Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99K 250-3K came today

That type of grain is my favorite.
Took some pics of the two K's together. The 250 is on the top and the 300 is on the bottom. Their serial #'s are: 250 2986xx, 1927 production: 300 3094xx 1928 production. There is some variation in the engraving with the 250 having deeper engraving than the 300. It's very possible that Tue did the engraving on the 250. As mentioned above I saw a lot of variation in the K engraving that was probably done by Gough and his employees.
right sides

left sides

tops of receivers. Note that the 300's rear sight covers part of the engraving. This sight is a semi-buckhorn that was common on Utica produced 99's. It is also tapped for a barrel mounted scope.

receivers photographed at an angle to show the engraving on the curved surface near the bolt.

engraving on the lever bosses

The 300 has a mis-matched stock and buttplate. The stock has 1948 penciled under the buttplate with no other markings and a Utica type buttplate. I'm showing this pic of the stock checkering so the two can be compared. They are pretty close so I'm wondering if the owner sent the 300 back to the factory in 1948 to have it restocked. Any thoughts on this?

I thought about selling the 300 but after seeing them together I've changed my mind.

The checkering in the cheek panel on the top rifle looks different to my eye than the checkering on the pistol grip. It isn't mullered like the grip checkering is, and it would seem that the angles and spacing of the lines is different too. How does it compare in person? The two checkering panels on the bottom rifle seem to be synchronized/done by the same hand.

Top one is missing a border around the cheek panel checkering, isn't it? One of the first 99K's made, they obviously hadn't worked out all the minutiae.

Mine still isn't here. I am somewhat less than happy. Glad you got yours though. Bonus on the letter.

Very nice rifles! Thanks for sharing!

I know the feeling. I bought an unmessed with 1903 NRA Sporter out of Alaska that is still in transit per UPS Tracking.

This will be the last gun I EVER buy off the internet. If it ain't FTF it ain't happening.

The checkering on the top rifle is different. The cheek panel is 14 lines per inch and the pistol grip and forearm are 11 lines per inch. They have a much different appearance in person. Just looked at the checkering on my bubbaed 1926 99G. Both K's checkering is much different than the G. That rules out the possibility that Savage took G wood and added the checkering on the cheek pieces. Maybe they did the pistol grip and forearm first and then added the cheek checkering before it shipped.

Hang in there LBK! Post lots of pics when you get it.

I was just talking to Gary about the K's each being a little different. The difference between your two is pretty amazing. My 300K looks just like yours with the much more shallow engraving. I thought it was just wear or lighting, but it just looks shallow.

Tue died in June of 1927. Coulda died with a graver in his hand. Who knows?

It's always an interesting topic, but generally not worth wrangling about.
Even engraving experts are forced to rely on circumstantial evidence, records, etc. in an attempt to identify unsigned work which most are, rather than identifying by the engraving "style".

It kind of sounds like no two K's are alike with respect to engraving and/or checking. ??

That is my impression.

p. 72 of my book shows details of the engraving on Rick99's 99K serial #3563xx. It is deep and clear. P. 73 shows a comparison between the engraving on a 1930 vintage K I once owned (it had a recoil pad and went to a cousin) and the 1928 vintage pictured above. These were probably done by different people at Gough's.

Not the best pic, but this is my 300. I think it's a 28 also.

Here's a closeup of an earlier 1899 A engraving from one of Fug's for anybody to compare their K's to. I would guess a Tue 99K would be very close to this, whereas a Gough 99K might be less detailed. But just a guess.

Click for larger.

Thanks Rory.
I could stare at examples all day.
Can hardly imagine the patience and time required.

Thank's for posting that video, that was quite amazing. No wonder engraved guns are so expensive. The man hours required to engrave a complete firearm that way would be, well a lot. He mentioned he uses a pneumatic tools now, that probably requires more skill. A slip would be a bigger problem.

My hat is off to engravers everywhere. I consider myself a fairly crafty kind of guy, but when I acquired a set of engraving tools and dipped my toes in the water I quickly realized that it requires a whole different level of skill.

A real nice rifle

If I could get enough high quality photos of 99K's from you guys I could put out a 99K 2020 calendar.