Long gone.
My first was a Savage 99C in .308 Win with a Redfield 3-9 Widefield Low Profile. Shot Winchester factory Silvertip 180-grainers. Killed deer like a tri-axle coal truck on the highway. But it was a 2.5-3 MOA shooter on a good day. The action worked with all the smoothness of a set of tank tracks. It kicked like Festus' mule , Ruth. It just, plain sucked.
I traded it for a Model 70 Lightweight Carbine .308 Win somewhere in the '80's and was never happier.
My first big game rifle was a Savage 99E with an El Paso Weaver 4x, it killed just like yours and kicked just like yours, even after installing a recoil pad it was still just too brutal. It is long gone - Thank Goodness!!
I had forgotten how hard that 99 kicked until a couple of years ago a friend asked me intall a scope and sight-in one for him, I did but I couldn't give it back to him fast enough.
drover
