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Hey, another prewar 99R with the "Spiegel" holes!

Okay..

1) You have 2 extra holes on the side for a Weaver T-7 mount, which would go with a Weaver 330 or Weaver 29S scope
2) You have 3 extra holes on the top for that mount you have: 2 on the front receiver and 1 behind the bolt.
3) You have 4 holes that are most commonly found on 99EG's sold through Spiegel. Those are the 2 holes on the barrel, and the 2 holes behind the bolt closest to the pop-up indicator.

-- I have a 99R that's also got holes for a Weaver T-7 and the "Spiegel" d&t holes on the barrel and by indicator. Interesting...

That Marbles tang sight should work just fine. It would go on the rear 2 holes on the receiver, way back on the tang. It would fit any Savage 99 made before 1960. Though sometimes they do get bent to not match the contour of the wood. They can usually be bent back, but I haven't had to do it.

My 99R with the T7 and Spiegel holes is 369,5xx. Is that close to yours?

Yes.

yep, it does. Kind of embarrassing, I had it turned backwards before.

Not the first person to do that..

Here's my 99R with the Weaver T7 holes on the side, and Spiegel holes on barrel and by pop-up indicator. Interesting there are two 99R's so similar. Mine doesn't have the 3 holes on the receiver for the scope base you have, but that's definitely from the 1950's or later. Mine does have a rear sling stud like yours, but a different front sling stud.

Wish mine had your condition. Really the only reason I grabbed mine is that it's in 250-3000.

But now I'm curious. Yours is 1936, mine is 1937. Makes me wonder if Savage wasn't working with a vendor with these, like they did with the Spiegel 99EG's.

Might have to kick out money and get it lettered.

For some reason it is not as apparent in the photo, but I can see the outline on the wood of a tang sight.

Do I write to savage to have it lettered? I really appreciate the info. Does the 250-3000 add to the value?

Here is a picture of where the tang sight would sit. After it was pointed out to me how it should be installed, it is clear with the naked eye that one was on it. But like I mentioned, it doesn't show well in the picture.

Yes, a prewar 99R in 250-3000 is extremely uncommon.

However, yours has a lot of extra holes (as does mine). So the 250-3000 adds value, but the holes detract. I couldn't begin to guess at a value. I think I bought my gray one for.. $650? And I did it knowing I was overpaying, I just wanted a 99R in 250-3000.

Savage Arms has the ledgers now, and they will do a letter which might tell you when it was accepted from the factory, when it was shipped, and maybe who it was shipped to. But it might take a couple of months, and I think the current price to get one is $65. Getting a letter probably won't increase the value of your gun, it would just solve a mystery for us collector types.

I'm floored that two 99R's so similar both happen to be in 250-3000.

Since the tang sight was in the canvas/leather gun case, it likely was used on the gun and so the marks aren't that surprising. These sights could be bought over the counter or in the mail for decades. It'd be an odd choice to be original with the gun from the factory.

What's more surprising is the screws in the Spiegel holes on the barrel on yours look like they've been removed and something was mounted there, and mine also look as though they've been used. We've NEVER actually seen a 99 having these holes show up with scope bases on them, and we've only seen a couple of rifles where it looks like anything was ever was put on.

I like mysteries, and finding a clone of my rat has created one.

Well, glad I could help. Is this what the buttplate on yours looks like?

Yep, that was the standard buttplate for the time. Somebody's removed yours before from the looks of the screws. Might be worth a look underneath to see if there's anything - folks have been known to put hunting licenses, or rear sights, or other things there.

Serial number of the gun should be stamped into the end of the buttstock, and also on the bottom of the buttplate.

That was kind of fun, didn't find any historical clues, but you are right about the serial number.

Got a little more curious and was plenty surprised by this

1/2 Rat

A Swiss Cheese rat but I'd buy it if I could

I'm new to this, what does "rat" mean?

And it is going to be for sale.

A Big Rat

Huh, doesn’t really explain much. Interesting picture though.