Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 - scope mounting

Hi, I recently purchased a Savage 99 serial # 517xxx in 300 sav. and was hoping to mount an old Redfield 4x scope. A previous owner had the rifle D&T for a scope mount but a standard 99 mount doesn't appear to fit. I took the rifle to a gun shop and neither the Leupold one piece or Weaver 2 piece would line up. Are there any mounts available with the dimensions in the photo? I'm otherwise happy with the rifle, I plan on using it for deer hunting this fall. Any advice on mounting a scope would be appreciated.

you may have to redrill the rear holes behind bolt ..that one hole was heated to soften steel as it is VERY hard,some gun smiths mill the holes ... i have an EG that i s drilled in wrong place as well,,it is that or maby redrill a hole in mount???

try a redfield 1 piece base. the hole spacing may be different. the weaver usually uses 2 pc. bases and both require two screws each.

If you have to, get a mount that will fit and drill a hole(s) to fit in the mount rather than re-drill the reciever.
The guys are right on the metal being very hard--my smith mills them on 99's rather than drill them

You need an old mount made by Williams, do a search here and you'll see the mount I mean, there have been a number of guns recently showing up here with that style of D&T.

Never mind the Redfield, Leupold or Weaver, they ain't gonna fit, you need a Williams.

Jak, Your pic with added measurements is very clear and illustrates the situation. I would suggest you forward that to the technical folks at Brownells via EMail and request their input. If you go to their site and click on Contact Us it will lead the way.

Mike Mount to the rescue???

The williams mount that I had used the tang holes and two holes in the receiver ring, but the distance between the holes was the same as the standard weaver two piece mount. That is a wide spacing on that one.

I think I have the same spacing on my G. I thought I might be able to match a similar height Weaver and redrill one of the holes (on the base) to fit. That would have worked, but the problem then became the rear. I tried using the std. Weaver base for the rear (to get the right height) but the existing hole forced me to mount the base further forward because of the cocking indicator. You could probably figure out something along those lines.

I was fortunate that a couple of guys from the here(24hrcampfire/99's) found a base for me. It was not cheap but I think worth it. I believe it is a Redfield JR Streamline one piece base. This is what I have. I have not used it yet as I have a couple of cracks in the stock to repair. However, I think it looks better than the current Leupold base as it does not hang way over the front of the action. Sorry for the quality of the picture; at least you kind of know what the base looks like. Hope it works out for you.
Gary

Jak,
I also live in Minnesota.
Do not re-drill the gun. A mount can be made to fit.

PM me. I am not a gunsmith or do I charge as one . However I probably can help you out. Up to you.
PM me and we can discuss.

You may also be able to buy an undrilled mount for a 99 and drill to fit. Call the various manufacturers of one piece bases and ask.

MnFn is correct, your gun is drilled for a Redfield JR Streamline one piece base #99-R. I have a 99 with the same spacing and mount on it.

There is no currently available off the rack mount to fit those holes. You need the Redfield mount MnFn mentioned and that hasn't been in production for a very long time. You still find them from time to time. Another approach it to have something custom made as mentioned above. For what its worth, its the two front holes that are the problem. A standard Redfield style one piece base will fit that rear hole.

George are you sure about that rear hole spacing? I've never taken the time to compare the 2 mounts and I just shipped that one to MnFn so I have nothing on hand at the moment.

If the spacing for the rear hole matches a newer mount you could just redrill the holes for the receiver ring in one of the newer ones.

I wouldn't swear to it because I've never re-drilled one but just by comparing the early and later mounts it appears that the rear hole would be in the same place with both mounts. I suppose that someone could take one of the newer mounts and cut a section out so that the front ring would be over the receiver ring and then weld and re-drill the front of the mount if there's enough room left in front and in back of the ring hole. Never was interested in doing that enough to try it. I've always tended toward the Weaver mounting blocks unless I've gotten one D&Ted as pictured above and I've been lucky enough to come across a few of the older mounts. The later ones never cost me what the first one did though. Could be worse though. Could be looking for a T7 mount.

Right now I've got more T7s than the old Streamlines...

It probably could be done, but the bottom of the mount in the front would have to be ground as well. I think it kind of drops over the front of the receiver. It might be easier to make Weaver two piece bases work. A Weaver 40A could be cut off and redrilled to work on the front.

X 2
Well, you guys have ruined my day (not really). Here I just got home from the local gun show where I picked up a Leopold scope, rings and a Redfield one-piece base for my 99. Base won't fit my factory D&T receiver. Damn!

The Redfield base seems to have the same drill spacing as Jac shows in his photo. SO? What fits the factory D&T? At least I am lead to believe that my 308 9039XX was made at a time when all were factory D&T'd. The spacing on the front of the receiver is .5", on the rear it's .5" and front hole to rear hole appears to be 4.775" where the base is 4.575"

I'd be glad to trade you a NIB Redfield that will fit your factory holes.

Deal??

Thanks for all the great info, now at least I know what base I'm looking for. I'll try tracking down a Redfield JR Streamline base first, if one can't be found I'll see about going the custom made route. Anyone have one they would like to sell?

Lightfoot. Thanks for the offer but I'm looking for a 99 in 30/30 to fall into my lap. I'll have a use for this base when it does.

Something I read this afternoon mentioned that Savage enlarged the action to fit the 308 cartridge. I'm guessing that's why my Redfield base doesn't fit.