Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Original Condition?

You saw this for sale somewhere else for more $ and didn't buy it? Thank you! I don't think I could have resisted as easily.

Yeah, first saw it several months ago. Already have a 99A in 300 with ramp sight, one of John Wright's rifles. So didn't feel a need to jump on this, even tho it looks nicer.

The rifle arrived and is a mixed bag.

The metal is nearly pristine and definitely original. There is almost no wear typical of use. There was dry oil revealing decades of inactivity. Most of the original varnish remains on the lever. Stampings look great. Screwheads look pristine. The bore is perfect. Someone stuck this rifle away for a long time.

"A" on the receiver.




Takedown barrel, 24", integral front sight




As several suspected, the wood had been lightly sanded, leaving the points rounded over. Finish had been added, and, the fore arm was later than the gun. Thankfully the wood/metal interfaces were all right, but I went ahead and recut the points on both sides of the buttstock. The stocks were not matched in color and the fore end had lighter colored sap-wood running through it, creating a three tone stock set. Since the wood was no longer 100% original, I went ahead and the finish was removed with stripper and the stocks were bleached.




Here are the recut points as re-stained.

You do nice work!

I agree with Lightfoot - very nice work. What do you cut the points with?

You should print out this post, laminate it and stick it in the bolt hole otherwise some guy down the road will be asking the same questions and, without the answers, maybe making wrong conclusions on originality long after you and I are gone.

Note that it has the SAP proof.

Sorry Kieth, you'll have to explain the significance of the SAP. Savage Arms Proof? Wrong time frame for it or what?

Rick wanted to see the barrel address. Any comments on that?

Dremel tool with a 1/2" sanding drum, turned down as slow as it'll go. That size drum gives it the right amount of concave shape to replicate what the factory did. Stabilize your hand and make small cuts with LIGHT PRESSURE. Sand to blend. If in doubt draw a point THE RIGHT SHAPE on a practice board and do it until you are confident you can.

IMO it's not hard at all if you have an eye for detail. Soft wood you may have around to practice on will be more critical to the amount of pressure you apply so practice on hardwood if you can. If you like to carve your gunstock with a pocketknife every time you knock down a buck, crawl back in your cave and leave it alone.

What should I apply over the stain now? The satin spar varnish I have is too glossy so maybe a matte? I believe this was an originally varnished serial range but haven't verified yet....

WTH is the double stamp second "9" over "M" about anyhow? What could that possibly be about?

Roy,
When Savage begin to stamp proofs, the first version of that stamp was SAP in an oval. The SAP was not used very long before Savage switched to the SP in a circle. Only significance is the that it was used very long.

If you look at the SAVAGE MODEL 99 on the ring, there is an apostrophe between MODEL and 99; only seen for a fairly short serial number range.

I believe your barrel address is a Type 7 (has the SAVAGE - at the front). i'm not a 100% sure; my books are packed and we've been shuttling stuff down to our new place in Council Bluffs.

Really nice rifle!!

Thanks Keith. 1928-30'ish on the barrel address. 1928 ish for the integral raised ramp sight, 1927 ish serial range. Blue is what I call the semi-matte, wood finish should be varnish I believe.

I think the original wood finish was lacquer. Most of the gun companies had employed that by then on production guns that didn't simply get slathered with linseed oil. Much quicker to dry than varnish and not nearly as labor intensive to apply. You can make varnish look correct though. Definitely ixnay on the semi-gloss or matte though. It has poor UV protection, gloss is better in that regard (and UV light is a big enemy of finishes). Simply knock the gloss off when done, then wax the bejapers out of it, if you itch for a more subdued yet elegant finish.

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din, if you do that side panel shaping with a Dremel tool!! I've done that very thing a coupla times and I used narrow gouge chisels and carving tools to chip away at it a tiny bit by tiny bit, then rat tail file, then purposely shaped sanding blocks to finalize the detail and sand the wood field up to it for a seamless blending. Gunsmith's lament: "I've made a good living fixing people's Dremel tool mistakes!" I have one but dammed if I know where it's at.

Always execute details like that first, before sanding the flat part of the cheek. When the edges are finalized then hit the flats with a hard flat sanding block to create a nice crisp edge the whole way around. Ditto when sanding between coats when varnishing, save the flats for last.

I've done it with gouges and also with a Dremel with a flex shaft. I prefer the Dremel for those side panels. Then use paper on a sanding block I made out of an eraser for the job. I do it pretty much just like FB2. I find it much easier. I do them first though. The only other thing I use a Dremel on a stock for was to rough in for the butt plate but now use a spindle sander for that.

Gary, you would know. I was just going off my memory and what Murray wrote in his book.

Roy, some info I collected from pics I have. Model, Barrel address, chambering,year, front sight in the 1927-1930 timeframe. There are couple other raised ramp 1927s that I found. Maybe yours was finished late 1927; never know.

The other thing I noticed is the left rear stamp is single line chambering only. From what i have observed, barrels around this serial number range had the two rows at the left rear (Savage Hi-Pressure Steel top, -------Chambering----- bottom. The single row chambering at the left rear seems to have started up around 300K and the Hi-Pressure Steel moved forward left side barrel towards the rear sight .... but the Savage Hi-Pressure Steel on yours is on the right side ... it looks like that changed around 315k and might have been when the barrel address changed to Style 7.

Your woodworking skills are WAY above my pay grade Roy

Interesting Keith. Sounds like a little bit of an oddball.

I doubt it Ted. It's not the least bit difficult.

I forgot to mention that for cleaning up the woods minor dinks you wet a washrag and lay it on the dent, then apply a soldering gun directly on the wet cloth over the dent. It forces the steam into the wood lifting the wood back up. Steaming out imperfections is one key to not needing to remove too much wood by sanding. A light sanding blending the dent out is the most that's needed.

Between the use of finish strippers and steaming, sanding should be kept to a minimum. The stripper is nice because it removes the finish and the stain down in the pores and leaves the wood open again, without changing the degree of sanding that the stocks left the factory with.