Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 project -info needed

Greetings to all! I am in need of some information regarding Savage 99�s with the rotary counter style magazine. I am going to build a switch barrel custom rifle on a 99 using the 260 Remington and 358 Winchester calibers. I have a candidate 99 (1950 EG) in 300 Savage which has been damaged from smoke and water in a house fire. It has no �condition� at all so you hardcore collectors need not howl in protest when I fire up the surface grinder! The magazine area in this rifle measures 2.7 inches from the back of the magazine to the rear edge of the feed ramp. Are 99�s originally chambered in 308 any longer in this area? If so, is this accomplished by shortening the feed ramp? I can�t see how any more material could be removed from the rear wall of the magazine area. Am I correct in assuming that all 99 receivers are the same overall length? Any info you can offer is appreciated. Also, I would like to obtain detailed information (illustrated) about the differences between the various 99 models. Is Murrays book the most complete in this regard or should I consider another? Thank you.

Your project is interesting. Be most careful of any action that has ever been in a fire as you can not tell how hot is got and what it did to the orginal tempering of the steel. If the stock got hot enough to burn or char then it got too hot, IMHO.
Stick with cartridges of the 308 length I won't advise trying to increase this. Getting different cartridges to feed from the same rotor will be a challenge.
Murry's is the best collector source book.

Thank you for your reply. The rifle in question suffered more from the methods used to put out the fire than the fire itself. I am staying with 308 length cartrides by choosing the 260 and 358. The nominal overall length for the 308 is about .050" longer than the magazine of this rifle, thus the inquiry about 99's originally chambered in 308. I am not going to try to use a single rotor. I prefer a rifle that functions correctly even if it means changing out more parts when switching calibers. Thanks for the advice on Murrays book, I'll get it ordered!

Interesting project. Here are some things to consider. Your 99EG in 300 Savage will most likely not handle a round that is in excess of 2.600" COL. At serial number 900,000 Savage lengthened the action to accept the .308 Win family including .243 and .358 Win. These can handle COL's on the order of 2.800". There is going to be a lot less modifications in a post 900,000 rifle than there is in your EG and the project you speak of. Also, I believe the heat treat changed at 900,000 to handle the .308 pressure of 52Kcup as opposed to the 46Kcup pressure of the .300 Savage. Keep that in mind if you go ahead with this project. I wouldn't push for the last little bit of velocity out of the .260 and .358 rounds. Personally, if I were considering this project, I would seek out a 900,000 + serial number 99. Just my thoughts on it; hope this info helps you.

Thank you for the reply. That is exactly the information I was looking for. I'll start looking for a rifle as you have described. I am not one to hot rod any cartridge. I prefer the long case life and built in safety factor of loads within SAAMI pressure limits. I guess I'll come up with a new plan for this little EG, maybe I'll rebore/convert it to something interesting.

Reviewed your website, nice work. Do you have a machinery and equipment list?
Good luck on the project. From your first message I read as if you were just going to change barrels, a lot more is possible when you change the internal parts. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for the compliment. The guns you see on the website are Jim�s work. My name is Allen. I mainly perform the reboring tasks in the Clearwater Reboring end of things. Cliff LaBounty trained both of us to rebore before the sale of his business to Jim. I have decided to build a custom Savage 99 as a personal project and I have noticed that this forum seems to be knowledgeable and helpful, thus I decided to join in. We don�t have an equipment list up yet. We work on the website in our �spare� time and I�m afraid it�s not very mature yet. It is a work in progress and will be expanded as time permits. Thanks for looking.

I have considered doing a similar project. The 358 HAS to be on a 308 length action as stated. How about creating a pair of wildcats in the same pressure range and cartidge length? Use the 300 savage as parent and go down to 6.5mm and up to .358? Should be possible but a lot of work. I guess since you have the machinery if the desire is there go for it. Whatever you do good luck and please give us photos and updates as you progress. Rustyzipper

Yes, I thought about the wildcats you mentioned and then came to my senses. More work and expense than I want just to lose performance. Also much more difficult to sell should I decide to. I'll put this EG back into service in some suitable caliber and learn more about the workings of the 99 in the process and keep my eyes open for a 308 rat to build my project on.