Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Re barreling a Savage 99 to 22-250 AI

Anyone ever do one or know who I can talk to about it?

Try the 24hr savage forum

Well, the problem is that you're going to have to have a new barrel made. That's the big cost, not the chambering. Unless you can find a reasonably priced 99 in 22-250, and I'm not sure there is such a thing. Had one once, didn't consider rechambering it.





If I was really wanting one, I'd find myself a 99C in 243 or 308. Keep away from the rotors and you shouldn't have much trouble customizing. Then send it off to somebody to duplicate the barrel profile, blue, thread, chamber, etc.. keep the original barrel in case you want to switch it back later and sell it.

They've been pretty clear that they are COLLECTORS. I think most of them shoot and appreciate factory originals predominantly. We've had some threads on customs there and gotten lots of good input though. I don't remember a 99smith, but I think one was mentioned a month or two ago. Not sure how I'd search for that...

Here's one now. Thanks Calhoun. I expect to have the barrel made. Was wondering about the machining and fitting. No chance I'll waste time looking for a factory 99 22-250 or barrel. Just need to know more about the prospect, and who is the "go-to" smith for this work. Contacted Pac-Nor since I am very close.

Just saw the bottom half of your post under the picture. I tried some 250 AI ammo in a 300 and a 308 99 and both cycle it perfectly, even with an OAL of 2.6+". 22-250 AI should cycle identically. Not too worried about the rotor function. Don't want a 99C model as a donor.

I don't think you need a serious 99 smith if you stick with a 99C, as long as they can remove the barrel without twisting the receiver. 260Remguy has done probably a dozen or so customized 99C's, I'd refer you to him except he's been AWOL from the campfire for several months.

Maybe we should ask if there'd be a volume discount for doing several barrels at once? I'd LOVE one in 7mm08.

I could commit to a 22-250 AI, a 338 Federal, and possibly a 250 AI, but not all at once, and only one now. And only if I don't buy the two Savage 99's I look at this coming Tuesday! One custom 250-3000 and one mint 308F. Dang this disease!

Don't know what a 22-250 AI is, must be some new wildcat. Is the case longer or what? I did a 22-250 on a (Believe R model) .300 savage and never had to change the rotor. It was an old style with the short internal area receiver. Any skilled Gunsmith should be able to do it, although a 99 is more difficult to work on than the average bolt action.

I have been jonesing for a 99C (I THINK that is the removable magazine model....) in 358 for, oh maybe three decades or so now.... One day I will get a Bubba'ed or otherwise ugly donor in 308 and have PacNor do it all up for me.

Your 22-250AI in a 99C would be a HOOT for shooting up piles of baboons in Africa! Bolt actions, which are usually on board, are a tad to slow for those fast moving buggers. Until one has shot at baboons trying to slide down power line guywires trying to escape.... makes me grin just remebering

I think (hope) you are kidding... 22-250 is one of the oldest and most popular of the Ackley Improved cartridges and one of the best fits for the AI treatment due to the excessive body taper and gentle sloped shoulder of the original parent case. Much improvement is gained in case life as well as powder capacity and thusly velocity with the AI treatment of that round. I have had, so far, two rifles so chambered.

Tell you what safariman, when I get the 22-250 Ackley built I'll test it on the baboons and let you know how it works. Might need some help with a hunting location...

Not kidding. Apparently it is not the hot ticket in Pennsylvania, because nobody ever asked me to do one that I remember. Pretty much only ground hog hunters wanted to mess with wildcats years ago. Now it is match shooters. One mans treasurer.......
Not 10 years ago I called SAAMI and wanted chamber drawings for a .22 Hi-Power. It sounded like a younger guy on the phone and he told me he never heard of it.

Gunplummer,
Sounds like you have some knowledge I need about the level of difficulty involved, etc. The rotors on the 308 and 300 both feed 250 AI ammo great, even though it's a little over-length as loaded for my Ruger 77, so 22-250 Ackley should work the same or better. The 300 Savage was the original short fat case, so it's no surprise the Ackley case works through it I guess. Glad it does! Tell me what you know about rebarreling a 99.
Roy

I have almost always started with a barrel blank, or as in the 22-250 case, a Remington take -off that was over sized enough to turn down. If you are matching the original fore grip there is a lot of hand work with a manual lathe to match the taper. It can be done but it takes patience. I always just made a new barrel stud, but you can use the old one. You thread the barrel like any other barrel, keeping the dimension from the shoulder area to the face of the chamber area as close as possible. The area that the face of the chamber butts against is pretty thin and needs the support.
Once the barrel is threaded, the extractor and cartridge guide slot can be located. (I ALWAYS cut the chamber before putting the slots in) I just use lay out bluing and scribe the areas to be cut. This is where it gets tricky. The depth and angle of the 2 slots are different and when the barrel is off again it gets confusing, so watch how you clamp the barrel. The factory used milling cutters or slitting saws, probably because the angle of the cut made it almost impossible to hold the barrel to use an endmill. You also have to cut a dovetail for the barrel stud and rear sight assy., and either silver solder or drill and tap for the front sight. There is a lot of tooling involved, although I guess if you were really determined, you could use good files for some of the operations. Bare minimum would be a lathe, sturdy drill press, barrel and receiver wrench, and a lot of hand tools. Not as hard as a take down model, but I have seen some really botched 99 jobs.

Thank you for all the effort to explain that to me. I truly appreciate your time and knowledge. I'm going to cut and paste this info onto a Word document and start a 99 file for this and following projects.
Roy