Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General savage 99e rebore 308-358

I finally pulled the trigger on a project I have been threatening to do for two years now. I mailed out my savage 99e in 308 to JES Reboring today. I�m going to have him rebore it to 358 winchester 3 groove, 1-12� twist. I think it will make a hell of an all around big game rifle. It currently has a lyman peep mounted on it but I may put a 2-7 leupy compact on it in the future.

This idea started a few years ago. Shortly after I found my son was left eye dominant I started picking up a few rifles that we could both shoot. Lever guns seemed to be the logical choice for a ambidexterous repeater. I�d always had a sweet spot in my heart for savage 99 and thought that a 358 winchetser would be a good cartridge for all around alaskan use. 200gr for black bear, caribou, and deer, 225 parttions for crossover and bigger stuff and 250+ RN for close range big game. It offers a lot of bang for reasonalbe recoil. Out to 300 yards it should work about perfect.

JES turn around time is usually only a couple of weeks so I need to get ready to feed this thing. I have a hundred hornady brass already, still need to pick up dies and some bullets. Anybody have any pet loads for the 358 that they want to share. As far as bullets to start out with I was thinking about 200gr winchester bulk PP, 225gr partitions, and 250gr speer SP. all bullets that have proven effective in the 35 whelens I have had in the past.

Does Jess open up the carrier? Tried to feed some 358 in my 99 and they would not feed, due too the increase in neck, would be my guess. Have heard that the carrier needs to be opened up.

I think he takes care of everything. If not steve at alaska custom can fix it up. He rebarreled a 308 to 338 fed and opened the neck up with a reamer.

I love a .358. Most guys say TAC is the powder to use getting a couple hundred feet more than my 4198 loads. I shoot 200 grain Hornady spire points and the one I have recovered was a perfect mushroom and 150 grains, cloverleaf groups.

Not to be too hard on ya, but why wouldn't someone discuss all with the guy you sent a gun to for work?

51grs of TAC with a 200gr TSX, about 2700fps from a Ruger 77.

Savage's can be a little sticky and I always keep loads a little lighter with them.

I too like the Hornady 200 grain spire points. It is the only bullet I use in the BLR 358.

When I talked to JES a couple months ago he said he would take care of everything. I heard on another forum where a guy was having feeding issues with his thst jes had done. This is the only one of many that I have heard a complaint, everyone else has been very happy with thiers. I talked to ACF about it and he said not to worry, even if it didn't work when I get it back he could fix it up.

Josh, let us know how this works. I sold a .308 Savage 99 a couple years ago that I'd bought for this very project. It sat and sat some more so down the road it went without getting rebored. Lots of 99's available here so I can get another if this project comes to the top of my gun project list.

Sounds like a good project, I'm a big fan of 35's. As I recall a guy up here had a 35-284 built on a 99.

I got the rifle back yesterday. less than two week turn around, thats pretty impressive. Jes rebored the barrel, opened up the rotary magazine, and restamped the caliber It loks great, and feeds like a champ. I loaded up some 200gr Winchester PP JFN and will get them out to do some range work later this week.

Anxious to see how it goes for you.

exciting project.

I shoot 225 PArtitions in mine. Great bullet, but painfully expensive around $1.00/ea.

I'm hoping to try some 200 AB's, once Nosler gets around to making another batch.

I switched to TAC this summer, and was quite impressed with the velocity gain.

Any of the 200 gr rn bullets work well in a 358, I also like the 220 speer.

I got a chance to take it out and shoot it today. I had loaded up both some 200gr Winchester PP JSP loads and 250gr Speer JSP. The 250gr using 43.0gr of IMR 4895 shot much better than the lighter load. I don�t have a tripod at the moment so couldn�t check it on my chronograph. Sadly my tripod and spotting scope ended up floatind down a river a few weeks ago. A casualty of a failed river crossing while moose hunting.

Accuracy at closer ranges was very good, one hole groups at 25 yards. Stepping out to 100 yards and the 200gr load printed a 4-5� group while the 250 load was 2-2.25�. Considering the fact that the gold dot front sight covered up a good portion of the target I don�t consdier that too bad. I find that I can shoot much better with a partridge style, square front ramp sight as opposed to fiber optics or gold dot sights. I will probablby either get a square front sight for it or possibly mount a low power variable. I was kind of leaning towards the lyman peep for that original classy look and quick handling.

All in all I am very satisfied with the job that JES did. Feed and function where perfect, and I�m sure it serve very well.

He did one for me, I did it with a clip fed 99C and have been very satisfied with the gun once I found the loads it liked.

MM

How would you compare the increased recoil? Night and day? I've shot plenty of 300 Savage but never 358 Winchester.

I shoot a 99F 358 with a nice soft pad and it's a pussycat. No problems.

The recoil wasn�t any more noticable than when it was a 308. Definately more than a 30-30 but nothing significant. I would say it was on par with 308-30/06. Whe compared to the 45/70 I was shooting on the same day it was a pussycat!

I have a brass Skinner blade on both my Model 99F in 300 savage and my Win Model 99BB in 356. I am very pleased with how they look and work. I simply ordered taller than I thought I would need and filed them down to what I needed.