Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 303Takedown for sale. Thoughts?

This 99 is for sale where I live in Missoula, Montana. It's on Montana Gun Trader. It has a straight stock.

It has not had a pampered life. Well used to be kind. Blue all gone, horrible thrashed butt pad, wood tired, missing rear sight. It does have a tang sight, make? He does show it together and apart. They are asking $500 which seems high for the condition. No mention of the bore. Before I even go look at it in person I wanted some knowledge and your opinions.

I know without a picture it's almost worthless to ask, but if from my limited description you could get me in the ball park of a possible model and a range of price I would be grateful. I know a little about EG's and F's because I own those models, other wise?

Thank you!

Can you provide a link to the site?

I couldn't deal with the butt pad, so I'd have to restock it. The tangsite is worth 150-200 on its own, as it appears to be a Lyman SA. No extra holes in the metal, that's good. If the bore is okay, 500$ isn't a screaming deal but it's not a horrible price for what it is. I'd like to see it closer to 400$ as it's a bit of a project rifle or shooter if the bore is okay.

Thanks damnesia!

Why I didn't just post the link was dunderheaded on my part. Also thanks for identifying the tang sight. I was looking at it as strictly a shooter/project.

IF it is a A Short Rifle that would be a win , can u see the serial number, or is it posted 😊Norm

Not that I can see and it's not posted. I now need to set up a time to look at it in person.

damnesia posted the link in his first post. Thank you again for that.

WOW

It ain’t like buying a share in Nividia.

If the bore is truly bad…..I’d pass

Angus1895 you're right...if the bore is bad it's a hard pass.

The seller sent pictures of the bore. From those it looks like it was worth checking it out in person. Due to scheduling conflicts between the seller and myself I won't see it in person until this coming Sunday,

Thanks again for your posts.

I would pass. This gun is obviously going to take some time and money to get it to probably the way you want it. If that’s the case, then why not use that money to add to the price of what you would purchase for and get something that’s already original and ready to go as soon as you get it?

If you look at the 99F in 300 Savage that I just posted, I paid $750 for that rifle in total, with transfer fee and tax included in that price. And that rifle is in very high original condition. It shoots great and is fully functional right now. It will hold its value.

There’s a nice EG languishing on GB right now for less than 300 more than that. And a very nice EG with a Stith mount and Lyman Alaskan got reposted yesterday because it got no love for a little over 1K. 500 bucks doesn’t sound like much but neither does the 99 you described and, believe me, if you bought it you’d soon be jonesing for something much better. I’d save my money and put it towards a decent 99 and let someone else go home with the beater.

PS - tough 99s are not in short supply.

I would buy it, but I'm a sucker for a challenge and like putting sweat equity into guns to make them into what I want. You can't convert sweat equity into $ or you'll go nuts. That butt stock doesn't look short in the (awful) pic - perhaps they merely screwed a recoil pad onto it without doing anything to it, in which case it could be a simple matter of screwing a repro butt plate on it. Refinish the wood and do a quick and dirty blue job and Bob's your uncle, a sweet knockaround gun. (Given the workings of the gun are up to snuff of course.)

Thank you again for sharing your wisdom and experiences. RAS and S99VG believe me I hear you. gnoahhh I have some of that same attitude so I will still look it over in person at the possibility of, "a sweet knockaround gun", as you wrote.

Someone just listed an ordinary 99EG 20 miles from my house. It's a clean unmolested survivor but they're asking $3000. There are times I sure wish I lived in the Midwest or Northeast when searching for 99's.

Indeed so, Jeff. My comments are always made from the viewpoint of doing all the work myself and treating it as a hobby/pastime. If I had to pay a pro to do it (who likely wouldn't do a job as I would do it anyway) I would get out of the gun game and devote myself strictly to MG's and/or fly rod building&fly tying the rest of my life (and would do my own work there too)! I'm fortunate in having a couple lathes, surface grinder, and a milling machine - and a truckload of files and abrasives, and equally fortunate in having had a Dad and Gramps who drilled the DIY ethos into my head at an early age.

Gary,

You are absolutely correct. You have been blessed with talents that most of us don’t have, and also have to pay for. Sometimes my DIY projects work out but many times they don’t.

The older I get, the more my “green to grief ratio” changes. It’s something that my father taught me when I was young, and it makes even more sense now.

3000.00!!!!!!!!??????????
dang brother, I have a sweet EG 300 i would let go with a smile and hand delivery for half that!

There are quite a few shooter grade 99s on GI for not much money. I'm with Gary on my outlook on owning guns. I love to work on them. No one is born with those skills and I'm interested enough to learn, be careful and haven't screwed anything up yet. But I can't bring myself to [bleep] with original guns, even "gray rats".

I need another project and have been having trouble finding one. So i may buy one from GI but was sort of looking for something more interesting/old. I wish I could find one to trade for this silvertip 250-3000 I have and will probably never use. Maybe next gun show....

I have a coupla bare receivers. Post 90K Utica production. I'll get more info on them if you're interested.

I would be interested to hear about what you've got.

Update!

I wanted to let everyone know that I bought this 1899 after seeing it in person. He was asking $500 but I paid $450. It came apart without a fight and locks up tight. The bore was very good. It was manufactured in 1915 according to the serial number. It did not look abused, just 109 years old. I've already taken off that awful butt pad and will find a plastic butt plate to replace it. It should work as the length of pull is still 13 inches with out the pad.

I sent a detailed description to Norm99 and he identified it as an 1899H style 3. Thank you Norm!

I am not a reloader, but I have a friend who is a serious one, so I've ordered brass, dies and bullets (original Barnes 190 grain) wanting to duplicate the original factory load. Researching I've found 8 or 10 powders that have been used for the 303. Does anyone have a favorite? Is there a powder I could also use in the 300 Savage as I have an EG and an F in 300? If not different powders it is.

I pick up 300 Savage ammunition whenever I see it for sale, but I've also gathered 150 pieces of brass thinking I would reload someday. Now with the 303 there really is no other option.

Thanks for your help.

As far as powders go, whatever the 30-30 likes, the 303 will too. Powders like IMR 3031 and Reloader 7, the 4895's and Leverevolution. In my 300 Savage I stick to IMR-4350.

Thanks Bushwacker! That gives me 4 options for the 303 and I will look for IMR-4350 for the 300 Savage.

Lever evolution works in both. And it seems less expensive.

Congratulations! I love those light carbines.

I have a boatload of 150 grain NPs…..that’s what my 303 s are sighted in for. 35.5 lvr rem 9.5 primers

I also loaded 180 grain silver tips with 33 lvr. Rem 9.5 in the 303 sav.

In the 300 savage I use the 160 FTX ( .308 marlin express cannulure) and 43 lvr with a rem 9.5


Keep us updated.

My 303 shoots the Barnes 190s pretty well with LeverEvolution. Accurate 4064 and 2015 aren't bad either, but the velocities are much lower.

I'm fixin to try some Leverlotion powder in a Marlin 30-30 using 150 Hornady RN bullets.

Did you buy that 336 u was meowing about a while back?

Aug 11 23?


micro groovey Man!

Just the other day. Straight stock 336 in 30-30.

Nice, don't see many straight stock 336s. Is it a Texan?

Awesomeness

The Savage forum is melting down…….catching Marlinitis!

Since Marlin made some of the first Savage's it's accepted that we stray to the Marlins too, however one may not fawn over the Marlins too much as to make them appear more liked. It's like having that one friend from High School. Your wife is alright with him coming to dinner once a year, but he isn't staying at the house. ;P

In my ignorance, I thought it was but alas, no it is a standard 20" barrel and not the 18.5" of the Texan.

Thanks Angus1895 and zcm82. I will use LeverEvolution. I found an article on the internet and they had their best accuracy in the 303 with 190 Barnes using LeverEvolution.

I have owned several Marlins, some of which I wish I had kept, but I still have three 336A's. Two in .35 Remington and one in .30-30. This summer I gave my other 336A in .30-30 to my oldest son. I also have two Cowboys. A .45 Colt and a .45-70. I like Marlins.

I just like levers and was grateful to inherit a BL-22, and early BLR's in .358 and .308 and a Winchester 9422 magnum from my dad. The .308 went to my youngest son. Along the way I've picked up a pre-64 94 in .32 Special and a Browning 71. I also have an EG in .300 and two F's in .300 and .308. Now of course the .303 which I'm excited to learn to reload and shoot.

I won't bore you with levers I wish I had kept or bought, but since this is the Savage forum...twenty years ago, knowing nothing about 99's, I passed on a very, very nice 99F in .250 that I could have purchased for $525 at a pawn shop. I didn't even know it was an F. The only 99's I had ever seen were EG's and very few of those.

Thanks again for sharing your time and knowledge.

Henry, back in the day I made the pilgrimage (8 hr round trip at 55 mph) up to the Cabelas in Sydney Neb. Back when the Cabela's still owned it and the gun library was where dreams were made. Well they had taken in an estate FULL of Savage 95's, 1899B's and EG's galore. Not knowing what I know now, I thought they had so many, so I could come back any old time and get one, so I went home with a Marlin 336 "Waffle Top" instead. I have been kicking myself for 20 years for not grabbing a couple of those back then.

I do still have that Marlin though.

336SC, 30-30
1894CL, 25-20. Sold the 32-20
1894CS, 357mag for plinking; son has one also.
94, 32-20
27, 25-20, like new

I collected Marlin lever guns before Savages.

Marlin ushered us in and may usher us out, but I, for one, am not ready to go yet. I still have 10 savages for every Marlin I hold.

Bushwacker...my other excuse for not buying that F 20 some years ago, besides my ignorance of 99s, was I was finding nice Marlins around $300. $525 seemed high. I just need that time machine to go back in time and buy a few rifles I should have and kept some I shouldn't have sold.

I have the Browning 71, but 25 years ago I sold a Winchester 71 to a friend, and he loves it still, but there are days I wish I had kept it. I'm thrilled though how much he appreciates it and uses it to hunt with.

Rick99 I'm been thinking about an 1894 in .357. The oldest grandkids are getting big enough to shoot something bigger than a .22. I have been looking at the new Marlin/Ruger 94's.

Thanks again.

U need rid of that counter fit 336 fireball…..

Just let minnow

My uncle was a trader in Lincoln Ne.He passed 10 years ago or so. He never considered purchasing model 99s at all. I called him over a 1899 B in 303 he never even heard of a 303…,.,,Then I gave him Murray’s book..the regret he would talk about at gun shows……99s …..there here , there there, there every freaking where!

Angus1895 both your uncle and I needed that time machine.

Nope. This one stays with me.

When my dad passed away I inherited his 6-7 guns. I gave some to each of the other family members including his Marlin 30-30. Short version is his lifelong Marlin 30-30 had been stolen, and the one I inherited was a replacement. It had no sentimental value. When I saw this one for sale in a shop the other day it triggered my earliest memories of hunting with dad when I was just a few years old. I saw him, hand wrapped around it, walking in blacktail country. I remembering him shooting the running buck mom and I flushed across a gravel two track road while it was in mid-air as it crossed the road, with that old Marlin 30-30.

Even though I've seen a thousand Marlin 30-30's since dad passed in 1999, I've never seen one that meant anything to me, until this one. Funny how that works.

That’s awesome

I’d say it was meant to be. Maybe it was your father’s gift to you. I don’t know how these things work. But when they do I accept them without question. Sounds like a Marlin came home.

Fireball, my fondest memories were listening to my grandpa tell me of some of his adventures with a Remington model 14 in 30 Remington. It was gray with little finish remaining, but it shot straight and had thousands of miles in a saddle scabbard on it. I was supposed to inherit all his guns, but he married a gal in his late 60' and once she got power of attorney she wrote all of us out of the will. She peddled his guns, first thing, not even giving me the chance. 10 years pass and I walk into a little shop in town and there is a grayed out Model 14, not his cause I knew the serial number by heart, but a dead ringer and like you said, It just felt right! Grandpa had a bobcat mount over his stairwell ever since I was a kid, not a little one either. He said it had weighed 53 lbs on the grain scale. The first time out with that rifle I had my son with me, named after grandpa and out of the brush comes the largest bobcat I had ever seen in the wild. I took him and he weighed 49 lbs on my pack scale, so I had him mounted just like grandpas had been done and revel in the fact that I did it with "his rifle" with his namesake.

old guys should stay clear of those leeches. Same thing happened to my uncle.