Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors About my 99 in 284

Just received my 99M in 284 Win. Lovely piece looks to have been fired very little and love the rotary magazine.

Serial # in the 1,102,2xx range and it does not have the Monte-Carlo stock. Instead has a gorgeous walnut stock with a fair bit of drop. Is this a replacement? Any other info like manufacture date?


Thanks.

Here's a 284 99DL (M is actually a model DL). It definitely should have a monte carlo stock.. Look for a code on the front of the lever, one or two digits followed by a letter. Tell us the letter and we'll tell you the year.

Looks like 23T in front of the lever.

My 99M does not have the monte carlo. Lovely piece of wood with a fair drop, may be a replacement.

How does the 284 work in a 99 and do you keep the pressure levels down a bit?

Thanks

My cheat sheet shows 23T being 1966. If it doesn't have the monte carlo, then it's probably swapped wood.

Don't worry about pressures, the 99 can handle the SAAMI specs just fine. I find that I, personally, very rarely handload anything to max pressures. Critters end up just as dead with a medium load and the rifle/barrel lasts much longer. Now, if and/or when I go elk hunting, the 284 will have a max load.

And the 284 works beautifully in the 99. First rifle I ever deer hunted with was a 99C in 284, so maybe I'm just a bit biased tho.

Thanks so much.. I await brass and will post my results. 1966.. wow, the rifle is in great shape and the swapped wood is one of the nicest pieces of walnut I have seen. Love the rotary magazine and round counter.

Any advice on bullets? I am leaning towards Grand Slams in 145 and 160 as they are a bit short for weight.

Not all barrels marked 99M came with a monte carlo stock. Take your buttplate off and see if the match the markings on the back of the forearm or take the butt off and check them against the marking on the inside of the receiver.

Just cause it ain't a MC don't automatically mean it's swapped. I've seen them factory like yours before.

Rory ain't reading my sig line very much.

I don't think he means swapped as much as replaced.

Sounds like one I sold about 4 years back. Will have to check the SN in my files.

No, no, I mean I've seen F's wearing barrels marked 99M. I think we just had a thread on one not long ago, they were factory.

Joe, I actually wrote in my last response that it could be a 99F with a 99M barrel, but then erased it since I figured lots of folks would jump me for offering such an unlikely suggestion.

I agree it's worth checking the codes.

Who's gonna jump on you for making an observation, from the sounds of it you seem to remember seeing them to. If the glee club can't take some constructive critism then oh well.

Don't be scared to make a mistake, thats how you learn.

I've been shooting the 284 for over 25 years and have come to the conclusion that the best balanced bullet weights for the 284 are in the 120 to 150 grain range. I'd recommend picking a 140 grain bullet with the construction that matches your intended target and find the load that works the best in your particular rifle.

I've had good luck shooting small groups with the 140 grain BT in several of the 20+ Savage 99s in 284 that I've owned, but I like the 139 grain Hornady SpirePoint for shooting deer. I think that Savage took extra care with the rotary magazine 99 in 284, perhaps because they used a different method for retaining the magazine, the guys who put them together were more experienced.

EDIT: I'm not sure that I understand your comment about 145 and 160 grain bullets being short for their weight.

Jeff

260: the 145 and 160 Grandslams are shorter than many bullets of the same weight. Fairly blunt ogive for a spitzer.

Bullets over 140 in the .284 can be a problem in maintaining the overall cartridge length at 2.8" The Savage magazine won't take them much longer than that, if any.

thanks for the tip.

Back in the late 60s, I had pretty good luck using Speer 130s in my .284.

Calhoun..I am still waiting for brass to be shipped. How many rounds of 284 fit in the rotary magazine. 4 or 5?

4 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. Should be enough.. hopefully.

Thanks.... 4 should be o.k.

Crazily enough when we could take 5 caribou of either sex up here I found low magazine capacity a bit of a hassle. We travelled 8-16 hours or more to get to the caribou and generally wanted to fill our tags on the one trip. Once you have their behavior figured it is generally most efficient to take your 5 or 10 (with my wife) animals from one herd.

I found the three round capacity of my Rem 660 in 6.5 Rem Mag a bit of a detriment. Abandoned it for a 308 with 5 round detachable mag. Became a matter of pride to drop 5 animals with one magazine and done the right way from a distance you don't even stir the herd up much.

The laws have changed recently to 2 males only but the 284 with one in the chamber will do if the rules slide back.

Most factory win 284 shells have 150gr and they work fine in the 99, I load 145gr speer spitzers and they work fine for mulies and elk. I've been using them for about 30 years now. The one elk I shot at very long range (500ish) died about three yards from where he was when hit, although quite a few seconds later. Vern.

Have been looking for a spool magazine .284 with a bum bore for several years, want to rebarrel it with a 26" .284 tube. No luck so far, the relatively few I have seen at gun shows have been well taken care of and are too pricey to junk perfectly good 22" barrels.

The 284 was produced in the 99F with both the underlever safety and the tang safty models..The early 99Fs had a low or high comb, under lever safety, cut checkering,and a oil finished wood, these 99Fs are the most sought after and the most expensive if you fined one..

The 284 was also manufactured in the E model and also the clip models..The DL and M are normally the same gun but their were exceptions. A lot of guns were produced with left over parts towards the last years of the 99s manufacture.

Lot of variations in Savage over the years, even the factory is confused as to what is what!