I posted hunting pics on the Campfire on Monday and y'all were asking for pics of the rifle.

Here are the pics of the Savage 99

The Savage Itself

It's a DL with a Simmons 80's vintage 3-9X, 32mm scope mounted using Weaver Pivot Mounts. I was looking through that scope when I shot my first deer-- pulled it off my Remington 742 many moons ago and it finally found a home. I love the pivot mounts, but I have to admit to never shooting a deer with the irons.


Here are the hunting pics again, along with how I bagged the biggest buck of my life last weekend:

The Savage Speaks Again

Here is the last time the Savage spoke big medicine. Again it was my personal best back in 2003. Both bucks were taken from the same stand and both were shot within feet of each other in the first hour of legal hunting on Opening Day of KY's Modern Rifle Season.
The Savage Spoke (2003)

You got to love the Savage 99. Y'all goaded me into it back in 2003. I was looking for an answer to my problems with a new Marlin 30-30 that had not performed to my liking:

Ode to a 30-30 PTs I, II, III

From reading here at the 'Campfire, I got it in my head to purchase a '99 in 308 Win and then create some loads that were down near 300 Savage levels. For some reason mine did not like 150 grainers, but 165 Grain Hornady Interlok SP's over H4895 worked like a death ray. These shoot at 2600 fps MV-- hotter than a 300 Savage, but well under a 308 WIN's potential. The result is a very accurate rifle with minimal recoil.

The only problem I can relate about my '99 is that it seemed to be a little finicky on ammo, but once I figured out its eccentricities, it has performed very well. The first one is that it did not like 150 grain bullets. The second is that it did not like military brass. After one firing, the reloads were hard to extract. I switched to Federal once-fired (again at y'all's behest) and the problem cleaned up immediately. Lastly, mine likes to have 5 fouling shots run through it before it starts to group well. After that, it will settle down into a 1 MOA gun. I don't clean the barrel from the time it comes out of the safe in August until after the meat is in freezer.

It doesn't make that much difference. These shots have all been 60 yards and under. As a treestand rifle at deep woods ranges, it is just right. I am still confident I could drop a deer that came out in the adjoining field out to 200 yards.

Thanks again for pointing me to a Savage 99.

Bill
Congrats.
That is an Assume Buck Bet it Scores 160 Easy!
And a Wonderful Web-site you have with the old Pics and Stories. Again Congrats On the Deer,The Gun,and The Person Most Importantly behind it all.
All I can Say Is WoW!
2 More Days For Me.
Steve

Wow. Hope I have the same ability to bag a big one.

Also 2 days for me for deer hunting. I fly out tomorrow morning to the Great North Woods of NH with the ole Savage 99G by my side (or in the luggage compartment till I get the rental).

First year for me deer hunting since 1972. Been a long time coming and I had my choice of using my pre 64 Winchester Model 94 30-30 or my Savage 300 99G. Was a tough choice (not) but I have hunted with the 30-30 before so the Savage won out.

Hope to have pics for you when I get back.

Steve

You know, maybe it's the scotch talking tonight, but it hit me out on the back deck tonight that the Savage Collectors-- dating back to your previous incarnations prior to the 24HourCampfire have really influenced my hunting. Somewhere in all of this is a post that influenced me to look seriously at the 300 Savage. Somewhere else is all your love for the 99, a rifle that for the entirety of its manufacture was lost on me. Somehow that got through to me.

And now here I sit, amid the last of the maple leaves, trying to recapture last Saturday and trying to figure out how I'll get all that venison into the freezer, and you all have a part in it.

One of my long-dead hunting buddies used to talk about the place that crazy uncles had in a young man's life, and how a young man needed crazy uncles his proper development into a man-- someone to ask questions and make confessions to that you would never ask your own father.

My father doesn't know squat about deer hunting. I'm pushing 50, so I'm no young man, but I see the truth of what what buddy said.

Thanks. There was a part of y'all out on that stand last Saturday, and there will be a part of y'all hanging on my mantle.

Thanks to all my crazy uncles at the the Savage Collectors.

I'm honored.
Thnx for the pictures,and write up.

Wise choice, my friend. Good luck, and enjoy the New England woods.