Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Found the Unicorn - 30in 1899B

Never in a hundred years did I expect to come across a 30" 1899, let alone a B in 30-30. Dates to 1906. Will post more pics at some point when I have a better lighting environment.

How many fingers does it take to count how many we have seen?

AND it's a BEAUTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations.

Good for you! Now you can reach out and touch 'em.

That is a dandy! Congrats.

That thing better be accurate as all get out as the barrel is already getting the bullet halfway to the target! Nice find you got there

Congrats on your find!

IIRC, there may have been an extra long 1895 at the first Savagefest that went to the Loggah. CC and either 28" or maybe 30" if memory serves me right.

No matter, you got a KEEPER in a 30-30 there!

Great find Keith, special guns are good for one’s soul.

That is one hell of a find!! Congrats Keith. I wish that was coming to the Rendezvous with you so i can drool on it. Lol.

Joe

Wow! What a great find.

Next thing to put in the budget is a gun carriage.

That one would get me up off my Savage butt. Congrats! Mail it East so we can hand it to you so you can walk in with it and make everyone drool not just Joe!

great for you, things like this don't come around often, who is on the beneficiary list.

Rare bird & wonderful find, indeed! Were those full octagon "B" configurations tapered? Any barrel marking photos?
My 1899A, just 26" and pretty pedestrian. "Square bolt" design, as yours. Nothing to write home about in particular but all original and quite decent shape. There's some charm to these stately old ladies! I do enjoy mine in context of such 'earl birds'!

Congrats!
John

Cool rifle!

Somebody ordered a 30" barrel, 30-30 for their own reasons.
No other extras like checking, pistol grip, etc.
What would 8 4 extra inches of barrel do for this rifle?

Might even slow down the bullet, depending on how fast the pressure falls off. One Plus = longer sight radius.

Any sense for how many 30 inch 1899s have been discussed and/or know to have been observed? I searched as far back as the site has data available and only found one that John owned.

Wouldn't it have been 4" extra barrel on an 1899B?

Nice rifle Keith.

Congrads, I believe that Dick , Loggahs brother bought a 30" barreled 99 at the second fest. But I was wrong once back in 1974.

Dick Johnson has a 30" Octagon barrel 1899. It will be featured in my new book.

Didn't think there were many collectors still around to be had. That one made my ears perk up. GW

Make me have 10" and smile. GW

I wonder how many of the special order long barrel rifles have been cut down over decades by guys that bought them second hand and found the long barrel was to much

I'm going to hazard a guess and say not many, but more than a couple.

I have a couple old marlins with 30" barrels, both in 38-55. Wish I had a 99 though...

That is one fine rifle, great find.

Ken

Checking my 1899 data up to WWI, about 1100 rifles, I count 7ea 30" and 10ea 28" have turned up.

In the 1895 data, about 590ea there are 5ea 30" and 4ea 28".

I have one 1903 28" 1899-B in .303 but it is a gray rat.

I'm curious about barrel taper too. We discussed at some point in the early 99 spectrum of barrel lengths, all terminated in the same muzzle diameter, so tapers were different, specific to the finish length.

I’ve got my C&R so you can ship it right to my door, I’ll have it when you land. I’ll even file the claim for you when it comes up missing?

Is that a double negative? “I’ll have it when you land”? “I’ll file the claim”, HMMM.

I have a very rough 1900 1899B in 303 with 28”, and a reblued 1911 1899A takedown with 28”. Passed on an 1899C with 28” years ago with 28” barrel that Fug bought. Never ran into a 30” except on big internet auctions.

All I have access to right now is a ruler with cm/mm. On a 26" B I measured 16mm at the muzzle; on the 30" B 15mm (flat to flat). I'll measure with a caliper in a few days.

Now that’s a cool rifle! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Very nice find. Congratulations!!

WOW!

What a great find! Congrats!

Pinging on just a couple of conversation points. First, the longer the barrel, the greater the sight radius. Whether 4" is significant, perhaps "in the eye of the beholder". Pardon the inevitable pun! Yet, the sight radius as moving to a receiver from aft barrel sight, also its percentage of contribution. (Effect in handguns for me, really noticeable!)

The comment about original long barrels suffering "cut down", I suspect such was quite prevalent moving to 'more likely than not', probability. A rote generalization, but my perception that factors making 'long tom' factory orders themselves rare, also working similarly on the "second owner - et al" market. Where such as integral forged type front sights weren't involved, a 'pro job' typically easy and retaining 'factory original' appearance. The Great War, with Springfield orientation, sealing the deal. Viewing the hoards of cut down 30" barrel Krag rifles, by far the seeming majority existing today! My amateur thesis, over a century now of max 26" barrel popularity; past half century, max 24" or less, as 'almost' relegating longer to "highly individualized and often $$$ customs!

Yet 'hangin' for any barrel taper info available!
Best!
John

WoW, just WoW!

Catalog #15 covers 1905~1906 and the standard 26" barreled 30-30 retailed @ $21.50 and listed at 8lbs, the extra barrel length was $1 per inch up to 30", so an extra $4.00 (18%). The extra length being listed per inch would suggest you could also order 27" and 29". The same barrel length options were available for the Model 1903 pump but it had a 24" barrel standard so a 30" for it would be $6.00 extra, they retailed at $12.00 so that would be a price increase of 50%.
'
The telegraph codes for ordering these were complete words with the octagon barrels starting with 'B', the 1899 'B' in 30-30 would use the code "Beach", 38-55 = "Bite", 32-40 = "Bold", 25-35 = "Bulk" and 303 = "Bait".

The catalog pictures still show an 1895.

Gene, thank you for posting that info.

Keith, When I looked up the above information I did not see any additional telegraph codes for some of the listings on the options pages, looking again I found the ones for 28" & 30" barrels on the last page of the catalog.

Telegraph codes varied by year/catalog. With Keith's rifle being a 1900 rifle, the 1900 catalog did list telegraph codes for the 30" 1899B in 303, and it's the same as in #15 - "Barb".

1906 Rory 698xx

Sorry. Was thinking of another.

I have the same rifle with a 26 inch barrel in great shape. It shoots fantastic.

Congratulations Keith on a great find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bravo! T.S.

Now that I'm home, as promised, here are a few better-lighted outside pictures of the 1906 1899B.










[img]https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/medium/166535.jpg[/img]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5th pic from shows the forging lines perfectly.

That's a beauty.

It ain't easy to find a 115 year old rifle that somebody over all those years hasn't felt the need to break out the saw or the drill or the belt sander.

That's a keeper.

Dang cool.

Received the letter on the 30 inch 1899B :-)

Nice documentation. Was the hardware company in Minnesota?

Simply a great find!

with condition, congrats

I could not find any info on the hardware company

Hackert, Walther, Gales Hardware Company was located in St. Paul, MN

Thanks Ted. I bought it about 10 miles from St. Paul.

Who's collection letter heads?

Rick, I'm not sure what you are asking?

Thanks for the factory letter update Keith.
That is a pretty special rifle.

Also thought the disclaimer was interesting...

I sent an email back to Cody; the accepted date on the letter is later than the shipped date (8/27 and 8/10). I thought it might be a typo/reverse on the letter.

Ass covering to avoid being caught up in a valuation lawsuit.

that is one sweet gun you have there. something to be proud of for sure! I have a 1899C 30 inch in 25-35 ..

My Granddad bought his 1899B .303 from a hardware store in St. Paul in 1901. I never heard the name but I'd bet it's one in the same. Thanks!

Very nice!

Another "Wowser, Wowser, Wowser!!!"

That's a nice one, Jeremy.

thanks Bert much apreciated.. your not far so welcome anytime to see it in person. I'm thinking these guns should be together. maybe Keith and I should flip to see who gets them both.. lol

Good lord, what a rifle! Still hoping maybe we can get together, empty some brass and I can see this unicorn in person.

Very neat Kieth!! May be literally a One-of-a-kind Savage!! And even more neat now that the Cody archivists are really handling the records effectively! Congratulations Kieth!!

The company is Hackett , Walther & Gates Hardware Co. , St. Paul , Minn. Started as just Hackett Hardware in the late 1800's.
Hackett, Walther, Hardware

Just wondered if anyone had collected all the letter heads used by the historians. Some of use are known to collect anything Savage.

VERY NICE!
If you ever want to trade . . . .

Congrats on a tgreat specimen! Plus the bonus... Believe that barrel length qualifies as a Jurassic era "social distancing tool"!

Best!
John

If we had a like button I would have hit it.

With the crescent butt, I thought it could be used as a crutch for Wilt the Stilt?

Your pics are great and so is your find. Truly a miracle that in a 116 years some short barrel whiner (sbw) didn't cut the barrel down. sbw's long predated savage 99's. How about a pic of it over a nice fat 4x4 whitetail?..mb

I never gave that much thought, I guess back then, just as today, a hack saw was cheaper than a new rifle. Maybe it stayed in the family a long time and rode out it's time in a closet corner? We are all lucky Keith found this one.