Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Savage 99... Doing the Right Thing

powdr
Thinking along the lines of bringing the grip out to "classic" proportion which would mean full length and no taper. The curve is set by the lever and the lack of taper should make it feel like a handful.

Were I making it for myself I would probably look at the difference made by reducing the depth of the gulley above the grip. That is assuming the idea of restocking is to raise the comb. That increase in height through the grip would add substantially to the grip circumfrance and should be enough for most very large hands.
art

Thanks Art! powdr

Straighten out the grip area a bit, (can you metal work the lever?)and you'll need to do something with the now raised comb or you'll have a 9" long recoil pad.
The decreased angle in the grip helps. Also earlier 99's had loads of drop, without seeing the original you may want just keep the higher comb and remove some of the heel losing some of the comb, that would help scope it also.
regards, CWG [img][image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/HawgDog/99stockdiagram.jpg[/img][/image]

Claude
Straightening the lever would require some builing up on the action lower tang to maintain flush with the inside curve... Otherwise the look would suffer and the possibility of pinched flesh in recoil would be very real.

Also, I am not trying to beef up the grip and straightening it would have that effect since I am already concerned about how deep I can cut the gulley in front of the nose and make it look good.

Dropping the heel would make the buttplate too small as the bottom line of the butt is being raised an amount equal to the heel. The faint but straight blue line represents the new butt bottom line. The sketched and irregular green line below is the original line.

I understand the look you are trying to save by bobbing the heel and I will run it past the owner... Thanks for the input.
art

I misunderstood about the setup of the lines, if the heel was raised, the comb will be good- I thought the comb was raised and heel left orginal, LOL.
I did a Martini that was just a bugger to get right, but I was able to wail away at the tang, get some cast to it, and stock neetly.
Its a task alright, but the outcome is always worth it.
post pics when done Art, CWG
Like the second or third line down, you can see the Martini.
HERE.

Claude
Took the photo tour... VERY nice! That was a good clean job on the Martini. This will be much simpler that way...
art

Claude,
Nice stuff. I really like the takedown Stevens .22!
Allen

Thanks, I had a 99-F with bullet counter in 308 that I sold for nothing 20 years ago...still kicking myself.
I searched/googled for pics of a custom 99 in 250-3000 that was the work of a master, gorgeous. If I can find them I'll post them. The lever was reworked, the action sculpted (enough metal to lightly scallop the rear) nice wood of course, but you had to do a double take, it looked like a 99 but not really.
I need to save to disc stuff like that.
The 99 has always been one of my favorites that begs for a tweaking. Same way the #3 is better than the #1 for custom work (just my .02)

Art are you going to hand carve that out? It looks like Western Broad leaf, no? Its going to be one sweet, sweet levergun when done. I know the Marlins are vastly more popular, but they dont have the lines that lend themselve to custom work like the 99's do. Even the big bores look like rimfires to me.

regards- post pics as work progresses. I dig that kind of stuff. Always good to look at finished stuff, but enough of us here know what it takes, so post as it goes, eh?

Claude

I dont know these folks, but found these when looking for that custom 99
http://eddelorge.com/_wsn/page10.html

Claude
Have built many stocks and for many years and have yet to use my first inletted blank. I take every piece off myself... It takes a little more time, especially on the Turkish walnut a friend picks up for me in-country, but stuff like this maple is too fast to consider messing with duplicating. It is bigleaf, as you thought.
art

Art,

I just got back from Colorado late last night. 5 days without the internet was actually nice!

The preliminary layout looks real good. I forgot how great the wood actually looks. It justifies looking into some checkering and possibly some quality metal refinishing.

Claude, I checked out your site. Verrrrry Nice!

Jed, the 99 has absolutely no collector value. It was bought as a shooter/project gun.

To all, just for the record, I am not very tall at all, and have medium sized hands. I was looking to restock the 99 for use with a scope. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming. I would hate to short-change the inherent beauty of this wood and Art's expert craftsmanship with my lack of experience and small brain!

Art, thanks again. I will be calling you soon.

Chris

I buy custom 99s whenever I can and presently have rifles by Jaeger, Griffin & Howe, Shelhamer, Dowtin, Randall (someone you never heard of but a superlative 7-30) and a couple without IDs. The 99 is a terrific basis for a custom job and I am glad to see another fine one coming along.

Vigillinus,

It was actually seeing your custom and non-factory 99's that planted the seed for this project.

Chris

Any progress. Interesting to see what may be going on

Andrew

http://rogerbain.com/catalog/product_inf...b52825624f874a4

Griffin & Howe .250 99, circa 1938, obtained this weekend at Chantilly VA gun show. If the link doesn't work, look for it at rogerbain.com.

I've thought we needed a 99 stock like this for years, but have not had the time or, more importantly, the talent to do it myself. Please keep us posted.

Hello SitkaDeer

I had a bit of a time finding this thread but someone helped out in the end.

Could you please please give us an update ??

Cheers - Foster

Art,

That's a BEAUTIFUL piece of Maple. I love the way Maple finishes up naturally, with no stain. My Step Dad a 1917 in 30-06 with a great piece of Maple finished naturally that I used to drool over. I borrowed it to hunt with as a kid. I made some knives with Maple handles that looked good too.
Yours should be georgeous when finished.

Don

I, too, would be interested to see.
Harold