Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Savage model 99

Another Service fan! Read him every now and then.

Frank Buck used the 99 303 Savage he carried to shoot a tree limb out from under a leopard and drop him into a net. One of the films they once showed on TV.

I never saw the allure of the Savage 99. I used a 99F in 300 Savage when I was a teenager. Killed a few whitetails in PA back in the early 70's. I found that it kicked like a mule, trigger sucked & that dang safety on the lever was awful for a lefty. Dad had one, he wanted me to buy one. I bought a 30/06 Remington 700. One of the best decision I ever made. I still have & use that 30/06 every year.

Worst safety ever for a lefty.

When out of the night that was black as a b!tch, and into that den of smoke
Came a shady old prick, just in from the crick, with a rusty load in his poke

Shootinurse, I think you had better refresh your Robert Service 😳

Freaking beautiful!!! But you might lose the slip on pad and feather that forend a bit.

Try my brother's .308. But the .250, the Creedmoor with a classic style stock, and the .303 are all just fine to shoot.

I've been immersed in Savage 1899/99's for quite a while now, and have known more than a couple lefties who are too. The bit about the awkward safety seems to be about equally divided between pro and con. I guess it comes down to how much one strives to overcome a handicap.

Recoil? I shudder to contemplate firing a post-1955 Model F in .308 or .358. It is not a pleasant experience. One or two shots in the deer woods? Like water off a duck's back. But go to the range and wail away two or three boxes of factory loads in a session, to familiarize oneself with the gun, and one feels like having just gone three rounds with Mike Tyson.

"I have clinched and closed with the naked 99,
I've learned to defy and defend.
Shoulder to shoulder we have fought it out,
but the 99 must win in the end."

-with apologies to Robert Service.

Yep, my 99F .358 kicks like a rented mule. Happy Trails

358 carbine is just fine. What loads are you guys shooting anyhow?

He elbowed his way up to the bar, and I felt as low as a worm
He lugged out his jock and displayed to the flock
And evreyone's a$$hole squirmed

Good thing I don't teach a poetry course....one of those verses could get in a person's mind. 😅

My friend when I was in jr. high thought they were the ugliest rifles in the world. Though I like their lines, the beauty is in the function, and the status of being a rifle designed in the 19th century that was adaptable to the .308 and other pretty good cartridges, with a strong action easy mounting of scope, and a rotary magazine. But most of us who like 99s knew someone who hunted with them when we were a kid. That makes a difference. I would look at my Dad's .300 EG, still open sighted, on the string-wound nails above his bedroom door, and he would tell me stories of the deer it had taken. I thought it would slay an elephant.

Well put.

I got my first 99 (a .308 EG) because my primary hunting mentor had a 99. Eventually owned a bunch, including an 1895 .30-30 with an octagon/round barrel, take-downs in .250, .300 and .303--and my mentor's .358 99F from the late 1950s. (I am not as fond of recoil as when younger, but it does not kick nearly as much as most .300 magnums, even with 250s loaded to 2400....)

Have had some extraordinarily accurate 99s, and some that would not group well enough to satisfy most "modern" hunters--who are apparently convinced any rifle that doesn't shoot much less than an inch is incapable of killing deer.

The original 95/99 trigger is easily adjusted to a pretty good pull. The one on the post-1960 (tang safety) models is far more complex, but can be tweaked too.

They are capable of accuracy and "ballistics" that are enough for just about any North American big game--with the right 99 out to 400+ yards. But only if the shooter knows how.

99's shoot farther than most would believe.

The lights went out and I ran for the door as the stranger sprang in the dark
His aim was true and the sparks they flew as his donniker found its mark

I sure hope the OP didn't get the Virus and died! I've owned just one Mod 99C, .308, tang safety. Someone had adjusted the trigger, and it was actually very good. The rifle was not that accurate and I discovered the forearm was crowding the barrel. I tried to float it, actually got it done when I placed a washer as a "stop" for the fore when the screw was tightened. It then shot wonderful! I put the then new Leupold 2 1/2 on it and it made a dandy rig. Only problem was I was into my Mod 700 BDL 7mm Rem Mag. I tried to sell it, and no one had any money in my circles ( oilfield, early 80s, economy tanked) so I traded it to a gunshop even for my very first Reloading Press! an RCBS Rockchucker Reloading Kit and some dies/powder/bullets. Best rifle trade I ever made, still using the press, ha.

Now, I was asked by a friend at work back then to put a scope on his 99E, 243 and workup a good load for him. It took awhile for me to gather up via mail order the right parts, etc. He had a Weaver 2x7 to go on it. It had an awful, "Double Action revolver feeling trigger pull", maybe 6-8 pounds! I did finally get him zeroed with the 100 Speer BT, but he couldn't shoot, that trigger eat him up. He finally went to a new BAR .270 and it was sweet. They were very popular here in Utah at one time, I tell you that! though, in the last 30yrs of cruising the Pawn Shops, Gun shops, etc, I have seen "two" in 2500/3000. All the rest have been 300 Savage, .308, .243 and one .358. They are odd looking, but very functional when you consider how well they fit a saddle scabbard.