I stumbled across a beautiful 99M in .284 Win and picked it up for $500. Have not looked it up in Blue Book yet, but should be worth at least what I paid. He has another 99, a brushgun in .375 Win, a gun I didn't know they made. He wants $600. I want it and plan to cash in a few things to raise the cash. A good deal, or bad?

yeah, great deal, grab them both. See what else he has, grab them too. Maybe his house is for sale, buy that also!!

The 99M is actually a model 99DL, and for that price was a fantastic buy. Congrats!

Pressed checkering or cut checkering?

Buy, buy, buy. And for that matter, as Fireball2 implied, buy everything else he dumping too!