As the title says, I picked up my first savage 99, in .308 something I've wanted for quite a while and it's not extracting spent cases. I have some measurements and photos here.
The case neck OD is expanding from .3365 to .3465 the case is expanding from .4600.to .4650
The extractor looks sharp, it does have some flex to it but I haven't found anything to compare it to.
There seems to be some small markings on the neck where it might be expanding into some pitting as well.
I tried to reinsert the spent case to see if it would go back in and it would not and left a scuff on the case about a 1/4 way down from the shoulder.
My thoughts are to either rebore, especially if there is pitting in the neck area or possibly a new extractor. I've been in touch with JES about the rebore I just thought I should get some opinions here before sending it away.
The ammo.im using is the Australian ADI stuff which is maybe a little hot for factory stuff but I can tell the previous owner had thisnpribalem as it seems the but of the stock was broken from hitting it on the ground, for what I'm assuming was trying to get the cases to come out. It doesn't take much more than a tap from the cleaning rod down the barrel to dislodge cases.
I've also tried cleaning but it seems hard to get in to the chamber area with the brushes I have, I'll have to pick up some more cleaning supplies for this gun it seems.
Any help is appreciated, I know there's a lot of knowledge on here, y'all are great.
[img]https://imgur.com/a/rPejbnE[/img]
[img]https://imgur.com/a/I2SFJhh[/img]

The extractor is probably OK. How about getting some Remington or Winchester ammo and trying that?

I'd certainly try to figure out what is scuffing the cartridge.

What are you looking to rebore to? Early F barrels are pretty trim to start with.

I've had sticky extraction with hot 308 loads in 99's before.

Not to say that is what is going on here, but I'd try some reduced loads before you spend a lot of money on the gun. Just in case.

JES will do .358, I asked about .338 and he said no because the factory pressures are too high. I agree there isn't much meat on the barrel. It was made in '61 I believe (21M) on the guard. I'll see if I can't find some remington, I've seen that the corelokts seem to work well. Any advise on cleaning? This is a much more complex and hard to clean gun than my bolt gun. Is there anything else I could get a picture of or measure that could help choose the correct path.

Make sure there isn't crud packed into the extractor cut .
Bore cleaning i use bore snakes soaked in the cleaner of choice. Air or electrical spray for the action with the wood removed.

Clean it best as you can and get some factory ammo, 150 grain coreloks and run them thru it, same experience with hot loads, they won't come out easily.

That's the plan. I'll let y'all know how that works once I can find some corelokt ammo for it.

Odd that JES would say that, SAAMI uses two methods of measuring pressure: crusher and transducer. The pressures listed for the .308 Winchester (62K PSI) and .338 Federal (62K PSI) are both measured using the transducer method while the .358 Winchester (52K CUP) pressure was measured using the crusher method. SAAMI has published pressures for the .308 Winchester using both methods (62K PSI & 52K CUP), but only has published data using the transducer method with the .338 Federal and only crusher method for the .358 Winchester. All three cartridges have basically the same maximum pressure and 308 and 358 were factory chambering. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, we can treat all three cartridges as though they have the same maximum pressure.

Never had much luck with the 99 in .308.

Best of luck.

I think the more you open the bore the quicker the pressure is relieved.

I think that is why the 356 I shoot doesn't seem to kick as hard as the 308. The 338 must not open the bore enough to disseminate pressure.

Maybe a flexible chamber cleaning tool would help. https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Shot-Flexible-Chamber-Cleaning/dp/B008P8F13U

Mainer in AK has brought up the weak extraction issue while in the Alaskan bush. Its interesting to see feedback like this.

I gave my hunting buddy a 99DL in 308 for his birthday, it’s having the same problem. I ran 3-4 boxes of Federals through it with no problem.

You had me at the mention of possible pitting in the chamber. Then the mention of fired cases not wanting to go back in had me wondering if a previous owner over-stressed things with some extremely high pressure handloads causing things like the chamber to swell a bit? Like the others have said, try some milder loads to see if extraction is improved before doing something as drastic as re-boring. No one will fault you for shooting .300-level loads in a .308. NATO-like .308's work well in M14's and M60's, not so well in Savage lever guns.

think I' partially resize the case or use an unfired case with a little JB paste on it. take about a #6 brass machine screw 2 in long and bore out the primer hole to take that screw and secure it with a brass washer and nut on the outside of the case. puta gentle curve in the screw and work it in and out and back and forth. use the case as a lap to polish the chamber and neck. a fair amt cheaper than a rebore. I've read of 'smiths restoring chambers of auto loaders in the snowy regions of the north using this method. JB will clean out easily with patches and solvent. may have been stored a little damp and developed some red crud in that chamber.

Had the same problem with my 284. Polished the case chamber and it took care of the problem. GW

Thank you all for the replies. The gun is currently at my local smith, old school guy with great reviews. Figured I'd let a pro have a go at it and pay to have it done right if it can be sorted out. I'll keep y'all updated as to how it goes.

I also found it curious that JES wouldn't do the .338 for the same reasons you've outlined. I didn't know about the different methods of measuring pressures but I figured they couldn't be that different.

This being an issue isn't something I was aware of when I started looking at 99s and maybe would have paused on the purchase if I knew more. They're getting older and it's good to have this information out there for prospective buyers or others with the same issue.

I had one failure to extract on my 99F in 243. It was due to a pressure spike using the Barnes all copper bullets. I had no idea it would happen, but I stopped using them after only two shots. Both showed signs of high pressure with a moderate powder charge. I had to press down hard with my thumb as I cranked on the lever to extract the second round. I never had another problem with traditional lead core bullets. The only other thing I can think of is a defect in your chamber that the brass has flowed into causing a mechanical connection.