Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 .300

Hello everyone -

This is my second post; my first post went to the "Lever Action - General" forum, I discovered this one just a few minutes ago and figured I might as well repost it here!

Recently I inherited a Savage 99 in .300. I know next to nothing about the rifle and have just started learning about it. For at least the past 40 years this rifle has been sitting in the typical can cabinet but transferred to a standard (non-gun) safe about 15 years ago. There are some light rust issues, mainly the part of the lever that touches the stock. Aside from this there are no dents and dings. I've attached some pics so you can see it. In the picture of the buttstock you can see how the rubber bad has compressed over the years. Due to the location it looks like this happened because it was just left sitting.

The serial number is 5367XX and the lever cartouche is marked "26A". Based on the Savage99 site the serial number indicates it was made in 1950, yet the cartouche indicates 1949. So is 1949 considered the year built or would it be 1950 or am I completely wrong. As to the cartouche, what does "26" indicate? In some industries it would indicate that it had been made during the 26th week of 1949. Would that be the case Here?

I have no idea if this rife is a 99EG but believe it is, are there any markings on it that could confirm it?

I'm also planning on field stripping it in order to give it a good cleaning and look-see. Other than the rotary magazine, is there anything else you recommend I keep an eye out for?

Any info, history, tips, tricks and advice about this rifle any of you would be willing to pass along would be welcome.

To our knowledge the scope and sling came with the rifle. The scope is a Lyman All-American in 4X. It also has the leather covers. Do any of you know how to adjust this scope? I'm not finding anything online. There are no markings (or click sounds) on the elevation and windage adjustments; they act more like a bolt - they go in one direction until they no longer turn. Any help on adjusting the scope would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all the help!

rifel is 1949 ,,great shape but after market drill and tap ,,sling swilves ,, recoil pad .

300s do not need a recoil pad but its there so use it.

yes it is an EG easy to tear down recoil pad may be a bitttttch ,when you get the stock bolt out be careful removing the stock ,DO NOT PUT PRESSURE ON IT SIDEWAYS.
ONCE THE STOCKS ARE OFF U WILL SEE HOW MUCH CLEANING IT NEEDS not much i think with the condition of the gun.

do you have a bore sight for scopes?????? that should tell you where to adjust the scope to.

norm99

Thanks.

The pad needs to be replaced. Any tips on removing it? There are what appear to be screw holes in it, figured I'd just replace it or go back to an original.

The only bore site I have for a scope is for 5.56 and I've never used it - don't really care for scopes.

Thanks fore the advice in re the stock bolt.

Correus:

You came to the right place for assistance. You don't say what your experience is with firearms so will point out that there is a safety on the right side of the lever below the wrist of the stock. Forward is safe, rear is fire. When the rifle is safe, the safety will also lock the lever. You can decock the rifle by opening the lever and then bring it about halfway closed while pulling the trigger. Its a feel thing so jiggle it a little. The 300 Savage cartridge is almost the equal of the 308 Winchester. Maybe a dimes worth of difference in velocity for a given bullet weight.

You have a nice EG there. I would loose that recoil pad and put on an English pad or fit a metal plate back on it. The stock looks like it was cut so an original Savage plate won't fit without a lot of work.

Welcome to the Savage board.

in Canada they use philipps head screws on the recoil pads dont know what you will find in those knife cuts , blade ,, robertson , phillips .

if you are going to replace the pad take a knife and cut the pad in half that will show you the screws.

norm99

Otherwise you cam just have to shove a screwdriver in the butt pad and see, they usually reused the flat head screws from the original buttplate. But not always. Nice looking gun tho, enjoy!

For what its worth, I think a solid brown pad with no white line spacer looks the best when you have to replace pads on cut stock 99s. If the length of pull isn't too short, you may be able to get away with something like a flat plastic butt plate. Nice rifle.

Had gunsmiths replace a couple of recoil pads with grind to fit black plates. I like the way they turned out.

Nicely done!
Looks waaaay better than that fugly recoil pad.
Bob

I kind of like a solid red recoil pad on a rifle, but not on a classic that never had one to begin with. (The kind with rounded edges and corners, and not the kind with ventilation holes.) I stuck a couple on Mausers I built with classic Euro design/dimension stocks- gave them a sort of English Express Rifle look.

To the OP: with that scope, dialing the windage turret to the left (like you're unscrewing it) moves the crosshairs to the right, which moves bullet impact on the target to the left. Got that? Once you have that straight in your head, apply the same logic to the elevation turret. Wind them the whole way, in either direction, until they stop. Then re-wind in the opposite direction until it stops again- while counting the clicks that time. Then re-re-wind them exactly 1/2 that number of clicks. Do that for both windage and elevation knobs: that will center the crosshairs in the scope. Now fire at a small bullseye in a big piece of paper really close to you- 20-30 feet is ok, or further out if you feel lucky. Adjust the crosshairs until you strike the bullseye, then back off to whatever distance you wish to be sighted in for and fine tune things. Starting out really close obviates the need for bore sighting and only costs a couple of cartridges.

Thanks everyone!

Guess I should have mentioned my firearms capability background. I do own a few "modern" firearms but I do no work on them other than stripping down enough to clean well. However, I do collect WWI, and older, firearms and have no issue completely stripping those down completely. In fact I recently did a complete breakdown and refurb of Lebel Mle 1886 M93 and will be doing the same with a Berthier Mousqueton d'Artillerie Modèle 1892 this weekend. So, I'm not an expert but I do know a little. Most importantly I know my limitations and know when to seek help.

As to this Savage 99 - I'm a babe-in-the-woods. This is also the first rifle I've owned with a rotary magazine; I'm not about to take it apart.

Instead of replying to each of you in re your suggestions about the recoil pad I'll just say it here - thanks!

I figured I'd probably have to cut the pad down to get to the screws easier. I don't really care for the pads either - I really like that "grind to fit black plates" idea. What are the plates made of? Is it something just about any competent gunsmith can do? How do they determine the thickness and such. Sorry for all the questions. Right now, with the bad pad, it feels nice and comfortable.

I am giving it a good cleaning this weekend as well as picking up some .300 Savage rounds - I hope to hit the range Monday!

Thanks again!

Gnoahhh - thanks for the scope help, I'll give it a try. However, when turning the adjustment knobs there is NO click at all - no sound of one or feel of one. They both turn as smoothly and quietly as if removing a well oiled bolt. As it is they are both turned to a point they can no longer turn in that direction (Like a well seated bolt). When they turn the other direction there is no sign of them stopping. I'm afraid that if I keep turning them they will completely screw out! I've never dealt with scope adjustment knobs that don't click, or have numbers/notches on them. I'm stymied.

Normally I don't bother with scopes, I prefer the good ol' iron sights. Oddly enough - for some odd reason I like the look of the scope on this rifle.

I will give it a try though.

Thanks again!

Yours doesn't have click adjustments. Some were made that way. Do the same thing that gnoahh described but in your case count the number of hash marks you pass when going from lock to lock then center by turning back half the number of hash marks. You are not going to get clicks with that scope.

Optical centering may be a safer way if you can't count turns. This was posted on the Leupold web site but they moved or deleted it. I copied and saved it before it got lost.

Centering of a scope's adjustment dials:

The elevation and windage adjustments of a scope are easily centered. Place a small mirror against the objective end of the scope. That would be the end farthest from your eye as you look through the scope. Make certain that the mirror is large enough to cover the entire objective. It must also be flat against the objective. With the scope's power selector ring set at the lowest magnification, look through the eyepiece as you would while aiming at a target. If the scope's windage and elevation adjustments are off center, you will see two images of the reticle (cross-hair). To reach the center of the adjustment range, simply turn the elevation and windage dials until you see only one image of the reticle.

That's petty cool

The damned adjustment dials are actually under those caps!

I hate scopes.......

I've found that the cheapest and easiest to find ammo for the 300 Savage usually happens to shoot very well. Remington 150 grain core loct.

Line the scope up, set it on sandbags, and I expect you'll be surprised at the level of accuracy you'll get.

Okay - here is a quick update.

I tried the mirror trick Lightfoot suggested. It took longer to find the mirror and attach it to the scope and then remove it than it did to make the adjustments. When the mirror was attached and I took a look there were two sets of cross-hairs. About 2 minutes later, after adjusting, there was one.

My brother has one of those adjustable stands you use on a range table to help steady a rifle for zeroing. I'm going to borrow to see how well it worked.

Unfortunately we have more storms moving in so my range day will probably be next Thursday.

Also, I cleaned this rifle to the best of my ability without field stripping it. Based on what I encountered it definitely needs to be stripped completely down and cleaned. It bothers me that there is obvious green patina forming on the brass rotary magazine.

Don't let the perceived complexity of the rotary magazine scare you off. It is easily removed. The only 'hard' part is setting the spring tension when reinstalling it.

Go to the sticky thread titled Misc Good Info and look for the detailed writeup on it. If you can tear down military pieces you can easily do this.