So, who is buying at all out prices? new to savage 99 collectors?, I admit I have paid up on a couple and ran with the bids on a couple of others. example 7mm-08, which I would really like to have to pass to a grandson.

Panic buying is the rule right now.

The new toilet paper

seems to have softened up a little. listing needs to label it "RARE!" to get the frenzy going.

I understand panic buying, but not for the savage lever gun, I think its good to get younger people on the 1899/99 band wagon, I have converted two grandsons to it.

Even before the panic the 7mm-08 's brought stupid money, and I am one of them waiting for it to get stupider before I list. In my world the comparable "youth" gun, I would take a look at the 243 if your looking standard Savage calibers, not some that have had the custom touch put to them such as a 260 Rem. etc.

Aren’t all Savage 99’s rare by definition? They do not make them anymore, hard to find at a gun shop. Some configurations are rarer than others. Finding a nice one in a model or chambering you want will take time and money.
When the latest insanity is over they might go down a little, but this also might be the norm for a while.

Would a 303 loaded with 140 to 120 grain monolithics be a " kids gun" they could grow into?

If you handload, I'd suggest a .300 Savage loaded with 130 grain spitzers at about 2500 fps. They'll kill a deer dead right there with a correct hit out to 200 yards, which is probably farther than most kids should be shooting and you can increase the bullet weight and velocity as the child grows older.

short answer, yes. Kids have been growing into .30-30- class guns for 120 years now.

Gotta ask though, why the monolithic bullets? Are they shaped like traditional .30-30/.303 bullets (to avoid seating problems), will they expand reliably on game at sedate velocities, is it a no-lead zone?

The only monolithic bullets I'm familiar with for that class of gun are solid lead monoliths.

It would be sacrilege for me to shoot a mono through this Octagon barrel .303

I have been in the gun business in one form or another for 45 years. I believe that people have discovered how good Savage 99s are. For years they took a back seat to Winchesters to the buying public.Now more and more shooters have discovered 99s. I have sold 6 in the last 4 weeks. Only one went to a man who was a "99 guy". All of the others were buying their first 99. The prices are beginning to pull lots of guns out into the market. There were at least 30 99s at the Louisville show last weekend.

Gnoah the savage has a brass thingy .........it twirls round and round. If it works properly it presents a cartridge for the bolt to push into the chamber. It is in lieu of the tube thingy with a long spring. The tube thingy stacked the cartridge s head to tail, so the bullet end shouldn't have pointy deals at the tip ( unless they gummy tip do dads).

The brass twirly bird holds the cartridges separately, like an egg carton. Therefore the bullets can be somewhat pointy.

The monoliths I suggested was the copper ( Barnes, Hornady, Nosler ) sell variations. These copper / compsist bullets do not suffer frangebility ( weight loss) in terminal ballistics. Therefore they will penetrate sufficiently for lighter big game. This in spite of their low sectional density, but at close ranges " open up" at the 303 velocity. I think 1800 fps is the " magic speed?".

Surely 303 prices are not in the looney " post tang safety caliber craze?"

Or No?

Just an observation that I have noticed that these unprecedented prices are doing.

Some of the really good collections are apparently being unlocked. I've been watching the 99 market very closely for over 10 years now and the quality and quantity of outstanding conditioned guns right now that are hitting the open market is incredible.

I'll admit I've been looking at some of mine that I wouldn't have dreamed of selling a year or two ago and wondering what the right move is?

Cramer has a suggestion