Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors .303

I have an older 1899 .303 rifle.. Haven't measured but would guess the barrel is 24'', half octagon half round.. it has 70+% blue..

The receiver probably has only 20% bluing, appears to have been carried in hand a lot. It also has some floral engraving on either side.. Actually the ''vines'' have a few clusters of grapes on them.. Also has the window with the brass round counter. Wood is in good shape, no major gouges or splits.. Fore end has a schnabel and the butt has a metal crescent buttplate that extends over the top of the stock..checkered both stock and fore end..

The hickie on this gun is it has been D&T for a scope mount on top..

Any idea as to its value? Guess it's going on the block soon.

Can't offer much without some visuals. Can you post some pictures?

From the description sounds like an 1899 C. Barrel should be 26"

Factory engraving is a big plus. Yeah, the extra holes will hurt.

Sounds like an 1899 C - A2 Special. Standard barrel length was 26”, but other lengths could be ordered.
Photos would help.

Guess Mike and I were typing at the same time.

Actually the barrel is probably 26, 24 was a guess and it looks uncut, factory front sight in place as is the rear..

I've never posted pic's, dumbass.. I could text some to someone however..

How about emailing the pics to Lightfootmountgmail.com

I'll post them up.

I sent the pics a few hours ago, checking to see if you received them ?

Thanks!

Any pics yet?

it pricked my ears till the non factory d & t

Nothing yet. double check the address. lightfootmountgmail.com

just resent again, sorry guys.. hope it works this time.

Your pictures may be too big for email. How many are you sending?

Try sending just one and see if it lands.

Not a great picture, but engraving looks like this? That's A2 engraving.



Any checkering on the stock?

You can use my web site to date the rifle.

https://savagelevers.com/serial-number-search/

Betting you are correct about the picture size.... Anyway a few off again, one at a time. Thanks for your patience and help.

Yes, the A-2 looks like the proper engraving.

Yes, it has checkering however it's very flat, the diamonds aren't even close to coming to a point..

Catalog pic of A2 engraving and A2 checkering

Here is your pics. A simple full length side view of each side would help too.

Thank you for posting the pictures !!

Two more on the way.

Part 2

That's a great gun.

Yep, that's configured identically to an 1899C A2 special. A2 engraving, A2 checkering.

Couldn't guarantee it's logged that way, mine isn't.. mine just has a work order number on it. Grrr.

Too bad about the extra holes though.

What's the spacing of those 2 holes on the receiver ring? Drilled for a 1 piece scope mount but not sure which one.

I think it's standard spacing for that 3 hole Redfield base.

His on bottom, a 284 99 on top.

As I recall it was a one piece Redfield.. I went into a local gunsmith's shop with my father in Richmond, Texas in about 1963-4. I was about 10 years old. This .303 was his fathers. Dad asked the smith to D&T it for a scope mount.. We went back about a week later and the dirty deed was done.. I remember the smith saying the receiver was hard as hell, that he broke a couple of drills or taps.. There was always an old receiver peep sight in Pop's box of junk.. Perhaps it went on this old gun. Although there is an old long Tom .30wcf here as well.. A Win 1894. Unfortunately it also was D&T'ed for a side mount which was alway's on that old rifle.. Had a small tube, maybe 3/4'', Lyman 2 or 2.5 on it.. Both the mount and the old Lyman are gone now.

Also have an old field grade Parker 16 SxS from that era, now just an old brown gun..

I expect Turnbull could fix all these issues in a jiffy, lol.

Thanks again.

To those in the know what would be the appx value of this rifle?

The Parker 16 would interest me.Picture's?

Condition is hard to compare, and extras add up. Last year I bought a 1902 engraved rifle. It had extra checking, pistol grip, shotgun butt. I think it's a Savage #18 tang sight. It is NOT D/T'ed, but it does have a tang crack. I think mine has more extra's, but yours is half Octagonal. I paid a little over $1000. I really like it, but I have had a little buyers remorse. I missed some details. The front sight was bent and I thought I could straighten it, nope, and the rear sight is wrong. Replacing those couple things can be several hundred bucks. If the condition isn't there to push it up into the big bucks, I don't know?

Joe for what it is, I'd say it was definitely worth 1000$

Yeah, I would give him $1,000 for it. D&T is disappointing, but it still has character.

I've probably asked Rory this question 10 times. Mine is a 1902. I think that is a year or two before the A2 grade. In 1902 it was called $5 engraving, that's what it cost. I thought the A2 might be a step up from the 1902 engraving? But, on all of the A2 engraving I've noticed, the engraving was just the pattern on the flat sides of the receiver. My 1902 has more engraving wrapped around on top of the receiver. I don's see that in pics of A2. Is that extra work on my 1902, or am I not seeing complete pics?

A2 was actually a tad cheaper than the A engraving. In 1911 the A engraving on a solid frame was $6, the A2 engraving was $4.50. Not as much fine detail work on the A2 as the A, and the A2 didn't have the scrollwork along the top.

Thanks, again!