Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 Model Confusion

OK, I need the input of most on here that are light years ahead of me on model determination. Today I visited a local gunshop not to far from me. Asked the young guy attending the desk if they had any Savage 99's or Remington 8/81's in the place. Figured I'd hear no as none of the models are real popular or seen much in my state. He advised they did have a Savage lever gun in one of the racks. Thought "All Right"!

Followed him to the back of the store where he pulled a 99 out that I spotted immediately was an older 99. What he showed me confused me from the start. It was a 99 in 250-3000 Savage take-down, Schnabel forearm. At first I thought it to be a G, but besides having forearm and pistol grip checkering, the side panels were checkered like the K model. Looking at the serial number I thought it to be lower that what I thought the K's started at. Taking it back to the office, the GS owner looked up by Savage serial number and it indicated it was a 1899 Savage made in 1919. Serial number is 209417. Confused me as I thought only the 99K's and some of the high end deluxe models had side panel checkering, plus their metal engraving. Anyway, checked the bore which was pretty good, but had alot of dust towards the muzzle end. Several cons about the rifle are that it is drilled and taped with a older 4x Weaver scope mounted and on the left side of the fore end (muzzle end), there is a repaired crack on the upper (top) of the wood. Appears to have been pinned/glued into place. Runs around three inches from the end, a quarter inch from the top. Excellent repair job. No receiver cracks. Other than the crack, wood is real nice and metal condition shows some handling wear, no rust or pits. There is a set of older looking (nothing made today) swivels installed. Owner has a price tag of $1500 on it, but he negotiates also.

Several things I didn't do was look at the style of butt plate, check what type of barrel address is on the barrel, ID the front sight well, rear sight is gone, and didn't check the trigger face. Reference the serial number, I looked at a online serial number lookup when I got home. The Savage Shooters lookup indicates 1899/99, 1918 or 1919. The American Rifleman lookup states it is a 1899 made 1918 or later. Both David Royal's and Rory's books indicate 1919 according to the serial number. Both indicate the 1899's were offered from 1915-1921, the 99G's from 1921-1941, and the checkered side panel K's not until around 1926-27. Rory's book showed the 99K starting around 292,500. Murry's book has it at 285,000-way too high for the 99 I was looking at.

What confuses me is the checkered panel. Other than the early deluxe models made prior to 1920 or so and the 99K, were there any 99 models that had the checkered panels. I read in Rory's book when he described certain models that "There were a variety of special order options available", checkering being one of them. Davids book also alluded to special options. One of the statements I read alot here on the forum regarding Savage 99's is "Never Say Never"! Could this be a 1899 250-3000 that had originally been ordered with the side panels checkered? The forearm, pistol grip, and side panel checkering looked just like the pictures I've seen on K's. Wonder also if someone sometime may have replaced the original stock. All of the checkering looked evenly worn. Sorry, didn't get any pictures as my six year old iPhone is maxed out at 15.9 GB's (16 max) and won't allow me to take any pictures. Thinking I may make a trip back to the GS out of curiosity and check for serial numbers under the forearm and buttplate, also checking the front sight configuration, butt plate style, and barrel address. Want to run a patch down the barrel to remove the dust to see better condition of bore. I've known the owner for some time and he's pretty accommodating. Realize I don't have pictures, with the information I have given, where is the $1500 price tag. GS owner advised he bought the rifle and a bunch others from an estate sale in Norhtern Minnesota. Apologize for getting too windy.

I think that’s high for the crack and missing sight. I have a pretty minty 1919 250-3000 with factory letters that’s known to be an excellent shooter. For a little more, on the right day, I might be tempted into letting it go.

No idea on the side panels. Most of the special order stuff is listed in the books and I don’t remember ever seeing cheeks listed.

I thought "high" also with the crack, missing rear sight, and it being D&T'd. I'm guessing with a serial number of 209417 it would fall into the serial number range of the 1899 style 2 (193,000-236000) as listed in Calhoun's book. Overall, in pretty good shape for its age. Sure looks like a K without the frame engraving though. I need to go have a 2nd look.

I’d pass

The checkered side panels could be an upgrade to A5 checkering, very rarely seen after WWI. Or, probably more likely, something an owner added at a later date. We run into 99’s with added checkering occasionally. Without seeing pictures I couldn’t guess which it is.

D&T kills the value.

Are you certain the checkering is factory?

Looked in your book Rory and Davids at the various upgrade checkering patterns and the A5 pattern seems close. If I recall the forearm and pistol grip was of the 3-point pattern. I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention to details but the side panel checkering caught my attention on a 99 that wasn't a 99K model. I'll admit I've never seen a K in person, just really good pictures.

Talking with the owner and looking up the serial number and talking 99's in general got me off course a bit. Afterwards the store employee and I started looking at several other Milspec and older rifles in the racks. I was a bit pressed to run my errands I was on and get back home. Wish I had spent more time looking at it, but plan to go back with digital camera and get some pictures to post and check forearm/stock serial numbers and other items on the rifle. Real curious as to what it is and background. Crossed my mind that maybe this was a leftover stock from back when Savage offered some of their deluxe models that from what I read concluded to be offered after 1917. If this rifle according to the serial number was manufactured in 1919, they may have used it, but it is neither a perch belly nor fancy wood. Sort of throws water on that idea.



Couldn't say. The lines per inch and style looked the same as did the border as the rest of the checkering. The amount of wear appeared to be the same on the panels as the rest of the rifle's checkering. If it was post factory checkering, someone did a heck of a job matching it to the rest and it appears to have been there for a long time.



Agree with ya there. More so to me than the repaired crack on the forearm. Forearm is of the same style and dimensions as on my 99G, ie thinner sides and depth vs what is on my 99EG.

Savage continued offering enhanced checkering and engraving up through 1926. They are far less common after WWI, but a few are out there.

Even after 1927, Savage offered to upgrade checkering to 99K style checkering. So that A5 style can show up through WW2.

The 1919/1920 model 250-3000's are physically the same as the 1921-1926 99G's. Savage just renamed it and offered it in more cartridges.

Since someone did a "good repair" on the forearm and it's been D&T'd I would guess that the checkering was also added...but you never know.

I would pass at that price and the D&T .

For $1500 I'd expect some thing like this. Not the best pics. This is a pretty rifle.

Yep

Factory checkered side panels.

Quick update. Went back to GS today to get a closer look at the 1899 Savage. Red flags abound. As previously posted D&T'd. Took forearm off that had damage to left front area of forearm (that was repaired nice) and it didn't have any serial number stamped in channel. Two pluses though-Serial number of receiver was stamped on wood at the end of the stock and buttplate had same serial number on the inside of it.

Back to red flags--the barrel while stamped 250-3000 on the left side of it also had Savage Arms Corporation--Chicopee Falls, Mass USA stamped on top of barrel and front sight of that era. Ohh Ohh--barrel from 1946-47 plus for a receiver stamped 209417 that dates to 1919. After cleaning the barrel it is shiny/good rifling, no pits/dark spots and the muzzle end is not worn any. Did take a good look at checkering. Someone with better eyeballs and knowledge would have to determine the score on that. Took some pictures, will try to get posted ASP so the PhD's on this forum can submit their findings. The lines on the side panel appear to match the stock pistol grip and forearm both in border and style. Laid my checkering LPI guide over them and they did match. Looks just like panel checkering on K's and older Savage's I've seen pictures of.

Posted wrong price on first post, seller wants $1200, not $1500. I pointed out to him the receiver being D&t'd, forearm damage and serial number absent in channel, and replacement barrel. $1100 was his rock bottom price today. Gun is a shooter no doubt, but big time loss in value with the three mentioned strikes. I didn't counteroffer. I don't believe he's aware of how the three red flags destroy the value as I was giving him this and that's about Savage 99's while I had it on a table examining it and taking pictures. Things he advised he wasn't aware of.

Sounds like it got a later factory replacement barrel. I've got one or two with those..

Some people actually believe all those things are upgrades that make it worth more.

I'd probably be a good shooter/hunter for sure, but any 1899 250-3000 model value is shot for sure. GS owner didn't have any history about it other than bought it with a number of other firearms in an estate sale somewhere in North Minnesota.


Very good possibility. I'd guess the value would be south of $1000 somewhere. I showed the GS owner yours and David's books. He was impressed, advised where he could get copies.

I’ve got a mint 22HP barrel with a Westfield address. At one point I thought it would be cool to make a set of replacement barrels. So, pending on the shape of that barrel, the only value of that rifle to me, would be the barrel. But, it’s still a good hunter I guess. I’d have a hard time shelling out much for that one. There are so many nicer ones for less.

I appreciate that! The back cover has the name of my web site, and he can order an unsigned copy of my book from there (www.savagelevers.com). Or send an email to Calhounsavagelevers.com and for a few dollars more he can have a signed copy from me... why anybody would want my signature to deface a book I don't know, but some do.

David's best deal is to get a signed copy from him, you'll find his email address in his signature here on the campfire.

Thanks Rory, I was going to post my info. It seems like most people like books signed by the author.