Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Lever Guns: Best make and model ever? Why or why not??

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, JB, but yeah, .... good pick.

Concerning the .303 Savage, people may get it and the British round mixed up, but as originally designed, .303 Savage rifles had a groove diameter of .308 but used larger diameter bullets.
I have several bullets pulled from pre-war ammo of different makes that measure .311, later ammo was apparently loaded with the smaller diameter bullet.

Tim

Periscope Depth: My 99E is in .308 Win and was made in 1962. As for the dates of when cartridges other than the (4)Savage ones were introduced with the the 99, I'd have to direct you to the Savage Forum for information from the 99 experts. I've been in the same situation you were in as far as passing on a nice 99 only to regret it later. I was at a Ohio Gun Collectors show years back (got a pass from a gun dealer friend to attend and went with him, otherwise you had to be a member to get in or be able to buy a gun). I saw more 99's than I ever saw in one place. There was one dealer from Kentucky, that my friend knew, that had 100+ 99's from parts guns to NIB ones. At the time, I was caught by the Weatherby bug and was saving up for one so I did not care about buying anything else. Looking back I wish I had handed over the cash to the guy I was attending with to have him buy a nice 99 in 243 Win for me. I remember looking at all the guns and bam, there was the one that caught my eye It was only $325.00. What was I thinking?!!!

What was I thinking? indeed. I'm to the point where I don't like to think about the past anymore. The guns that were sitting on tables at shows screaming "buy me you idiot, you'll never see another at this price", it makes me woozy.

Tim

New calibers started showing up in 1957 in Savage 99's (well, a few snuck out in 1956 I hear but 1957 was the mass production). 243, 308, 358, then later the 284, 22-250, 7mm08, and even 375 Winchester.

Had a 1980's Winchester 94 when I was young and stupid, never liked them much since. Got my dad's 1954 Marlin 336 and love it. But, the pre-1960 Savage 99's have far more style and class imho than any other over-the-counter lever gun.

And confused has it right about 303 Savage diameters.. Although some old guns may measure out to have a .311 bore, there were not enough to document it as a standard. 308 is the standard size, but some of the original ammo was 311.

1938 99T in 250 Savage... yum...

Yum indeed!

Thanks for clarifying some of that info on the .303 Savage. I was sure my cousin was using .311 bullets....oh well.

I think the .358 Winchester is the perfect lever action caliber save for the .348 Winchester.

Any sane person realizes that this is all the gun you'll ever need provided you aren't shooting over canyons or trailing a wounded and angry Grizzly bear.

I like ALL lever guns but (obviously) am partial to Savage 99's as they have been used in the family since 1919/20 when my Grandfather bought his first 1899 takedown 250-3000.

I own a 1950 EG model 99 and I too am a user of "heavy for caliber" bullets. The lightest bullets I use in mine are 180 grain and I also use the Speer 200 grain and get 2400 fps easily.

I just recently tried a box of 220 grain Hornady RN bullets in my .300 Savage for the fun of it and they shoot great at velocities of 2250/2300 fps.... That's faster than the 30-40 Krag throws em and accuracy is good!...I'd say that equals the 30-40 and it is close on the heals of the 30-06 in factory loadings... Point is if ya handload many things are possible beyond the original specs...

When my kin returned from WW2, they returned to hunting, and the rifle of choice was the Winchester 1895 chambered in the ol 30-06.
Favourite loads included Westerns' 220 Silvertips.
Western is now long gone, as are everyone who fought the Nazis, but I don see a compelling reason to change. Glad for all who prefer their other brands, for myself, I am quite happy with my 1895, and I'll probably die that way.
Good luck and good shootin.

Winchester Model 71. 348WCF. Top of the food chain in lever guns!

yep.......