Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors The Savage CRACK

As everyone here already knows, the Savage 99, unlike other lever guns, is hammerless, with a rotary magazine.
Because of the way the bolt works, there isn't much wood in the tang area.

That, combined with other factors such as the stock bolt working loose, wood drying out and shrinking over time, direction of wood grain in the tang area, oil soaked wood, and improper inletting from the factory, can result in the tang cracking from repeated firing.

Here is a way to prevent the majority of Savage 99 tang cracks, or stopping an existing crack from spreading.......

I didn't develop this method myself, but having tried it with good results, I've decided to post it here with pics to help out anyone who might be interested.

Basically you have to remove the buttstock and shim up the recoil lug on the lower tang.
When done right, this will allow some relief on the upper tang where the wood meets the metal.

Remove the butt plate and insert a 10" long flathead screwdriver to remove the stock bolt.

Be careful when removing the stock, make sure the screwdriver is not between the bolt head and the wood as this could cause a crack.

I use brass shim stock, (usually comes in rolls, from machine shops or tool supply shops)
Cut it to the right size using good quality tin snips and finish it off using a cutting wheel on a Dremel tool.
Bend it around the recoil lug so it fits in snugly between there and the wood.

Drill or punch a hole in the brass shim so the stock bolt will pass through.

Trim and taper all edges with a Dremel tool with the stone bit attachment.
make sure there are no sharp edges, steep edges, or burrs.

Make sure the shim is thick enough to provide the necessary relief on the upper tang, but not so thick that you can't bend it around the lug,
about .050 mm (correct to .020mm) thick seems to work fine for me.

Put the buttstock on and tighten everything back up.

If anyone needs any more pics or info, or has anything else to add, feel free to contact me..


The classic Savage model 1899, a 1914 SRC in 30-30...
(matching numbers)

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The Savage model 99 tang area that's prone to cracking...

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Savage 99 recoil lug....

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my homemade brass shim....

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Brass shim bent around the recoil lug...

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Brass shim fitted into the lower tang of the buttstock...

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Buttstock re-installed, now with relief at the upper tang provided by the brass shim...

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Lower tang with shim in place between the recoil lug and stock...

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1940 Savage 99EG in 303 Savage, ready to shoot with no worries of the tang cracking....
Maybe I'll take a deer with it this coming season!

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That's quite a bit of relief, definitely should be safe from Savage cracks.


Nice looking EG, checkered and in 303 Savage isn't that common.

Thanks,

your right that's a lot of relief, I don't think I had it tightened up all the way when I took the pic. That picture is actually of a '51 EG in 250-3000.

I believe 22 inch barrel EG's were only available for the first 5 years or so, and only with checkering around 1940.
I've got two real nice ones, a 30-30 and this one in 303, their serial numbers are only about 100 apart, I found them both in Alberta from different collectors about a year apart!

20mm would be over 3/4 inch thick. Did you mean 20 gauge (.032" = 1/32")?

Seemed like a lot to me too. I've used 0.010 shim stock for this.

Oops, your right, my mistake, it's .020 mm.
I'll update the post, thanks.

welcome to the forum , got some nice guns there ,I would be interested in the serial numbers of your 30-30 and 303 EGs from the fortys I have one in the 439xxx range and one in 300 at 446xxx,

PM me if you don't want it public .

where in BC are you from, ? I was am from Victoria

norm

The serial # for the 30-30 is 392742,
The serial # for the 303 is 392604,
Both are 1940 99 EG's with factory 22" barrels.
Both are in high condition.

For those that don't have brass shim stock handy, shims made from plastic shotgun shells work too. I like the grey hulls made by Winchester for their 12 ga AA shells. Being pre-curved is a nice bonus.

Scientists most recently studied this phenomenon in 2002, with the Institute of Under Studies spearheading the effort. Several causes were definitely identified, and other causative theories put forth for consideration.

mass related cracks



rough handling



petite dimensions



exposure to water



inadequate covering

A couple of those pictures should have never been taken!

Those ganstas with low britches should qualify as savage cracks.

I've been thinking about this brass shim idea, which obviously serves to hold the end of the top tang off of contact with the end grain of the wood stock. What I can't resolve in my mind is the fact that by doing this the sides of the tangs are removed from contact with the stock, as they are tapered and obviously no longer fit snuggly into their tapered mortises. That can't help but to create a 'wiggle' situation of its own which can lead to tang cracks due to lateral deflection- unintended sideways force application. With a shim in place, the only point of contact is the butt end of the lower tang which means stock screw tension is the only thing preventing the stock from wiggling on the tangs, and who would want to torque the bejapers out of that screw? Drawing the screw tight at that point will put undue compression on that lower tang contact point, possibly leading to cracks appearing in the lower wrist instead of the top one. I submit that this may not be the panacea it appears to be on the surface.

Obviously all of this hinges on whether or not the stock is properly inletted or not. I daresay if the stock is properly/perfectly inletted in the first place no shims or other magic tricks are needed (given good wood with proper grain flow through the wrist, and proper screw tension too).

Wouldn't it also put all of the recoil pressure against one point on the stock? That being the lower tang contact point with the shim.

Yes and yes. Gary, thanks for giving this some rational thought. I could not agree more.

Yep. That's what my long winded post tried to say.

I have to agree also. Relieve the wood at the top tang and maintain good fit on the bottom and sides.

The issue, as I see it, is that over time and use, the wood behind the bottom tang either shrinks and/or compresses due perhaps, in part, to softening by spillover non-drying oil. The shim is just filling in for what has been lost. In my experience, a shim that gives 0.005" clearance between the end of the top tang and buttstock has an undetectable effect on the fit of the wood to the sides of the tang.

Agreed that there are better fixes but they usually involve messing with altering the factory original status.

Given the design of the rifle, I really think that most, but not all, tang cracks on the Savage 99 come not from recoil and bad tang-to-stock-fit, but from side banging. I plan to do all my travels with hard sided gun cases on the 99's from now on for this reason. By shimming that lower tang as much as you did, I think it takes away from the guns appearance.

Seems to me a shim on the bottom tang would also cause the stock to pivot up when tightening the bolt and push into the bottom of the top tang. Which, in itself, could cause cracks.