Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1899 a,b or d what model is it?

I posted on here that I inherited a 99 now I am trying to get more info on the gun. the serial number is 23419x (last number omited for security). It's a 303 take down.
Of all the things I have an embossing tape label stuck on the stock butt that said it was bought in 1921.
Thanks in advance

Pictures and barrel dimensions will tell the tale.

I'll get those today.

I measured the barrel
front tip: 0.568"
base mount end: 1.032"
the length is 19"

Here are the images. Sorry for the smaller files since the website has a 98Kb limit per file these are small.

F takedown. measure the barrel including the receiver ring. should be 20"

plab

As Plab said. I have its younger brother that was made in 1929. The only real difference between yours and mine is that my barrel has the later milled front site ramp. Nice rifle!

They are my favorite!

Great early 99F with the lightweight barrel. Savage transitioned to a medium weight 22" barrel for the 303 99F around 1926-28. I like the lightweight barrels better.

Mine is circa- 1929. The barrel contour looks to be the same as a later EG, with the exception of being 22-inches. Still, a nice compact package, especially with a Redfield 70.

Yep, 20" on the nose.

So it's a 1899F takedown? Is that the proper Savage name for this rifle? I want to get it right for insurance purposes.

99F.
1899F was saddle ring carbine. Earlier model.

It says "Savage 1899 model" on the receiver. See image #2. Now I'm confused.

Welcome to the world of Savage.
There is a 50's 99F also. Did you get your Murray's Ninety Nine book yet?
A picture and s.n. will suffice for your insurance.

Added index page.

The "Savage 1899 Model" appeared on the receiver rings as late as 1926 despite the fact the rifles were cataloged and advertised as 99A, 99B, 99F etc. starting about 1921. If the publisher ever gets around to publishing my book on 99's a lot of this confusion is addressed in it.

Ken that has been my conundrum 4 days. If Savage wanted their rifles called 99's..........what is with the 1899 stamp?

Have you figured out your dies and loads yet? One thing I have found the case length for the 303 savage is identical to the 308 winchester. So a lee case trimmer gauge in 308 will work.

I settled on 32 grains levereverloution? powder and 180 grain Win silver tips for my 303 loads.

I think your model rifle is SAHWEEET. I have one and love it!

That's why we are here. Savage is a very confusing subject and the more we talk about it the more we learn.

And therein lies part of the confusion. The 1899F was never catalogued as the 1899F - it was simply the model 1899 carbine. The nomenclature 1899F was created in the 80's (by Doug Murray as far as I know) to lend some clarity to catalogued 1899's. The "F" was from the cable code used to order that model.

I don't believe Savage by itself ever really had a moment of "We're now going to call our rifles 99's rather than 1899's". They did have a moment in 1921 where they finally decided to come up with models for the rifles and called them 99's rather than 1899's. But they continued to refer to them as 1899's in some ads after that for the simple reason that everybody back then knew what they were talking about. If they referred to a model 1899F in 1925 everybody knew they meant the 99F - because there had never been a model 1899F. I would presume the Winchester 1894 to 94 name change was similar.

This is also what confuses so many people who think there must be physical differences between the late 1899's and early 99's - but there aren't. It was simply a catalog name change.

silvetips 180's where ever did you find those ???

plab

30 cal 180 silvertips shouldn't be that hard to find. 190 grain silvertips. Now THAT's a different story.