Reporting back, the dovetail comes out left to right when the gun is upside down. After ruining one brass punch, I figured it out. The new one went in easily from the right with the barrel bottom up. Now I'm facing the problem that caused all the consternation in the first place. It came out of the factory with the barrel stud about three degrees off plumb, just enough to cause the hole in the forearm to not line up properly, The worker responsible just jammed the forearm machine screw in there and cross-threaded it. After I had run a quantity of ammunition through the gun, the threads let go. Next step, I think, is to take out the forearm bushing and put in a wooden plug, then drill a new hole through it that lines up with the stud.
Savage really was turning out crap the last couple of years of the 99. Probably all the guys who knew what they were doing had retired.
