vapodog,
Very interesting, thanks for the report.
My very first "real" big game rifle was a Savage 99 .308, purchased used by my father for me, after he let me use his Marlin .30-30 to take my first deer. He took me down to one of the local sporting goods stores that had a great selection of used rifles, and said he'd buy anything up to $50 (which indicates how long ago this was). The 99 was $55 but he agreed anyway. It would shoot into about an inch with factory ammo, and I also handloaded for it with a Lee Loader, never having any problem with the "scooped" loads.
Have owned a BUNCH of other 99's since (and even one 1895), chambered in cartridges from .22 High Power to .358 Winchester, including a couple other .308's, along with some .300 Savages that I pushed a little, and a .284. Yeah, they'll extract kinda hard if you push 'em hard, but never had one totally lock up. Plus, I learned many years ago (from a home gunsmithing book by Jim Carmichel and Roy Dunlap) how to easily modify the trigger pull in pre-1960 99's to a very fine pull. As a result, after trying several Winchester 88's, I've never been all that attracted to them. Though of course Winchester addicts often are.
