I bought a 1951, 99 in 300 Savage recently. It was very solid but cosmetically a bit rough so I had it reblued and stock refinished by my gunsmith who is a Savage 99 pro. His work is just excellent and the rifle turned out beautifully.
Anyway, when I got it back the rotary was dark. I called him up ad asked what the deal was. He said Savage made these rotarys in 3 materials: Brass, Aluminum and Steel. He further stated that the steel rotors were blued. I never heard nor saw a blued rotor.

What do you guys think? I really am not big on the blued rotor as the numbers are quite difficult to make out.

Thoughts?

Bob

I've been wrong before, but the only blued rotors I can recall seeing were on guns that had been "restored".

during the Korean war there was a shortage of brass. The rotors on some of the 99's in that era were steel. I've seen both blued and case hardened. What did the rotor look like before the rifle was restored?

I've got a 51 with a steel rotor.

In the early 1950's they used steel, but most of those were case colored. They didn't blue them.

When the case coloring is predominantly blue the rotor appears to have been blued.

My 1951 DOB 250 cal EG has a steel case hardened rotor-Works fine, beauty of a rifle with its shimmer grain walnut. While dark, the case hardened colors can be seen on the rotor.

My big question would be, what color was it when you gave it to him? If I had a brass rotar when it went in, I'd want a brass rotar when it came back.