Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Steel / pot metal rotor in early 1899's

At least the 2nd one I've seen like this, possibly the 3rd. Serial number was around 21.xxx if I remember correctly, it was an SRC and obviously the rotor is not the common brass rotor. Looks like some kind of repair was made at the back of the rotor on this one.

Was at the Fest. I know we've mentioned these once or twice in the last 9 years or so, but don't think we've ever had pictures of one.

I have one that I bought on ebay years ago.

My Grandfather's 1899 B has one and the SN is 15.4xx. It sort of separated a bit but I was able do a little filing and got it to work OK.

Looks like they were few and far between and not the best in quality.

Does a magnet stick to it?

The other one I saw was at Cabela's in Sidney and was also very early, I seem to recall 18.xxx or so. Might have even been an SRC, know it was short barreled so maybe an SR.

Here's a pic of the entire rifle:

I think the owner was Mike and is the missing name in Gary's photo (top left). Saw the info on the Fest and brought in the SRC for some info. Can anyone else back me on that?

Don't recall the name but I talked to him quite a bit. I figured he signed in tho?

I THOUGHT IT WAS SHORTGRUBS RIFLE?

The owner is standing in the back row, left side. You can see his blue shirt sleeve in the first photo of the rifle. He was from WI, reads the Forum but not a member. I think he was badged as Mike.

I don't understand this post. Are you saying that you think steel rotors are rare? If they are, I had no idea they were. Lot of .303's had them.

Lots? Can you list some specific ones that you have? We've only seen a few.

I am not a collector, just a hunter with them. I pulled them out of the closet and: 1 solid frame .303 246xxx and 1 solid frame (was .303) now .22 HiPower I replaced with a brass rotor, 80xxx. I know I still have at least one steel rotor in my possibles box, maybe more if I pulled cabinets apart. I have seen a few steel rotors over the years when working on them. I remember replacing one for a guy that wanted a brass one. I have less than a dozen 99's, so I thought steel rotors were more common. My .243 has what appears to be an aluminum one, but I don't feel like pulling it apart. I still have a .308 I converted to .260, and that rotor is brass. I don't know, how many aluminum rotors do you see? Maybe the steel rotors were specific to an area where rifles were shipped at the time the rotors were being used. 99's were really popular for hunting here on the east coast for many years. What caliber were the guns you were talking about? I had to check, the rotors are seriously magnetic, cast iron or steel, not pot metal. Maybe we are not talking about the same thing?

It's the early rifles that are referred to in this post. Pre-WWI...probably pre-90,000 rifles.

Well i just went out and looked at the rotors in my pre-90,000 rifles , 32 guns and they are all brass rotors!! id say the pot metal ones are not that common!

Here's some pics of what we are discussing. The rotor is not magnetic except for the bushing at the end that engages the rear carrier support hole. I'd say it is pot metal that is coated with tin to make it shiny. I've never seen one above the 40,000 range and they seem to be used at random up to there.

So Savage tried pot metal, bronze/copper(?), brass and later steel and aluminum.

Nice photo Mike, thanks!

Just to be clearer, we are not talking about the case colored steel rotors seen later.

Nope, we're not talking case colored rotors.

1) We had a very few early 1899's with "other-than-brass" rotors that have shown up, as exemplified by Lightfoot's photo. As Lightfoot says, they seem to be really early rifles.

2) I think we've heard of a few WW2 era 99's show up with steel rotors?

3) We had the early 50's case colored steel rotors in EG's and R's.

4) We have the post-1960 aluminum rotors.

5) I have no idea why a non-brass rotor would be in a 1920's rifle as Gunplummer says he had, that's a new one. But never say never.

This thread is only about the early 1899's.

We were talking about two different things. The rotors I have are not pot metal, but some type of cast iron or cast steel that are not color cased. Can't say I have ever seen one that was pot metal. The thing that threw me off was the picture with the braze repair. You cannot braze pot metal.

I wouldn't have believed it with out those pictures. Still hard to believe. Especially for the time period and the level of quality associated with it.

Gunplummer, at the Fest he was talking about the fact you can't braze pot metal - so you're on the same page there. He was going to take it home and put a magnet to it and hopefully come back here and let us know what happened. The other one I saw looked extremely similar to the one Lightfoot has pictured. I remember when I reached in to turn it the rotor felt pretty lightweight.

There may very well have been both cast steel and pot metal rotors popping up in trial runs during those first couple of years. We just need to get evidence in hand regarding them, which is why I started this thread.

Have never seen or heard of a steel rotor before WWII. Some of the post war steel rotors are case colored and some are not. It is not unthinkable that a post war steel rotor could have been installed in an earlier gun at some point. I have seen the steel ones on ebay and gunbroker.