Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Building a 99 in 284?

Original 99s in .284 Winchester are not easy to come by in 'the land of Aus' but it is a calibre I have always wanted to play with.

I think I saw a thread on here, sometime, that made reference to converting a 99C to .284 - just a rebarrel and a magazine job.

Is this correct, can you build a .284 from a 99C without too many hassles? Any comments on feasibility or pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.

Before i went very far,I'd want to secure a magazine(clip) or three,& they are not common or cheap...otherwise I think just a rebarrel would do it on the 99-C. Lyle

Does a 284 mag fit in any other 99C?

I'll let you know tomorrow.

I picked up an original aluminum .284 carrier along the way and it is pretty amazing what they had to do to get that big fat cigar of a case in that limited magazine space!

Although somebody in the lever action rifles or gunsmithing forum at AA claims to have converted "lots of" rotary magazine 99s from 243/308 to 284, I have looked into it in some detail and don't think that it is a job that the average 'smith is going to want to jump into. There are significant differences in the milling in the receiver, plus the magazine assembly is totally different.

I have built, or had built, a couple of 284-based wildcat on the 99C/CD action. The magazine assemblies are interchangeable and the standard 243/308 magazines can be converted to handle the 284 without much work. Of the 284 and its wildcat spawn, I like the 25-284, 6.5-284, and 338-284 the best and the 6-284, 30-284, and 35-285 less so.

I don't know what sort of game you're intending to hunt, but if I were going to build a dedicated 99 in 284 from scratch, I'd build a 6.5-284. The 6.5mm is probably the most flexible of the 284 based cartridge, as you can shoot light bullets, like the 90 grain VMax, for varmint and heavier bullets, like the 140 grain Partition, for heavier game like elk and black bear.

If you get into this more, I could scan the template that I use to grind 99C magazines to convert them from 243/308 to 284. BTW, you could also go with the 6.5x55 in the standard magazines if you manage the OAL issue. I have a 99CD in 257AI that does everything well except feed, probably due to the sharp shoulder.

Jeff

Thanks guys for the responses.

Jeff, thanks for the offer and I would appreciate the template for converting the magazines. While the 6.5/284 is appealing, I will probably stick with the standard .284 as I am very fond of 7mm cartridges. In addition, I intend to use the rifle for hunting sambar and red deer and here, in Oz, the minimum legal calibre for these animals is .270.

I'll look for it, scan it, and email it to you.

Jeff

The mags are hard to come by, why not look at rebarreling to 7mm-08, the mags are a lot cheaper and your velocities are quite close. Not losing much. Les