Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1899-H 25-35TD

I just talked to my stock maker. I'm taking it back to him tomorrow to see if we can't get the bolt travel issue solved. I needed to hear from you on this forum to confirm my suspicions. My buddies aren't familiar with 99s and they thought I was nuts for thinking the stock could impede bolt travel. LOL

I think I’d let the stock maker remove it too. I’ve removed 99 stocks the right and wrong ways. Don’t ask me what I know about the latter.

Lol..... I'll put my screw-ups against all comers. :-) I need to be kept away from all hand tools.

Probably the wisest course of action. But, on the other hand if the wood is that tight so as to preclude easy removal I would fear future cracks forming.

Another thing to consider with a minimally inletted (tight) stock is what happens if (when) the wood swells and binds against internal parts such as bolts and causes such problems further down the road? I would take an old factory stock along to show him how roomy things need to be in there. The folks at Savage had good reasons for doing things the way they did. I made the same mistake once by leaving as much wood in the head of the stock to give it every chance to resist splitting, and was hoist by my own petard.

As for the split necks in your fired brass, I don't think they're caused by the gun. It sure looks like you got your hands on some brittle brass- whether it's old or not. That and/or insufficiently annealed at the factory. S&B brass, you say? Not altogether surprised.

Thanks gnoahhh! I pulled the forearm and confirmed the barrel is properly in place. Yes, it is old S&B ammo the previous owner sent me. I have two boxes that appear to be really old and two that appear newer. The ones that split are from the oldest batch. Do you think there is any risk to damaging the firearm using them for plinking?

I have some factory Hornady ammo and some loaded by Reeds Ammunition. Plus I have new quality brass, dies and bullets for reloading. I just hate to toss the ammo if it's suitable for plinking. If it presents any risk, I will gladly dispose of it.

Your call, but if I had a decent stock of good components I wouldn't mess with the S&B's.

Rifle looks great! If I needed a stock I'd definitely call him to have some work done. I'm over in Round Rock (hopefully relocating to LLano in the next year) so Weimar's not even that far.

MRitchie, welcome to 24hourcampfire! I grew up in Colorado County, Texas so Weimer is part of my old "stomping grounds". Also, I have a home in Fredericksburg, Texas. I spend about half of my time there and the other half in Houston. When you get to Llano, we'll be neighbors. LOL

gnoahh, thanks for your advice and counsel!

I took my Savage 99 back to the stock maker this morning. Problem solved. After watching him work identifying the areas needing relief and incrementally reducing them, I realized that if I had tried to do it myself, it would have been one of the stupidest things I've ever done. And I've done a lot of stupid things.

In his defense, he did not have any 25-35 ammo to use for testing function when he made the stock. I brought some along on this trip. :-)

just as an add on to this thread ,beautiful work on that stock and a nice grain in the wood.a good part of your cost was probably the Texas Walnut.

for a lot of you guys in the northern States my stock maker does the same kind of work,i have given him 6 different recievers so he can produce stocks from 1895 to 1960 without having the original stock sent ,with the serial number and model ,perch belly or strait stock plus checkering. remember the canuck dollar is your friend.

norm

Norm, we can't send a receiver up there can we? I hope to have a project ready for wood this year, Joe.