I wandered into a small gunshop in a far flung corner of this land and happened to find an 1899 in their collection of used guns for sale. I gave it a look over and only recall the following details... didn't think it appropriate to snap pics in the shop...

DOM seems to be 1911 (serial# 1122XX)

Did not inspect or measure the barrel, sights were basic leaf style.

Forearm was an original slim Schnabel style, butt-stock was flawless - looked like a replacement.

It was drilled for a scope. Has a bronze rotor in the magazine.

Overall it was nice enough, but didn't strike me as a highly desirable collector given the D&T and new buttstock. I am not a fan of shooting the 30/30, but I may just pick it up and pass it on anyway...

Should this gun be of interest or is it a 'least desirable' model?

Buy it and shoot it- you may change your mind about the .30-30.

No collector value at all from what you describe, but might be a fun range gun or hunting run.

Might be the best truck gun ever

rear stock should be a perch belly , was barrel round or octagnal?. what % blue, saddle ring or not ?????????

need more info

norm

I failed to see a price.

No pic in shop.

No, but I expect there was a price.

OOPS, my bad. I was reading that without my glasses. Thought it said no pic. I'd like to see a price too, kinda makes a difference when trying to decide to buy or not, Joe.

Makes ALL the difference. $299 and it would go home with me. $1299 and it would continue to gather dust on the gun store rack.

Neither situation would surprise me around here.

Sorry I have been hunting and moving house...

The barrel was round, not Octo, bluing was original, nice aged patina with wear marks on the edges of handling areas. I don't recall if it was a perch belly. As above the butt stock was too unmarked to be original and not quite a match to the fore arm.

Price was $500 cdn.

I will ask if they can take a few pics for me.

Did some reading on 30/30 cal, and it is not as bad as I recall with some of the more modern factory ammo. It should do quite well with 170 gr NP's.

I asked the owner to send me a few pictures...

Thoughts? Worth $500?

Savage 1899

Not even close. D&T, non original sights, oddball butt. Let it be.

If you're looking for a good old knockaround gun, it'll serve the purpose- if it has nice bore. It is trying hard to be rated as even a "shooter grade" though. I feel such guns have a place in life, but not at that price. Not knowing what the exchange rate is, I wouldn't feel comfy in spending over $3-350 American, and then only if I have a couple of beers in me and I was feeling generous.

thanks for the advice
I'll keep saving for another
EJ

if your not interested go on to my stuff on top of page and send me the info shop name and phone no ,

thank you

+1 Very well said

You can always cut the barrel down to 16" and make a awesome walking around gun. This one was sitting on the shelf at my gunship before I bought it. Always loved the marlin spikehorn and winchester trapper models so I wanted a 99 in one.
At 100 yards I can shoot half dollars and apples
First blood with it.

I believe it's a 18 " min up here and you might as well grab an F or H which i have.

norm

Mine was is a H it was so pitted that there no collector value left. And after sitting for a year it was meant to be mine. One of my favorite guns I own

Sorry been away from this forum. Will let you know... Waiting on a response to my offer on it.

I paid $560 in 2007 for a 1904 30-30.
The bore is like new.
I have not shot it yet.

I have some Sav bolt and break action 30-30s I have not shot...yet.

Hammered out a fair price for this gun. Some minimal pitting in the barrel but previous owner says it shoots well.. on its way via Canada Post.
Might have to abuse the buttstock a little to make ti match the original front.

That's not the usual approach! Way to think outside the box!!

That is what is so cool about the 99. She shoots as well as she looks. A Grey squirrel still cracks a nut.

So this old gun is all over the map. We couldn't get it on paper at 25 yards and the POI was different for each shot. Initially I thought that the barrel was too pitted and the crown too worn... however, I discovered the front post is so loose I could push it out without a drift punch. So the first course of action is to re mount and centre the sight with a punch and some loctite.
In the meantime I have noticed that my eyes are not doing so well with iron sights in general. Keeping everything in focus as well as centred on target seems to be guess work. Groups are embarrassingly large compared to how I do with my scoped guns...

So... I am considering adding some kind of optic improvement to this 1899. I had read that some older eyes were doing well with a tang sight... the longer sight radius was keeping things in focus for them. Given the cost of vintage tang sights - $275USD I thought maybe a new Marble at $120USD was better suited to this non-collector as well as my wallet. New Marble

Or, I could just get this vintage K4 as I am already drilled and tapped...


Thoughts?

Thx,
EJ

Can't see the scope without being logged in.

I wouldn't pay any premium for a vintage scope for it. Since it's D&Ted you can use anything. I'd get the best glass for the bucks I wanted to spend and let it got at that.

The longer sight radius when using a tang sight has nothing to do with focusing light. The aperture in a peep sight does the focusing, so to speak. The smaller the aperture, the sharper (but dimmer) the image- the same effect you get with a camera when you stop the lens down from f1.8 to f22, say. It increases your depth of field- more stuff is in focus over a longer distance.

There are a few ways to stay in the iron sight game with aging eyes. Bounce the problem off your optometrist the next time you see him. Also try the old trick of piercing a tiny hole in a piece of electricians tape and slap it on the lens of your shooting glasses in front of your dominant/shooting eye. The tiny hole will have the same effect as a the aforementioned aperture business- it'll sharpen the image of your sight picture.

Attached the picture...

$150 - I'd pay more than that for a new piece of glass...

Although not a collector, I like the idea of a period correct scope (wrong period, I know, but at least it is old looking) if only for the cool factor.

Great tip with the camera analogy - thank you!

Your choice of course. If you go with a K4 make sure it is at least a 60B model with the centered reticle.

Put the scope idea on hold thought I would try a peep as per gnoahhh's suggestion.

I still can't figure out if this barrel is beyond hope, or if it is me... It will not print on paper at 25 yards.

I have seen Lyman, Marble and Williams online. Which is the best value? Don't want to put much $ into this if the barrel may be crap. Will Brownells or Midway ship to Canada? I know shipping optics are a no-no... what about a sight? Anyone with one to sell?

Can an 1899 be re-bored? any smiths in BC that can do it? I heard 35-30/30 is the only option... maybe re-barreled?

I may have to pass this one on to someone with more time and patience than I have.



Thx!

When you say "it won't print on paper at 25 yards", just exactly what do you mean? It won't group? It won't even hit the paper? It's hitting god-knows-where in a tight cluster but just not on the paper? Inquiring minds want to know.

Lyman, Marbles, Williams in about that order of desirability. Depending of course if it's a tang sight or receiver sight (in which case add Redfield in with Lyman), and how old it is. (Older the better, IMO, when it comes to tang sights.)

Won't even hit the paper....
At first it was random, everywhere but the paper - until I discovered the loose front sight... so I re-centred and secured it. Now it is still 2 ft high, 2 ft left... can't really tell if it groups - was going to get it on paper first. I can't drift the front sight far enough over to get there so thought I would try a tang sight with some windage adjustment.

A tang sight like that will likely set you back $200+.

Something's rotten in Denmark here. I never encountered something that egregious in all my years of shooting. This is at 25 yards you say?

...any chance it's a 303, not 30-30? is the barrel loose? JES will rebore to 35 caliber, but You should really figure out what's going on before spending any big chunks of money on it.

I'm not a big fan of the newer Williams peep sights, but they are windage adjustable and run about $120. For $50-$75 more I personally would look for an old Lyman 29 1/2, but it can take time to find that for that price.

yep, 25 yards... definitely 30/30

Have thrown a red dot on it for a test and will see if I can get it to group on paper...

Here is the bore... looks rougher than I was led believe by the seller...

Yip...that's pretty darn ruff!, still shouldn't make it a scattergun at 25 yds. definitely a candidate for rebore, or rebarrel