Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors A tale of a derelict Savage 99 in .303 Sav

I have decided to document my play with a rifle if picked up for restoration and education purposes. Before I begin, I want to mention Jeff Germain and Mike Watson have been longsuffering through this with advise on parts and more. Thanks guys.

The overall condition of the piece was fair, to be charitable. The hammer was broken, extractor did not. Suffice to say a previous owner must have owned a pipe wrench, pliers, and a chisel and gunsmithed with them liberally on this gun. How can this kind of thinking be OK?

A new hammer and extractors were found, fit , and installed. (Thanks Jeff and Mike.) The feed ramp and rear of the barrel needed to be ground and polished to make any ammo feed. The chisel-gunsmithing the area has received had buggered things up very badly. I made a action and barrel vise and removed the .303 barrel. The condition of the barrel has always been a real question. After an inspection, it seemed better than I first hoped, but worn, oversized or both.

With all of the stars aligning I function tested the rifle at the range yesterday. It feeds and functions, but every single .308 diameter bullet keyholed at 25 yards. The few .311 bullets I had printed into about 3-4" and did not seem to keyhole. I re-slugged the barrel, again, finding the grooves measure .316 diameter. Lands are difficult to measure but appear to be .308. This somewhat explains the behavior with .308 & .311 bullets.

I have contemplated replacing, reboring, the barrel, but frankly the value just isn't there unless I just want to piddle with it. Still, the barrel has rifling the full length and my gut tells me it might just shoot Ok, That is, if I can find bullets large enough to gain purchase in the bore yet still fit in the .303 cases. Unsized, foreformed cases appear to accept a .315-.316 slug, but dummy rounds, so loaded are difficult to chamber and extraction.

Other than .32 pistol bullet the options for appropriate bullets are slim. I have considered 32 pistol bullets, the .316 Stopring bullet for the 8.15x46R, re-sized, .318 bullets (8mm J), even paper patched .308 bullets. Ideas are welcome.

Regard the project as a whole and if I can address the accuracy problem, it is at least theoretically possible to refurbish the rifle to a functional status, appropriate for a rifle built in 1903. I am good with wood and perform rust bluing in my shop, so the finish could be fixed. It is also good that of the appropriate parts are still still there and are all serial numbered to the receiver. So the project should not replace anything, unless there was no other option.

Alternately, if I can not solve the accuracy and functional problems, this may become a parts gun.

As I said when I started this post, the purpose was to document the project and to thank the good Samaritans who have been helping me.

Thanks for the story and I will "stayed tuned to this station" for updates. Best of luck!

I don't have the talent or patience to restore anything so admire your effort. I do have an early 1899b 30 SAV (30-30) that is at a gunsmiths. Someone had taken action apart and also totally messed up rotary magazine. Hopefully it is a functional firearm when completed providing years of service for owners down the road, the cost will simply be written off as part of Savage Syndrome.
BillR

Have the barrel re bored and chambered to 35- 303 sav? I know it's been done to a few 30-30s over the years that had worn out bores. A call to Reboreing by Jes would tell you if it's possible or if there are other options.

Lee.

Polecat,

I did speak to JES. Yes, a 35/303 is possible. JES gets $225 for the rebore. Not bad, but more than I paid for the rifle. This course leads me to thinking, "huh, if it do that then I should make it an Ackley improved version of the 35/303 to improver feeding and performance. That means custom dies, and a question whether it would require any changes to the the spool magazine. I don;t want to go there because the gorilla with the pipe wrench, chisel, and pliers buggered the screw holding the mag together so well, it is doubtful God could get them apart. Like BillR suggested this is probably an advanced case of Savage-itis combined with Ackleyism. Dan

Well, I truly admire your effort! It's a pleasure to work with someone of your apparent skill set.

I think this poor old relic belongs on the wall or such. It sounds like a money pit to me. There are probably more deserving projects ahead.

Wondering if you are using cast bullets?

That's great progress Dan! I'd vote for cast bullet experiments too. 8mm jacketed bullets seem kinda risky option for creating too much (disastrous!) case pressure. I think you've got it right about the cost of wild-catting, you'll throw a lot of money at a project that might be better spent on a new barrel (talk to CTW). If you keep your intentions on the learning it will all be well spent time and money.

Memory says the early 8x57 version used a .316 or .318 diameter bullet the 8x57J ?? Might be worth some research

A quick google search shows you can but the .316 cast bullet pretty reasonable

http://westernbullet.com/316oversize30.html

ctw sounds like he has a receiver wrench for Savage 1899, 99's. I wonder what it looks like. One gye uses two thick 1" slabs of aluminum on either side of the action for lever actions, likely supported in the middle w/a 3rd piece ,shoring up the inside of the action. I wanted to say I had a SRC .303 that had a pipe wrench used in a failed attempt to remove the barrel. It would be nice to think there is enough meat left around the chamber to support the likely lower pressures of the .303 Savage. Someday soon? I 'll put up a picture -pipe wrench teeth aren't too deep- - in my mind. ( Maybe if I peen everything back in place everything will be Ok ).

I agree with the cast bullet idea. You should be able to get some cast bullets swaged to the correct diameter somewhere. That's a whole lot easier and cheaper than a rebarrel or rebore project. Savage Syndrome, more properly Savage Obsession Syndrome, is a virulent disease! I know from experience!

Everything I've ever seen says the 303 Savage should have a .300" bore with .004" rifling. If yours is slugging out at .316" with good rifling, I'd be thinking somebody at some time rebored the rifle - or at least recut rifling on a shot out barrel. I can see being off by a couple thousands, but by 8/1000th is huge in the gun world.

I say rebarrel, rebore to 35-303, or make it a wall hanger.

I believe we are establishing why the 30-30 outran the 303. I just don't hear this kind of chatter with the 30-30.

Really? Odd, I had a WInchester 1894 made in 1898 that keyholed bullets at 50 yards.

Shot out barrels will do that.

Were Savage 303 bores always made to the same specs, and wear is accounting for the large variation in bore sizes we see?

I guess you'll need to give me more information on the large variation of bore sizes that we see. This is a sample of one, that the owner admits was bubba'd tremendously before he got it.

Bubba didn't change the bore size.

.308-.316 sound right?

I've got a barrel stamped 32-40, but it is a 32 Win Special chamber.

Obviously then, the factory chambering really sucked?

I wonder if the 32 special reamer will clean up a 32-40 chamber? Will have to look into that

I'm sure it will, Chris.

There's a special place in hell reserved for all the Bubbas who re-chambered Savage .32-40's to .32 Special. I can see the utility in it, but still...