New to Savage 99's at least the older ones. I recently picked up two in .303 Savage, one a takedown in exceptional shape. Bores on both are 10/10. The only flaw on the takedown is the hard rubber butt is a repro as the original was broken(not unusual).
The solid frame is a 1911 gun and the T/D is a 1914, interesting to note the changes to front sight and barrel markings in such a short period.
What do you guys think of them?






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It appears that one barrel is heavier than the other?

No, I think they mic the same at the muzzle. The pic with the barrel addresses has the rifle on the left positioned a little farther forward making it appear larger. I will measure to make certain though. Both really light and well balanced. I think they will be going to the woods this fall. Got three boxes of factory loads with the takedown, a bonus as these are hard to find and expensive around my area.

Congrats and welcome!

Great pics... Like most folks, I love pics of these old shooters.

Thanks for sharing,
dave

I love the H's. Light and handy.

That's a pair of very honest rifles.

Welcome to the Savage form! nice pair of Hs I like the 303s and they work well on deer! enjoy them..

Speaking of changes, would not at least the solid frame have the cocking indicator in the bolt? I don't know, I am not a hard core collector. Nice guns anyway.

Cocking indicator on the bolt was pre-90,000 serial number. Both of those must be later.

As mentioned, nice honest guns with quite a bit of finish. That peep sight isn't period correct, but I'm betting it shoots just fine.

~1908 Changes

The takedown one has a newer barrel,both are nice regardless.

Two very nice Savage's. I'm sure they will still serve you well.
Will be really nice on the deer in the hardwoods.

Best-
Steve

Welcome, those two get you in the club. Three boxes will get you a ways, but, check Graff&Sons. They had 303 Savage a couple months ago. Price was pretty good. I think it was like $28 per box with a one time $7.95 charge whether you got 1 box or ten. Once again, welcome, Joe.

The H in 303 performs very well on Whitetails. Took this one with a factory Silvertip.

Well the takedown is a 1915 or 1914 gun depending on which serial number dates you go by. The solid frame is a 1911 gun. If that is what you mean by newer. If you mean it has been replaced, zero chance of that. The takedown is in pretty high condition and finish on the barrel and receiver is a perfect match. I am new to old Savages but have collected Winchesters for 30 odd years.

Winchesters are MUCH more desirable. Shouldn't you stick with them? BTW. Those are two NICE rifles. It's way hard for me to determine condition from a picture, but regardless, you are the owner of two fine honest guns. 1899/99 H's are SWEET to hunt with. Congratulations.

The barrel address on the left barrel is 1926-27. The barrel appears to be a medium weight barrel produced in 1926-27 with a transition integral front sight base and a pinned sight that was used before the integral front sight base with the dovetailed front sight was introduced about 1927/28.

Yup barrel has been replaced,thats what i mean !!!! when you come to this forum,expect the truth about what you post,barrel address and savage proof mark were never from the teen area. They are still nice rifles ,and my education on savage firearms cost me quite a bit to learn what is correct and what is not,and im still learning!!!!! and i got a few old winchesters also.

The 303 savage for reasons I can't explain is is one of my favorite cartridges. It filled the freezer last November quite well. Nice lookin shootin irons you got there. Welcome.

Well, I stand corrected. Hard to fathom why the barrel would have been changed but markings don't lie. I would pick out a wrong barrel address on a Winchester in a heartbeat but I'm not well versed on Savage markings. Seems odd that the rifle retains so much finish and would have required a new barrel but who knows where and why it happened. Serial number is 168xxx from what I can learn that is 1915 or so. I didn't get beat up on the purchase at $600 so I can't complain. Thanks for the info at any rate. If I came off like a dick I apologize, Loggah.

It's pretty easy to swap barrels with takedowns. They should be checked by a gunsmith but often they'll line up properly. If the barrel will come off (it may not, a lot of them have been "fixed" where they don't come off) you'll notice that the barrel is full threaded and the receiver has interrupted threads. Savage changed from interrupted to full threads about 1920. Murray's book "The 99" has pretty good data on the barrel addresses. I've written a new 99 book that has photos of all the barrel addresses, a lot of other stuff you'd like to know and probably some you aren't interested in. It's at the publisher and we hope they'll get it printed some day. David

Kato ,No problem!!! Those Savages are tricky ,takes a "LOT" of learning, and if you put a few in a dark corner they have a habit of reproducing!!! Like David said its real easy to swap out barrels on the takedown models. Don

I'm not certain which chamberings will function through a 303 rotor, but, maybe someone wanted a switch barrel set and somewhere along the line the original barrel got separated from the set. If you got your rifle "Lettered", you might find it left the factory as something else, just a guess, Joe.

Is there an address for a letter to find out what configuration and date the rifle left the factory? I don't know how Savage worked but a friend of mine has an 1894 Winchester that the serial number dates 1897 from Winchester Polishing Room records but his letter says it was shipped in 1906. Just wondering if a lapse like this was possible with a Savage 1899? I would like to get a letter for curiosity's sake. The front half of the rifle seems to match the back half so well in regards to finish.

HAHA, if I come across any more 99H or saddle ring carbines these two may have company. I really like the short and handy 99's as opposed to the 26 inch rifles. On the plus side prices are still decent in my area compared to Winchester levers which have become really expensive unless you are buying "grey" guns.

The standard rifles usually shipped pretty quickly. But I have an engraved rifle that was produced in 1901 and left the factory in 1906. There are also rifles with serial numbers that would seem indicate a particular year that were finished and shipped several years later. For example I have a saddle ring carbine with a 1917 era serial number that was finished and shipped in 1919.
You can get a historian letter from J.T. Callahan, P.O.Box 82, South Hampton, Ma. 01073.
Doug Murray, the author of "The 99" has passed away but his wife is still selling the book. I can't find her address now but maybe some other member can help. I'm hoping my book will be out before the end of the year but Murray's will feed your addiction until my book comes out. David

Yes, if you look in the Misc. Good Info thread there is a note on how to send for information from John T. Callahan. He can look up the original chambering and when it was accepted from the factory, when it shipped, and who it shipped to.

As to a lapse... yes, we've seen rifles that didn't ship for a long time. But it's very, very unusual. More likely than that is that your letter might come back with a note saying that it was sent back in for some kind of factory work - which might have been a new barrel - or something else. But most likely is your letter would just be the normal info.

I, personally, wouldn't be too surprised if it came back lettering as being a 22 High Power originally and somebody later on swapped it to a 303 Savage.

PS: Didn't see David's note before posting mine.

Thanks for the info, guys. It will be interesting to find out anyhow. You do see a lot of takedown 99H rifles in .22 Hi-Power even here in Canada. The previous owner had fired the rifle some so I'm not worried about its internals being made for a different calibre.

I have a lettered 1894 Winchester carbine,pistol gripped,checkered in 32-40. serial number has it at 1896,accepted at warehouse 1896,not shipped until 1914 !!!!!! talk about being stuck in a corner for years !

How did you find out it was languishing in the warehouse? Did they send you a telegram and you then hopped on a train to go over and take possession? What's it like to own a gun for 101 years?

Gary, that's one of the reasons I love this site, everyone is older than me, Joe.

Gary,Winchester letters tell when it is received at the warehouse,and then when they are shipped out !!! I wish i was old enough to have lived back then, i would have a "REAL" nice collection !!!

+1

WOW! That is a long time. Could have been a cancelled order for a special order rifle? You don't see many carbines with a pistol grip especially in .32/40.

How about a 1916 receiver that lettered as shipping in the 30's?

This one belongs to Archeryking, and serial number is in the 187,000's. Factory letter shows it shipping in the 30's though.




So it's not flat out impossible that a rifle was shipped later, but it's extremely unlikely. Esepecially if the rest of the rifle configuration looks like an early rifle.

My experience with Winchesters is that guns with special order features typically (but not always) had a longer period of time from the date they were serialized until the date they were shipped from the warehouse....

ive had about 10 ,hardest one to find is in 250-3000.

norm