A "Brush Gun", "D" SN prefix/1980. Rescue of several decades ago; cheap! Sucker for straight grip stocks and those days, .375 Win ammo available! That heavy forend and barrel bobbed at 16"; horrible aesthetics! A light powdering of rust not even showing in pix! Bore is decent. But she's one homely critter.

Not for sale, but seeking ideas. Re-barrel & rechamber if any options?* Maybe just recontour existing forend & find a surplus stock band to fit??? Something 'Creative!', without shootin' the $ moon?

*My understanding whether Savage Or Mannlicher, "spool magazines" not tolerant of rechambering . True?

"Usual Suspect" pix below! Thanks for any ideas!
Best!
John

I would shorten and slim down that forearm as much as possible. I think it would give it a much favorable look .

I would re-barrel it with something more sane than a 16" barrel, and chamber it for .375 Winchester. Brass is out there as are bullets so who cares if factory ammo isn't available. .38-55 comes to mind too, no reason it wouldn't feed through the .375 rotor as the cartridges are for all intents and purposes identical.

Re-brand it, call it a "99 coach gun" You could do something creative with 375 brass and blunt lead


send it off to JES for 405 JES rebore

Good Lord, Jeff! Can you imagine the ear splitting thunder clap from that in a 16" barrel? Think of the children!

Tie a rope to it.

Make a great boat anchor.

I would scope it

Buy some 38-55 ammo from Buffalo Bore

And slay pigs

BMT

Junk it and start with something that doesn't need anything,

I was thinking a long those same lines.

I haven't paid any attention to the newer 99s ( post-mil ). Looking at this one I'm surprised it has a counter on it.

I’d have a full length Mannlicher style for-end made for it. It would make for a cool little deer thumper.

Swap the lever out for a curved one, 1950's buttstock, 1930's R fore end.

F u cque yeah it shoots flames! LOL

Agree, too bad they didn’t cut the barrel at 18 inches.

Why not add black synthetic stocks, a few picatinny rails, flashlights and lasers and call it a one of a kind/ rare and desirable “tactical sniper” and sell it for $3000 plus on gun broker.

While the barrel is a little short for my tastes a recontoured forend or Mannlicher forend and it would make a handy very thick brush cartridge with that added benefit that all your hunting buddies would know where to find you when you shoot a deer😁.

PennDog

Now where's the fun in doing that?? Some ( a lot) of people don't like to feel constrained and worship at the altar of conformity. Hell, I'll betcha even old Arthur Savage would've been delighted to see customization of his guns - he was anything but a conformist himself. Heck, the reason we have the 99 today is because of a sense of non-comformity 130 years ago. Ergo, an abhorrence for altering/customizing a 99 is actually an insult to the thought processes which birthed the gun in the first place!

As car guys express it, in progressive stages of tune I would do the following:

Stage 1 - leave it alone and shoot it as it is.
Stage 2 - redo the stocks, fix the buttplate and shoot it as it is.
Stage 3 - do the above and add a good peep sight or low power scope.
Stage 4 - do the above but shorten the forearm enough to balance it out with the short 16-in barrel.
Stage 5 - do the above but don't shorten the forearm. Instead, replace the barrel with a full length tube, which I believe was 22-in.

I remember reading Ken Waters Pet Loads article on the 375 Winchester. He used a 99 Brush Gun and found fault with the shallow rifling of the factory barrel. I have never owned one so take that comment for what its worth.

Best of luck with the hot rod 99 and keep us posted!

Thinking about it further, IF that rifle fell into my lap today (hint hint) I probably wouldn't do anything other than relocate the front sight and have the muzzle threaded. The thought of a suppressed .375 is appealing to me, just like my 16" .45-70 Trapper. I love finding rifles like that, it opens up possibilities you wouldn't consider with a pristine example.

Quite logical!

May actually be the best idea yet. But for the aspect of an ungainly can hanging off the end of what could/should (IMO) be a world-class slim trim ergonomically ideal hunting rifle is kinda anathema to an old-school aesthete!

I agree with you gnoahhh, cans do nothing for aesthetics, but it would balance out that stubby 16" snout. I can tell you from experience though, looks aside, it adds a whole 'nuther level of fun shooting a big bore levergun! I figure since the barrel is already altered it wouldn't hurt the residual value any. As a plus you could always screw on flash hider for when you want that "tacticool" look! LOL But all that is just my take on it, Iskra probably has a way different mindset.

If I were king for a day, meaning you sent it to me, I would rebarrel it with either a 375 (what I think it is) or 358 (what the tag says). I have both. Then I would install a reasonably correct buttpad and go shoot it.

This is what should happen!

So what’s the answer?

This one has me curious.

Always wanted a .375 never got around to it.

Passed on a Ruger #3 in .375 years ago—woulda, coulda, shoulda.

BMT