Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors The tale of two Savages

I'm a fairly new member here but have managed to glean a few things from a few posts so I thought I should at least say hi and tell the story of two 1899s. This post will be a conglomeration of a couple of different posts from other sites where I discussed each gun separately along with some of the issues I had with one of the guns.

For as long as I can recall, there has been an old Savage 1899B in .303 Savage hanging on the wall at my dad's place. I think the last person to use it for hunting was me when I was about 14 and I'm closer to 60 than 50 now so that tells you the amount of dust it's accumulated. Over the years I mentioned to my dad a few that if he was ever going to sell it I would be interested. He purchased it used in the mid to late 50s and I have no knowledge of its life before that time. During a recent visit, dad and I chatted about various things and the topic came around to the old Savage. He disappeared for a bit and returned with the rifle... the handover was complete.

I didn't know much about these old beasts at the time but to say I've become "intimate" with them in the last year would not be an exaggeration. I'm not sure I've ever seen my dad clean a rifle and this one had surely shown the brunt of that. I knew there should be a window to see the round counter through but the port was pretty much smoothed over with oil and dirt. I needed to really clean this thing up. Here's the "before" picture.



I've had many guns apart over the years but this was my first 99. It all seemed pretty straight forward so away I went. A number of Youtube folks had warned of not taking the carrier assembly apart so I avoided that at all costs. In reality, this thing just needed a good cleaning and a little protection of the wood and metal. I'm not a collector and I absolutely intend to hunt with this gun so making it able to survive some rain and mud was my main goal. The biggest issue that I had with it was that someone had grabbed it in a vise at some point and there were jaw marks on it. Those had to go... or at least get filed smooth. Reblueing this gun just isn't an option for me as I don't want it looking new, I just want it functional and presentable. Therefore I was happy just to rust blue it in a few spots, give it a severe rubbing with oil and a vigorous wipe down. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. The screwdriver marks aren't mine but it's pretty obvious that she's been opened up a time or two over her life. The serial number says she was built in 1908.









Now, fast forward a couple of months and a fellow I know is looking to sell an old rifle. He posted it on a local hunting site that I follow and low and behold, it's a twin to the one I just cleaned up. I'm not sure why I thought they should be together but I decided it was necessary. This one was brand new in 1900 but bringing it back to life was a more sordid story.

When I first got my hands on it, I noticed that the ejector wasn't operating quite as it should. It seemed to flop around a bit and you had to lift it up and over in order to chamber a round. Time to tear this one down. I wasn't into it all that far when I discovered the root of the problem. The ejector (or auto cutoff) rotates about the end of the carrier. This connection seemed to be in a sad state. I figured I needed to remove the carrier but after removing the retainer pin, the carrier was still bound in the hole. It would rotate but it just didn't want to pull out. I pried ever so gently on the forward end of the carrier assembly and it moved almost immediately. A few more gentle nudges and out it came. The carrier looked to be in great shape but the bore in the auto cutoff where the carrier slides into is pretty buggered. I couldn't tell if someone had pressed a new sleeve into the cutoff or whether this is what it's supposed to look like. The boss on that end of the cutoff looked like it had been beat on pretty hard too. Worst case, I could machine a new bushing and press it into the cutoff bore. Everything else seemed to be in decent, 119 year old shape.... NICE!