Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99 in 219 Wasp

Has anyone on here seen or done a 99 rebarrel on a 30-30 or 25-35 in 219 Donaldson Wasp? I was talking with my Dad yesterday about cartridges and that rebarrel I'm getting done on that EG, and he mentioned he still had some brass and dies for the Wasp from back when he had one in the 70s.

It just kind of got another rebarrel idea rattling around in my head, depending on how happy I end up with this one in progress, and if I could find a shot out donor for a reasonable price.

I had a 99 that had been rebarrelled to .219 Zipper, so it wouldn't be impossible to do a Wasp. I believe Zipper pressures are somewhat lower than the Wasp.

Yeah, it is just a Zipper slightly shortened with a sharper shoulder. How did yours feed?

Feed without having to mess with a rotor would be my biggest concern. I imagine the HP rotor would be about perfect, but I don't want to spend the money for a HP just to butcher it.

Seem to remember 1899Sav had one or two 99's rechambered to Zipper, maybe a Wasp?

Ask Jeff about it he has a couple

Seems to me they were Zippers....

It would be very easy to do with a shot out 30-30 rebarreled to 219 Zipper

Way better than the Savage 22HP with it's funky .227-.228 bullet. Seems like an improved type case design like the wasp might work better with a 300 Savage rotor, but that's just my WAG.

I was just guessing a 30-30 family rifle would be a good donor because the rotor is made for roughly the same case and rim diameter. Just the shoulder catch spot would be different.

I'm sure someone here will come across this that has done one, or a Zipper that knows from experience which rifle to start with.

I do know I am NEVER taking the rotor out of a 99 ever again, so if it is something I can't do without modding the rotor, I'll pass on doing it.

Demented minds think alike. .300 Savage rotor was what crossed my mind too. Bear in mind the Wasp is a shortened Zipper with a body blown out fairly straight. .30-30/.22HP accommodations may or may not cut it. The cartridge guide will probably be a bigger headache anyway.

I owned/shot one .219 Wasp in my life and it was in a Winchester High Wall, which in my opinion is a darn near perfect platform for it.

What's the end use of this Frankenstein? Deer, varmints, or simple target shooting? Personally I wouldn't sweat it if I couldn't get it to feed through a 99 magazine. Even if used for deer, do you really really need a 5 shot repeater? I've never fired 5 shots at a deer in my life, or 4 or 3 for that matter. The next shot after the first one is usually a Hail Mary shot anyway.

Probably just a carbine length barreled walking coyote and plinking gun. I already have enough deer rifles for any situation I'll ever encounter. I just figured if I was going to make it out of a 99, I'd like to have use of the magazine.

I guess the one my Dad had was a Lee-Enfield made into a single shot, and he didn't keep it long. He just always hangs onto dies, even if he no longer has a gun for them anymore.

I think the 300 is the way to go as well. Lay the cartridges beside a 30-30 and the 300 see what is closer.

I'll have to see if he can dig up the brass and make up a few dummies. If it's close to 300 I suppose I could stuff them in my EG and see if they work through the magazine.

I'd need a 300 rifle and a donor bolt from a 30-30 family rifle, though. If this ends up being much more than a rebarrel, I'll probably not mess with it. Just a thought I had last night when he mentioned the Wasp brass and dies.

Yes one of them was mine. Wish I had kept it but .......

slightly off topic, but I believe one of the gun heads here converted a 99 to 257 Roberts awhile back

You won't need a 30-30 bolt. All 99 bolt faces and extractors are the same.

I would kindly suggest that an action originally at least used for a .250, or .300, be selected and not an old 1899 from pre 1915. .219 Donaldson Wasp can generate some hefty pressures, especially if the performance that the old wildcatters bragged about is chased after.

Darn it. You got me itching for another one now.

Yeah that was Stever (1899sav) too.

Hrm, I did not know the bolt faces were all the same. That's my new bit of knowledge for the day. 😁

I'm not a hotrodder in any of my 99s, or anything rear locking, for that matter. I chase accuracy, not velocity. None of my best accuracy loads in 303 or 300 are that fast.

That 110gr 303 load I posted the group pic of the other day is ticking across the chrono just over 2100fps. My best 300 loads are a 130 doing about 2700. I like conserving brass, powder, and my shoulder 😉 Now that I have the 303 dialed in, I'm working on the 300. I actually just put a new smaller bead front sight on it today, which should help.

I can't wait for my other EG to get back from McGowen so I can start working up some 250 loads. I am refraining from loading anything until I get it back and can see how tight the chamber is, though.

A man after my own heart. The older I get the less I like recoil, and even though the deer would appear to be evolving toward thicker and tougher hides if internet braggadocio is to be believed , the pussycat cartridges still soldier along quietly doing their murderous business.

I have shoulder and neck issues, so recoil headaches are a problem I like to avoid. I sold off all my heavy hitters when it really started bothering me 5-ish years ago. 300 Savage is about my tolerance limit of being able to sit down and shoot comfortably more than a handful of rounds. It's also why I went with 130 grainers in it. The 150s I started with had a bit more bark than I could handle for fun shooting.

I do NOT enjoy checking the shotgun sights before season every fall. Just a few of those and I'm done for the day. I dunno what it is about sabot slugs, but they seem to kick much worse than the same weight bullet at the same speed from a rifle.