never saw the judge's bench... but hey, that wasn't my "problem". Stayed outta Clarksville after that.

Do I "know" you?


Ron T.

Ron T. Just curious. "Strength and Honor" is the slogan of one of the units on Ft Campbell. It is a great post, and I miss being stationed there.

By the way, my 99EG shoots 3 inch groups at 100 yards with some home loads and a Weaver K3 scope. Gotta work on that some.

tag..date codes

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I found that Ft. Campbell was the ONLY place on earth where it could RAIN on your head and blow DUST in your mouth at the SAME TIME!!! Naturally, the RAINING and DUSTING was during a 25 mile FORCED MARCH with a FULL PACK + a 20 pound B.A.R. hanging 'round my neck! The ONLY "good time" was when we were at the rifle range where I qualified "Expert" with what General George S. Patton called "The finest battle rifle ever made"... the M-1 Garand!!! (loved that rifle!)

While Sgt. Wolf, our drill Sgt., was a reasonably decent fella, life was no "picnic" during the June and July of 1957 when I was at Ft. Campbell, Ky. I liked Ft. Still, Oklahoma and Ft. Knox, Ky much better than Ft. Campbell.

That said... I'm gratified you liked Ft. Campbell, but you probably had better times and better experiences than I did while I was there.

As to those 3-inch, 100 yard groups your 99 shoots. In order to shoot smaller groups, you need to SEE the target and a 3x scope doesn't do much for you at 100 yards.

Stick a decent 3x9x40A/O scope on that puppy and I think you'll see your 100 yard "groups" improve dramatically.

My hunting load which usually gives 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards use to be 41.5 grains (a "book" MAXIMUM LOAD in 1995-2006) of IMR4895 which shot 3-shot groups as small as .191 inches with a muzzle velocity of 2664 fps and a deviation of +19/-10 fps. Later, that same load chronographed a muzzle velocity of 2685 fps on an 85� day in August and a low of 2630 fps on a 30� day in November.

On the same day (June 24, 2002), a 41.3 grain load of IMR4895 using 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, boat-tailed bullets sparked by a standard Winchester large rifle primer in "accurized" Winchester cartridge cases shot a 3-shot group measuring just .112 inches with a muzzle velocity averaging 2647 fps.

Eventually, I switched to H4895 which is one of Hodgdon's "EXTREME" powders meaning it doesn't lose muzzle velocity as the temperatures get colder outside the way most powders do. I found Hodgdon's claim to be correct... muzzle velocities remained at 2635 fps regardless of outside air temperatures and the deviation was a mere 3 fps (+1/-2 fps). Accuracy was still less than 1 inch, but not by much. However, the accuracy is still less than 1 minute of deer and fully capable of enough accuracy to take deer out to about 250 yards which is also the load's "point-blank range".

Rule #1 for shooting small groups: You can't shoot better than you can SEE!!! If you want those groups to "shrink", get more scope on the rifle. Normally, Model 99s are very accurate rifles unless something is wrong... check it out.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.