Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors New Guy-New 1950 R Questions

Hello, first off I want to tell you guys that this has been an incredibly helpful forum to read through. I have read many posts trying to learn as much as i could about the 99 after I discovered them. Also, Mr. Royal, thank you for writing your book, together with the Murray book it has been a great resource. After learning as I much as I could from the books, the forum, looking at examples, I purchased a 1950 R in 300 Savage.

Rifle looks great, functioned fine at the range today, EXCEPT that at 50 yards, I was shooting WAY too high (8-10 inches). A 50 yard range is the only rifle range I have easy access to. Ammunition was 150 Grain Federal factory ammunition. Sights are the factory semi buckhorn and raised ramp with brass colored bead. My question is, am I doing anything wrong, or is there something that I need to do to the rifle to correct this problem? I was placing the front bead inside the lower notch in the rear sight and then placing the bullseye right on top of the front bead, I guess what you could call point of aim sighting(?). The rear sight is on the second notch from the back of the ramp. The internal magazine, feeding, and extraction worked perfectly. Trigger pull was not nearly as bad as I had thought it might have been from reading on the interwebs.

I am pretty new to vintage centerfire rifles, and the 99. I would love to hear from the wealth of knowledge regarding these rifles present here. I'm having trouble uploading pictures right now, it says all of mine are too big, so no pics as of yet. I would love to hear from the forum about the sighting. Thanks in advance!

Pictures are at this link to my photobucket album: http://s36.photobucket.com/user/1950OP/slideshow/

Welcome to the forum. That's a very nice looking R. As for sighting, you'll need to either lower the rear sight, install a taller front sight, or install a scope.

Looks like a nice post war R. Should shoot very well.

Raising the rear sight notch raises the point of impact. I would try it at 100 before doing anything else. Welcome to the forum.

If you are shooting that high at 50, my guess is that you will be shooting even higher at 100

At least that has been my experience with flat shooing modern calibers and iron sights.

38-40 or 32-20 might be a different story...

Thanks for the replies. From everything I have looked at, the consensus to fix my problem is either raising the front or lowering the rear. Lowering the rear seems like the easier of the two, however, I am hesitant to start removing metal. Other potential solutions I have thought of other than the scope are changing the rear sight entirely to a flip down style from numrich, and trying that. I want to eventually install a Marble peep on the tang, but I would like for the rifle to be at least usable with the stock irons if possible. Any suggestions are welcome and I appreciate the replies.

You might try removing the elevator completely and seeing how much the strike point lowers..

That sounds like a good experiment thanks!

I've also heard that Federal loads are on the hot side for the .300.

Good ol' Remington corelokts in the green box might do a lot better.

The Federal loads I was shooting were 1502630 fps. I can try the core-lokts next time. What would be some good suggestions for a folding leaf rear? I would prefer current production. The one that comes up when I google "Savage 99 folding rear sight" is the one from numrich.SAVAGE 60 99 110 170 Folding Leaf Rear Sight https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D56Q8Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ibHpzb1J5Q0MN. I am REALLY green with this type of thing so I am learning as I go.

That sight is actually a Lyman manufactured sight. You might check Brownells catalog for it because IIRC it comes in several different heights. You should find a formula in their catalog or on their website that will tell you what sight height you need once you plug in the needed measurements.

The most affordable rear folding leaf is the Lyman 16. It comes in 3 different heights - A, B & C. For some odd reason the B is the lowest but C is highest. I'm guessing the 16A would be the best choice.

Thanks for telling me about the Lyman 16 that looks like what I need. Lightfoot, can you explain why the 16 "A" would be the best choice for my situation?

It' the middle one in height and overlaps the B and C heights. Just a guess, as I said though.

Savage factory installed both A and C heights on the 99s but have never seen a B.

Ok that makes sense. So, drive out the stock semi buckhorn from left to right, and drive the Lyman in, and then see where I hit at the range is what I think I will do. Any tips or advice for this little project would be appreciated.

Great looking rifle. There is a pic of me with my 1950 vintage 99R and a caribou I killed with it. Page 58, Figure 5-2, in my book. It is really accurate with a scope. David

If you can see that sight to shoot with, you're a better man than I am Gunga Din! I like folding sights on my rifles but only for last-ditch emergency use and because they look better than an empty hole.

Mr. Royal that's a good looking R in your book. I would just like to get the iron sights usable. Then I would like to mount a Marble Tang peep sight on it. I love the look of a flip up tang sight on the 99 and not only do they have a cool vintage look about them too, they are practical from what I have read. I would prefer to stick with irons on this one. Hopefully my '94 won't be out shooting this 99 for long, I love the feel and the heft of the 99, makes the 94 seem dinky by comparison. Now if I can just hit the target with the 99! But, that's the way it goes with the old stuff sometimes.

1950, why not scope it?

I am just not a fan of scopes, and just do not like the way they look on old lever guns. If I have to, I will, but I am one of those weird people that loves shooting with iron sights.

Lyman 56S or 57S.. put a blank in the rear sight slot.

Went ahead and ordered the Lyman 16A, will replace and see if I have any better luck. Would like to get the irons at least usable before I start experimenting with peeps.

This is what your front sight should look like. Note the height:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-Mode...6?hash=item51f87a3dfe:g:edgAAOSwfpVZHK0g

I'd say your front sight needs about another 1/8" of height just to get in the ball park.

If your front sight is not tall enough you might have the same problem with a tang sight not adjusting low enough.

So is there something wrong with my front sight? Should I replace it? How has is it to replace the front?

I can't tell what your front sight looks like from the picture. Measure your sight and we can go from there.

You either raise the front or lower the rear. The rear sight looks correct but the photo is not good enough to verify.

Front and rear both can be removed (out to the right). If one of them is not the correct sight I would replace it. But without more info (measurement/photos) I can't tell.

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/1950OP/media/IMG_1109_zpsjqrlmrx3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
Here is a different, better photo of my current front sight. Can I measure on the rifle? Or do I have to to remove to measure? What's the preferred way to measure with the dial calipers?

I'm sorry picture not wanting to work. But anyways, about the measuring, I would love more info.

New Guy.

before you start changing sights - little info. You never said what your sight picture is.... Using the sights you have, the front bead should be at the very bottom of the rear sight "V" notch - not even with the top of the "V" ears. If you using the top of the "V" technique that would easily account for 8" high at 50 yard line. If this is the case then the fix is easy - use the rear sight correctly.

I hope this helps.

Good luck, medved404

Fifty some years ago, my dad taught me that when you run out of elevation adjustment, use "course" and "fine" front bead in the sight picture to further adjust the bullet strike. Using a "course" bead (where you see all of the bead through the rear sight) will always strike higher than using a "fine" bead (where you only see the top portion of the bead through the sights).

Update: Ordered the front sight recommended. It arrived today. A big difference can be seen! Will be swapping the front and rears out soon. Here is a picture of the difference, don't even have to have the front sight removed it's so obvious. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1/1950OP/IMG_1131_zpsflareozh.jpg Thank you all for the advice.

My EG shoots that high with the 150 grain load. I can't lower the rear sight anymore. Luckily Federal's 180 grain load shoots where I want it too.I don't know how effective that load will be on deer.

Same here. I think 99's look stupid with scopes.

I imagine the 180 grain will work just fine on a deer. My R was shooting 8-10" high (I estimate) at 50 yards, if not a little more. The front sight appears to have been way too short, an observant forum member saw how low it sat in one of my pictures. I'm going to swap the front out, and mic the differences in height for reference. Also going to install a Lyman folder while I am at it, as I plan to install a Marble peep on the tang if all goes well with the irons.

dead right there.

Where did you get the replacement? You were fortunate to find a correct Savage sight.

Ebay. I bought the one Rick99 linked to and told me that "This is what your Sight should look like".

Good. I was worried it would be too toughly constructed for quick kills.

Well, after both the front sight and the rear sight arrived, I installed a vise on my workbench, and replaced the sights. Front was no problem, rear was messy, and had to be cut out with a dremel. The Lyman 16A drove in right to left, the opposite of the factory. Changing the sights was frustrating, to say the least. However, I got them changed out. Got out to the range today, ammunition was Hornaday SST 150 gr. Distance was approx 50 yards, my backup sight distance (I will twin zero with a marble tang). The first few I was really trying, the rest, well, I was so thrilled to see it work I was just pumping the lever away and having fun with Arthur's rifle. The first picture is the Lyman rear installed, the second is the front that was on and my new sight in the right, (old, 0.361", 0.461") and the third is the group from today. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1/1950OP/IMG_1181_zps8pvuc7wa.jpg

A very big thanks to the forum for all the help, I could not have done it without you!!!!