Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99c 308 rechambered to 358

I was at a gun show yesterday and a vendor had a early 99c that was chambered in 308 win. The 308 win was scribed over and above it stamped .358 win. He told me it was rechambered to .358 win. I looked and it was a savage factory barrel. I asked how it shot and he said pretty good, now my question The twist along with diameter of a 308 barrel is this even possible? I am not the sharpest tool in the shed and I keep getting duller everyday haha Thanks

The barrel contour isn't a problem.

Cutting a 0.358" bore, a 0.350" hole with 0,004"deep rifling, would remove all of the original rifling and would have new rifling cut. Remember that bullet diameter is measured to the bottom of the grooves, not to the tops of the lands.

Whoever did the work would know how fast the ROT was cut, as should the person who contracted for the work to be done.

that's is a pretty common conversion . Jesse Ocumpaugh (spelling?) does those often . if its one of his jobs . I would wager its a good rifle .

plab

The 358 win is a necked up .308 win; I think the seller meant that the barrel was re-bored for the .358 and the chamber worked for the larger neck of the .358.

Ihave have/had 2 99 rebores from JES, 308 to 358, both were junk shooters as a 308, and great shooters as 358, he cured the ills of both of them rifles with rebore.

I've got a 99C in 358 but it's a Shilen rebarrel.

The most accurate Savage 99 I ever owned was a JES rebore to .358. As verified by the rangemaster 1/2" best groups and all under 1" with factory Hornady 225's. IMO, the .358 beats the .308 on most all counts except ammo and brass availability.

Thank you all for the information. I may have to track him down and make a purchase. I don't have a 99 that has been rechambered. It will be interesting to see how well it shoots.

The 3 Savage 99's in 358 that I shoot all stack the Barnes 180 TTSX on top of each other. Unbelievably accurate really. Here's the rebarreled 99C. When I got it I replaced the stocks with the older cut checkered furniture. The other two are factory barrel models, but both are shortened. They all shoot great.

Can I rebore a .300 Savage to a .358 Win?

My gues is measure the outside barrel diameter and give JES a call they will tell if if there is enough "meat" in the barrel my greater suspicion is int he magazine, i am not a expert on which rotary magazine size you might have all my conversions were based on a 308 rifle, i am sure there is someone here that can commnet on the magazine, I know even in the 308 guns the magazine is tight when you neck up to the 358.

The internals of the 99 action were modified to accept .308 based cartridges. There's a good chance one originally chambered in 300 Sav, especially if s/n is below 900000, won't have enough inside length for the .308 based stuff.

But, I'm not an expert, maybe it can be done with more work than just a rebore.

I believe the rotors are different in the magazine and the standard action was lengthened slightly and had different hardening to accomodate the 308 case.
There are subtle but important differences. They are not interchangeable.