Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99e rebarrel

I just got a M20/26 barrel in .300Sav that I would like to install on a 99e action. The barrel cant be dated closer than 1926 or later; it has no rear site. The barrel threads are the flat style. The receiver is a 1961 and I'm hoping the threads are compatible and the barrel can be indexed to the integral front sight base. An extractor groove must be cut. There seems to be enough thread and more at the breach. Do you expect the threads to be the same?. Is there a gunsmith that comes to mind for a project like this?

I don't expect the threads to be the same if the 99E serial number is over 1000000. It should be the later style.

Should it? Remember at least some of the receivers used on the post 1960 99E rifles had serial numbers removed on the bottom of the receivers from the factory. This would indicate they were pre-mil receivers used in later post mil 99E's. I think we hashed this out years ago but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm guessing but at some point post 1960 they must have run out of pre mil receivers and begun making them afresh (and probably with the newer threads).

If the serial number is present, and if it's over 1,000,000 - I'd presume it to be the later threads. The premil receivers used on 99E's all had serial numbers under 1,000,000 and were almost all in 1960.

I don't recall any premil receivers having serial numbers removed.. might have happened closer to 1969 when they started the letter prefixes and moved the serial number to the side of the receiver?

Actually, we discussed this rifle 7 yrs ago when I bought it. It's clearly a 1961 marked receiver without a cartridge counter but it has a 20" Chicopee Falls barrel (243Win). I think the only remaining controversy then was that it had Model EG wood on it when I got it (steel buttplate, cut checkering, schnabel forend).

I appreciated everyone's input then and do now. It does have a serial number over 1 million and I would have to check my old post to remember it exactly. Anyway with a Chicopee barrel on a 1961 Model E receiver still possible that the action could've been threaded for the older barrel, with flat threads. What do you think?

Always a chance but I'd put this at slim and none.

If you're dead set on a .30 barrel, I would get Chris Williams (ctw here on the forum) to snag an ER Shaw .30 barrel and fit it up and chamber for whatever you want. (.300 Savage would be excellent.) Then sell the old original 20/26 barrel for enough to put a serious dent in the re-barreling cost.

I bet that a rebore to .30 would be economically feasible too, but then you're stuck with making it a .308.

I gotta ask: is there something that needs killing that a .300 will do but a .243 won't?

I have a 1964 Savage 99 chambered in 284 Winchester and the barrel stamp also says "Chicopee Falls". Now obviously it's not a leftover 284 Winchester barrel from 1959... So I think there's a good chance that your barrel and mine were leftover blanks that had been stamped, but not bored, chambered or threaded.

The only way to be sure is to pull the barrel, I think.

Jeff has a post mill thumb safety rifle with square threads, maybe he will chime in with a sn range.

Ah, interesting about the 284Win barrel. That's what I've always thought about mine, leftover parts. I'm thinking flat threads but yes the only way to know for sure would be to crack it and have a look.

As for the why of it, I also have a Model 1920/26 in 300 Savage, a fallback reason to buy the barrel when I saw it for sale. I will not scope the 1920, still have iron sight eyes at 60 but I would like to have the scope option on certain days or conditions so converting the 99E to 300 seemed a possible solution. Its already scoped, I dont load for 243 but I do for 300 and like to hunt with 300. The 99E is pretty blue worn, not a particularly collectible model, already has non-original stocks on it and 243 just ain't my caliber although I have nothing against it.

We've seen a handful of 284 barrels with Chicopee Falls barrel addresses. Just plain confusing is what it is..

I sent you a PM ctw, asking you whether you might know more about it, from prior experience? Would you say this is a "doable" project if I'm lucky enough to have square threads?

Y33, I am pretty sure there is not enough meat on the square thread barrel to turn post mill V-threads on the 300 Savage barrel. I think it would be much easier and cheaper to trade your 243 for a 300 Savage and I am sure there are lots of guys with a 300 Savage that would like to have the 243 as it is a versatile cartridge with a lot of advantages.

That's a good thought. I could put it in the Classifieds as a WTT but that's rather complicated these days. I was trying to work with the tools in my box. The E has very little blue on it so I thought I wouldn't lose anything having a look at the threads to see whether it was possible to use the M20 barrel. If not, turn it back on and maybe sell it. I didnt think rethreading the M20 barrel (or the action) was even an option. I could install a custom barrel but that's something I wouldn't do. If it came to that I would sell it and buy a 99 in 300 but I have other scoped rifles to use. It's not a big deal, just a little project that came to mind when I saw the barrel for sale (and bought it).

[That's a good thought. I could put it in the Classifieds as a WTT]
A 99 chambered in 243 sounds like a good thing but remember, this one has a 20" barrel, which is less than ideal for this cartidge.

Ok, got it now on the 20" barrel in .243. Good luck on your ventures and if you need a .300 Savage Barrel with V threads I may have one.

Very kind of you to offer. Now it's getting complicated! I wont know what to do when we unscrew that barrel, regardless of WHAT we find....

Ok, you better tell me about that 300 Sav barrel you've got.😉