http://www.empirerifles.com/Empire%2099%20Carbine.htm




Empire 99 Carbine, Professional Grade, with options including
Special Selection "Grade 5" Walnut, Cape buffalo horn forend tip, half octagon barrel, jeweled bolt, rust bluing.

The Empire 99 Carbine is a complete custom rifle built on a vintage Savage 99 action. The action is cleaned, polished and trued. A match-grade barrel is mated to the action, and a custom walnut stock is made to your specifications.




As with all of our rifles, accuracy is guaranteed: Your Empire 99 Carbine will place three shots of factory hunting ammunition under 1" at 100 yards.

Empire Rifles has dramatically altered the dimensions of the stock, raising the comb for proper alignment of the eye with the scope sight, and slimming the wrist for a more sure grip.

The rifle includes XXX Walnut Stock, LOP to spec; Cheekpiece With Shadowline; 24 LPI Deluxe Checkering; Match Grade Stainless Steel Barrel, length to spec; Weatherproof Coating on metal (lever case colored or finished to spec); plus Scope Rings. Most Empire Rifle options available, including sights, bluing, and engraving.

The rifle is also offered in a Mannlicher "Full Stock" configuration.

Available Calibers: 243 Win; 250-3000 Savage; 260 Rem; 7-08 Rem; 300 Savage; 308 Win; 338 Federal; 358 Win.

Price from $5,875.00.

Certainly nice looking but it don't really make one hunt any better.

I'm not much of a 99 fan, but that is something that could quickly grow on one. Very nice.

Nice rifle lotsa cash.The problem with that is I'd beat the hell outta it in 2 seasons.

I'd take one with the Mannlicher stock, in .338 Fed...

True up .... but conversely, I don't think it would make one hunt any worse either

Same rifles just don't look right all dressed up. I think just a decent piece of black walnut would work well on a 99, no extras.

A crack behind the top tang would hurt.

Do you do work on Customer's 99's? I have a 99 Savage in 358 that would look very nice done up like that gun.

GRIN

I wonder if they'd sell me a couple of their raised comb buttstocks for $200........

For $6K I better be able to drive it.

WOW...what a great looking piece of wood on that rifle. My wife would KILL for a dining room table that looks as good as the Savage 99. Homesteader

I would agree but some of your 99's could use a face lift.


Doc

To the point, as always..

Still and all, a beauty to behold...

There you go Homey, a perfect excuse to buy the rifle. Just take it home and tell her she can eat off of it.

Way too nice to take knocking around in the woods.

Arrange a birthday present in .300 Savage for me. Then hide and watch. I'll knock around all over the woods probably bumping into trees because I'm staring at the stock instead of watching where I'm going. Nothing wrong with using art, just don't abuse it. Be nice to be in a quiet place watching the sun go down and see the color change in that wood as the light changed. Ahhhh, peace.

That's a seriously crazy good looking rifle!! I could definitely like one of those. Not so much now or for the really serious hunts. However, I would really like to have a Nice wood/blue rifle for when the boys grow up and dad's mostly along to be there...

Safe Queen. Got no use for it.

It is very nice, but that is the problem. And 6K?

Ouch. A man could buy alot of good shooting irons or go hunt out west or Alaska with 6K.

JM

For 6k I'd imagine one could stack a bunch of good looking 99's like cord wood....

cue oldman1942 and his claims of owning a baker's dozen.....

Any hunting rifle I own is going hunting. I'd be afraid to take that one to the woods so I don't have a need for it. Maybe if I had enough money to be able to afford something like that, I wouldn't mind banging around in the woods with it.

That one's got nothing on this :


R93 Imperial, Special Edition,Deep Relief, 416 Rem
Current Bid $0.00 No Reserve! Started at $189,999.99
Buy Now ! for $189,999.99

BULLCRAP!!!! My Sharps is worth more than that and I hunt with it!! Rain,snow,fall down the mountain...these rifle were MADE to hunt! Do ya have a gorgeous wife or gurlfriend and NOT get down and dirty with her?????

I'm not worried about resale value in that situation.

AWESOME!!!!! WOW!!!
That thing is good enough to sleep with...

shootem: I like the way you improved the curve of the grip (more harmonious (an old Alvin Linden terminology) don't you see? ) by creating the beaded step behind the tang. I'd hunt the hell out of that rifle and not worry a bit about re-sale. That would be some one else's concern after I die. If tools were meant to be all Plain Janes, Snap On would never sell another wrench and all mechanics would only own Craftsman.

Shootem,

Congrats on trumping the nostalgia crowd who want everything to stay as Granndpa found it. That is an emminently huntable design and IMO a vast improvement in aesthetics too over the original.

Anyone wanting to reintroduce the 99 and make a go of it in the modern market place could learn a lot from you guys.

Now, what are doing Ruger #1s?

1B

Very nice. I would have no problem hunting with it. At 6K it would most definitely be my only gun.. probably. I'm sure they could fix or replace whatever one would mess up on it.

Again .... wrong.

If I had 6K to burn, I'd hunt it. Love purdy rifles .... love huntin' them more.

Even if affordable, that kind of wood better belongs on a nice piece of (INDOOR) furniture or other in-home decor (desk, coffee table, book shelving, wall trimming, wood paneling, bed frame and posts, dinette sets, gun cabinet, etc & etc.

If one wishes to spend 6K or alot more on a (PRETTY) and/or engraved rifle, then go for it. For myself however, it`s a big waste of money! One accidental slip up or fall resulting in a ding or scratch on a beautiful wood stock would sicken me. So, I avoid that problem to begin with!

I`ll take a far lesser expensive scratch proof, ding proof, warp proof and far less attractive rifle on hunts, without having to baby the thing and/or constantly having to protect it.

More of a safe queen rifle!!!

The oooooohs and aaaaaaws from others simply isn`t worth it!!!

Avagordo,

If you bought it for me, I wouldn't keep it. I don't think you would enjoy telling me what to buy either.

Just an FYI.

So, if it's my money we're talking about, you couldn't be more wrong.

If someone gave it to me, I'd hunt it. Anyone that knows me well enough to give me a gun knows that I use anything I have and would want me to.

If I had the scratch to pizz away that kind of cash on a rifle (don't think I ever will), I'm not sure that's what I would do with it. If I did, I would hunt it.

George

The butt styling is too "busy;" the forend is "clubby." One of the main attractions of old 99's is the slim stocks and schnable forends. For that kind of money you could buy several collector grade Savages.

Someone giving me a rifle like that is one thing and I`d certainly hunt with it. But paying thousands of dollars for one out of my own pocket is totally another matter!!!...........No thanks!!!

i dont get what the big deal is with all these fancy rifles that cost you thousands and thousands of dollars. their is NO way i would ever spend that kind of money on a rifle that i would be affraid to scratch or take hunting. its retarted!! your pretty much paying tons and tons of money for you just to say "i have a rifle that costs as much as your car" and you will look at it every once in a while. Who cares!!!! some people just blow their money on stupid stuff. if you want to have a fancy gun, buy a rifle and do all the custom stuff your self and really take your time on it and make it your own. then you will actually have something that you can be proud of and people migh actually care. it will proble take you a long time to do it but when its all done it will mean more to you and you will appreciate it more than any other rifle you just payed a butt load of cash for just to look at every once in a while.

I really want a clean 99, but the Empire custom is way beyond my billfold... Way cool, though!

Stocker & 1B. I'd like to take credit for the design and work but I just came across it online. But ain't it purty. As to the comments about safe queen, not worth it, etc. I promise you, if I was in that income range that's the wood I'd hunt with. Never was attracted to ugly women either even though I'm sure....well, you get the picture.

i can understand a "collector" wanting such a rifle, but i can't see a "hunter" owning one. unless he wants to be a collector too. i'd take a re-worked 99 with a decent piece of walnut and hunt the heck out of it.

You just take the damn thing hunting. There is no cut off line $$$ wise when it comes to hunting a rifle. Some prefer to hunt with a custon gun that isn't made of plastic. It's not my cup of tea when it comes to a hunting gun but I can see the draw to it.

I would hunt it, get a few dings on it. When I got old I would admire the rifle (what's left of it), notice the dings and scratches and remember the hunts where they came from.

Until it's your rifle it's not yours to label a "Safe Queen."

Terry

And until it's yours, you just have an opinion.

Like everyone else who posted on the subject.


JM

For Chrissakes, quit messin' around and take a stand, man.

I have a few like it and use them. Like I said.

Terry

Well said! Wonder how many folks that see buying/using a rifle like that as "retarded" have spent more on other hunting 'tools'? Many an ATV/UTV make that price tag look small. And there won't be much left of them to pass down the grandkids...

Latest Sports Afield has a brief write up on a Savage 99 in 250-3000 commissioned by John Francis Dodge (Dodge Brothers Motor Car Co.) in 1915. Apparently it recently turned up at the family estate. Was sitting in a corner in a closet, not even in a case, and never been fired. Sold at auction in April 2009 for $230,000 to an anonymous bidder.

Definitely spectacular! More pics available at this website.

http://www.cowanauctions.com/department_view_item.asp?ItemId=69069

Great idea...but a bit small for Thanksgiving dinner with the family. LOL
Hoomesteader

I shoot a trap gun that cost about twice what that 99 is listed for. I shoot it in the rain, snow and hot sun, and sits in the rack outside between shoots. That's what it was made for and that's how I use it.
I'd carry this beautiful gun in the woods with me every day, shoot it at the range and show it off to all my friends. That's
what it was made for.
Would you buy a $40,000 pick up and keep it in the garage, why would you worry about a $6000 gun, besides in 5 years the gun would be worth more than the pick up.

Not much hunting/shooting stuff I have that doesn't get used. Sometimes it takes awhile to get around to using it again, but it gets taken out and played with.

Paying good money for something and then letting it sit in the safe or corner to only pull out when the mood strikes is a little foreign to me. Every hunt is not in Alaska conditions or evolves rubbing around in a scabbard. Seems like more and more people are spending their BG deer time in stands, some of which are akin to being in your living room. If one can afford that rifle I'm sure they can swing a beater for the the times they wouldn't care to use the good stuff..

I think it would look great in one of this years upcoming deer thread pics.

There are those who pay 5 times that for a truck then cringe when they have to take it up a muddy road, but they paid extra for the rear lockers.

To each their own. My vote is to hunt it when appropriate.

I just came out on the good side of a little health scare. Changes ones perspective of what, why, where, when, etc. Doesn't make much sense to be dead with a bunch of nice unused firearms in the closet.

To show how people are different. I think a piece of wood like that on a table your going to eat off would be a bigger waste of money. "Hay kids remember the steak we had on that table back in 2010?" vs "I took that buck in 2010 with the Empire Savage. Not much about that day I don't remember."
One is a meal, the other a quickening that feeds you over and over beyond the happening.

But to each their own.

Put that on gunbroker and then post a link in the Savage forum below and all you got is a non-numbers matching reblued rat.

If I had the kind of cash to buy that, I'd hunt it and hunt it hard. No safe queens here.

This thing makes me even more sure i was stupid back then to buy a Harley Davidson. Could've bought three of those for the same money, the difference being i'd still give a [bleep] about 'em today.

Ahhh, to be flush just once more in life...

I would rather spend the money on a great hunting opportunity. I am a little on the conservative side, and wouldn't want to show up in a hunting camp with that one.

Although, a nicley re stocked M99 in medium grade walnut, stained dark, with an oil finish could be nice priced at about twelve hundred or less. Especially if shaped similiar to the originals except with a higher straight comb and a full pattern of hand checkering.

Yep, that is how I see. Thanks Terry, saved me lots of typing.

[sactoller quote]Yep that is how I see.Thanks Terry,saved me lots of typing [quote]



Agree with Terry and sactoller completely...I used to stick a Griffen&Howe 338 in saddle scabbards on elk hunts;used my Goens 270 in snow storms and almost got it run over by a jeep while retrieving a muley I killed with it.....they are meant and built to be "used".....

Problem is many folks equate "pretty" with "fragile"....the truth is you can use a good custom,hunt the hell out of it,and a good smith can retsore it to like new.....if you were really foolish enough to do it....if you will not hunt it, there is not much to distinguish a fine custom rifle from a coin collection.

Back in the 80's I owned Bob Chatfield-Taylor's M70 270 built by Len Brownell.....this was a really fine rifle that(by the time I got it)had worn bluing here and there,some dings in the stock as it had been carried on sheep hunts with the O'Connors,been to Africa, and Wyoming for pronghorn, deer and elk...But its' pedigree showed through and through,and a trip to the smith would have restored it......not that I ever thought of doing such a thing of course....

Truly a beautiful rifle.

It's certainly nice, but for significantly less than that you could pick out your own 99 and get it custom built to your own specs, with that grade of wood, quality engraving, and iron sights...

Personally, I think finely made rifles that take the various crafts to the highest state of the art are just that: A work of art. A testament to the upper limits of craftsmanship that is meant pretty much to be regarded and respected as such.

You know, in the same manner that one doesn't compare a velvet rendition of Elvis to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa...even though both, technically, are paintings.

Which is why the Mona Lisa doesn't hang over someone's kitchen table...or stand in the corner of a forgotten closet.

Sure is pretty. If I had that kind of cash I'd buy it in a heart beat, and hunt the dog piss out of it. That rifle in .358 would be sweet. I'm more impressed by what the did to the 99, the action work, the barrel and so on.

deffinately nice but i would rather have 4 to 6 nice original Savages that i could use,

You could use that one.

All you guys who claim you wouldn't have one of those reminds me of those who say they wouldn't rather have a Harley instead of their japanese imitation.

I gurantee if I could afford one of those I'd rather have that than a Ruger even if they can both get the job done. And yes I would hunt with it, at least once.

I'd use it - no problem there. It would only get better looking over time with some "hand polish" and wear.

When you look at it critically, mind you - the details of what was done, I think nearly 6 grand is way overpriced. If it had some really nice engraving to boot, sure.

I'd say that's a $2,500 gun or thereabouts. $3,000 absolute tops.

I'm always amazed at the "I wouldn't hunt/own/whatever" responses beautiful rifles attract. Hell, I'd own that rifle and hunt it with serious intent to wear it out. I love beautiful rifles and get a serious dose of pride of ownership and real enjoyment out of hunting with them. I have 3 Cooper rifles, 2 custom classics and a western classic. I've sold most of my other rifles to finance them and they are all beautiful, especially the model 52 .270 with the upgraded wood, inletted sling swivels and checkered bolt knob. It's my new elk rifle. When I take them out to pet them the nicks and dents and scratches in the blueing give them character and I feel lucky to have beautiful rifles to hunt with. And I really don't give a damn what anyone else thinks about it.

The more I look at their website the more lustful I get. Those Empire 98's look like the real deal. The Mauser "Improved". The stock blanks they use ain't shabby either. Got wood?

http://www.empirerifles.com/Photo%20Gallery.htm

When you factor in the cost of the blank, the stockers time and skill along with the rifle work-action, barrel, bluing-I think you can go over those figures rather quickly.

I could never afford it. Offered in the same lines, plainer wood, and a tang safety, I could go for it if priced along the lines of a semi-custom like $2500.00
Oh, and with the EG forearm.