Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors New to forum

Hello to all. I just found this forum, and am the proud owner of a 1899 250-3000 model 99, made in 1917. It is a beautiful rifle, well taken care of by her owner. I hope to learn much on this forum.

Welcome to the campfire!

Just as a note, it's a model 1899 and not 99. The 99's started in the 1920's.

Welcome - there are a lot of smart guys here.

Welcome Oldfolks sounds like a good start with the Model 1899 250-3000.

Barrels were marked 1899 until 1920's when the 18 was dropped from the markings. Guess it was a price cutting reduction as the depression was coming up. GW

Welcome aboard, Joe.

Welcome, and we'd love to see pictures! That is a model that so far eludes me, and one of my favorites too.

Welcome to the fire. And to another addiction.

Welcome to the forum! Be careful! Savages have a way of multiplying :-)

Thanks for the kind words. I will post pics as soon as I familiarize myself with the method on this forum. This is my first Savage rifle, but I am already wanting a .300 in an older model, so I am keeping my eyes open. I used to hunt with a guy that had an old .300 he inherited from his father. He killed a lot of big SW Georgia bucks with that old thumper.

Don't forget that Savage made other center fire rifles that I think are presently a little underappreciated. For instance the Super Sporters and early 110s. Might I even add some of the early 340s. They were all made to sell at a certain price point but my kind of folks would have been more in tune with shooting them than they would have a factory engraved 99. For that reason I just can't get into the fancy factory rifles, but that's just me. Have fun and ask a lot of questions.

Don't forget the model 1920! It was the original featherweight.

Fixt.

I read conflicting statements about rifles with 1-14 twist accuracy using 100 grain bullets. Some say they get groups good enough for hunting, others say the opposite. Winchester Silvertips in 100 grain were said to be the best, but no longer available. Having said all that, with the 100 grain ammo available now, do any of you guys have any experience using it?

Savages with the 1-14 twist vary a bit, so I've read, maybe that accounts for the variation in experiences. I've heard guys claim Winchester silvertips or Remington Corelokts sometimes work. I killed a deer a couple years ago with an 87 grain bullet. Who knew that would work right?

I have several (more than a dozen) 99's, 1899's, and the American Classic. All but the classic are 1-14 twist. I have killed many deer with an 87 grain bullet. And ONE with the classic shooting a 100 grain bullet. (Winchester silvertip) EVERY single deer shot with the 87 was dead where it stood. Complete and instant termination. With the 100 it was still a one shot kill, but nowhere even remotely near the result with the 87. The choice is yours, but I don't see a huge advantage of the extra 13 grains. The classic was returned to the safe never to be used again..

Oldfolks, whether a specific type of bullet will shoot well depends on the actual twist rate (it can vary from gun to gun, 1-14" was the targeted twist), and the length of the bullet. A shorter 100gr bullet may work fine, a longer 100gr bullet like the Nosler Partition, Ballistic Tip or any mono metal copper is going to spray very large groups down range.

Almost all old factory ammo used short bullets, so the old factory stuff is usually good (some guns don't like it, most do okay).

And in that vein, almost all jacketed 87gr bullets are short and shoot very well.

Longbeard, "Dead where it stood" is good enough for me. The difference in 13 grains didn't make any difference to those deer after the fact, did it? I guess the bottom line is for me to go with what the rifle was made for, 87 grain bullets.

Calhoun, I noticed that the old factory ammo for sale is high dollar stuff, especially Winchester 100 grain Silvertip, which some say groups well in 1-14 twist rifles. Since this will be my first season hunting with this rifle, I will buy a few boxes of 87 grain. I guess I'm infatuated with this little rifle, and can't wait to see what it will do on a SW Georgia buck.

Put the bullet where it counts, and it will do the job just fine. The Speer Hot Cores are my favorite.