Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99M Help with Rotary Magazine

I recently acquired a pretty nice Savage Model 99M in a trade and it's about as far from original as you will find, so it has no collector value to worry about. The trade was great on my end and I fixed everthing I could find and cleaned it up so it is pretty presentable. It's a .308 Winchester with and old Redfield 3x9 scope on top. It has a rotary magazine with what looks like a steel counter. It shoots great and is accurate although it kicks more than I think a .308 should.

The only problem it has is that it's a single shot. When you try to load cartridges in the rotary mag., it doesn't snap or lock into place so the magazine is useless. I don't know if I lost a spring or part off it when I had the stock off of it but it will spit everyone of the bullets right back out like it had too much to drink.

I would like to sell or trade it but I don't want to sell it with the rotary magazine broken. Can anyone tell me how to fix it? I hope it's simple like me!

Thanks very much for your help.

BT

PM sent

Just another Savage thing, the M stands for Monte Carlo stock, it’s a model DL. I had a rather minty one in 308, I thought my 250 had turned me into a sissy, because I thought it had a kick to it also. My buddy said he’d like a 308 so I gave it to him for his birthday. Good luck with yours.

If there is a fix , or a diagnoses for this please share !

Can you post a pic with the bolt open, maybe with and without 1 round in the mag?

Posted by Longbeardking:

Rotor (carrier spindel) spring adjustment. If you have problems with the magazine not accepting enough rounds (or not feeding all of the rounds) you might have a rotor that is wound too tight (or not enough).

"If you look just above the cartridge counter window, you'll see a small screw. If you remove the for-end and look at the end of the receiver you'll see a ring that is slotted. You'll need a flat bladed screwdriver with a slot cut through it so it fits well into the slots on the ring. Now being careful. loosen that screw above the window. It only has about 6 or 8 threads on it IIRC and then it's a straight shank beyond that. DO NOT FULLY REMOVE THIS SCREW YET!!! While you are loosening that screw, you want to have the slotted screwdriver in place holding the rotor from turning. On the rotor, there are a series of slots around the diameter for that screw above the window to engage. If you rotate the rotor ever so slightly you can feel the slot on that screw. Holding the rotor in place, gently remove the screw. Once that screw is fully removed you should feel resistance on the slotted screwdriver. This is where you have to be careful. 2 people really help, although I did it alone. Rotate the rotor only slightly (clockwise if too tight and counter-clockwise if too loose)and place the screw you removed back into the hole you took it out of. You'll feel it contact the rotor. Carefully rotate the rotor until the screw engages the next slot in the rotor. Replace the screw once it's in a slot and thread it in. You want to go no more than one slots adjustment and I think you should be OK. I hope I haven't confused you any more than you already might be."

Sounds like the automatic cuttoff is not holding the shells in the rotor,maybe bad spring tension?

I was able to fix my spring tension on a 99T.

I watched U tube, and fireball gave me a lesson also.

It takes two people and a special screwdriver head IMO.

Yes 99s do seem to have recoil amplifiers.

Is it not allowing you to put the ammo in, or is it allowing the ammo to come out?

Sounds like it's missing the automatic cutoff.

From what I have read, I think it may be the rotor tension and you guys tell me about the same thing. I took the forearm off and have seen the screw. I just need to make me a screwdriver to fit it and watch some videos.

You can put the ammo. in if you hold it with your fingers but it will spit it back out as soon as you let go.

Do these rifles have an automatic cutoff that you can engage and disengage?

I don't know if I'm smart enough to post a pic,

Thanks,

BT

There should be a spring loaded piece, above the rotor, in a recess, in the receiver. It is long and narrow.
That should hold the ammo in the rotary carrier.
It should have a spring that wants to keep it pushed out.
As said above, I would check that first. Much easier to check.

You don't need a 'special screwdriver' to adjust the rotor spring tension. You are not going to remove the spindle lock nut or even turn it the slightest.

You need to have control of it though and I use a very small vice grip I have. A simple pair of pliers will work as well.

The difficult part of doing this is to get the spindle head screw back in in the right position to lock it up again. The vice grip allows me much better control in making the alignment for the screw.

He says it is spitting the cartridges back out. Seems like a cut off issue to me. Someone may have left the spring out, or it broke?

I would agree. If the cutoff was totally missing it wouldn't eject the cartridge either. Just looked and Numrich has them back in stock.

cutoff spring

Hi Guys. Thank you all for your help and I'm sorry it took me so long to get back on the forum. I believe Nessmuk and Lightfoot have it right. It has a cuttoff in a recess on the left side of the receiver but it seems to be stuck in the recess and has no spring tension behind it or it is jammed. I haven't tried to take it apart but I don't see how a spring would be intalled behind it. I've made it into a pretty good shooter and except for this, would make a good hunting rifle. Thanks!

It's just a small coil spring. Might be jammed up. If you remove the bolt stop I believe you can move the bolt back far enough to get it apart.

Did you click on the link I posted above?

Yes sir and thank you for posting the link. I will have some time (finally) to work on it tomorrow. I think this is a fairly easy fix. I need to get it back together and sell it to someone that can hunt with it. It's fairly accurate but I cannot take the recoil. It kicks hard and I might blow up my new pacemaker or pull out the wires! I guarantee that would be no fun. I don't think I can handle anything above a .243. That's plenty enough for our deer and hogs around here.

I had a DL (M) in 308 and that rascal kicked. I had an E in 308 and it was pleasant to shoot? Time to get a 250.

I bought a pait of Savage bolt actions quite a while ago and I don't remember the model number. That are both blue and walnut bolt acitions. I think they were advertised as Model 14 deluxe. I put a Burris Timberline on both which is very compact. The wood has some very nice grain also. One is a .300 Savage which I haven't shot much. The other is a .250 Savage. I have lots of accurate rifles but the .250 takes the prize. It's the most accurate hunting rifle I have and it has very little recoil. It's hard to find a combination that it won't shoot. I had a 99 .250-3000 but it was not very accurate with longer bullets because of the twist.