Hi Folks,
I have a conflict between my Savage 99EG and my Lyman SA1a tang sight. The tang at the rear is lower than the wood surrounding it. Therefore, if I tighten down the Lyman, it will cut into the wood at the rear of the tang. I don't want to damage the wood. I've tried a .025 shim behind the rear screw, and later a washer under the rear sight screw, and neither worked. I know I am not the only one with this problem. Any ideas? Many thanks, and God Bless, Marc

There was a guy on here a couple weeks ago that successfully bent his back into shape, you can roll back a few threads and see if you can't find it again.

Marcruger, Some of the buttstocks are"PROUD" near the tang and the lyman and marbles tang sight wont work without removing a bit of wood. This i don't recommend. Find a Redfield or Lyman reciever sight that uses the tang sight holes, then you wont have to damage the stock. Don

I think he is talking about a tang sight Don, not a 57SA.

Thank you Don. I have actually held a couple of 99 receiver sights in my hand, and the base of each followed the receiver contour down over the wood on the side. Same issue as the tang sight....the wood is higher at the side, so it would have to be relieved too. If someone made an oval base the just sat on the tang, without following the wood contour on the side, that would work. I haven't seen one, but maybe you guys have? I know there were different tang sights for R/RS models, and one for for the other 99's. This one follows the contour of the EG, but simply hits the wood. Am I worrying too much here? Does everyone else just screw it down against the stock and let it be? MadDog, I did see that thread, but I would have to put a real kink in mine to get it to clear the wood. :-( I am afraid it would break. Thanks for the ideas. God Bless, Marc

Use a thicker shim. If that doesn't work you might look to see if the stock is seated correctly.

Thank you Rick. You know, I pondered that seating question. Is there a trick to insuring it is seated right? The long tenons are lined up right at the receiver. Is there anything at the lower tang that would adjust the angle? Many thanks and God Bless. Marc

Marc,

Sounds like you are pretty quickly running out of options... if you can not get it to fit with a combination of shims and bending your only choice as I see it would be to sand down the stock... if the gun is original in all ways, I would not do that... if its got a pad on it then what the heck.

Your best option is likely to buy a set of stiths and scope it or shot it with open sights.

Hi Folks, Well, after church I took the 99EG down again and studied some more. It looks like a Lyman 57SA could indeed work. The wood is "proud" in a gentle hump behind the tang inletting, but is flush beside it. So, the 57SA would not conflict. Having the windage adjustment would be nice too. :-) I also made the contoured & tapered shim for the lower tang, and made sure there was clearance behind the tang's end. I flushed the action with Remington Dri-Lube. The 99 action seems like a good use for Dri-Lube, so oil does not migrate to the stock. I did lighty lube the wear surfaces. Thanks to all for the suggestions. Does anyone have a 90% or better 57SA they really hate and want to get rid of? ;-) Heh, heh. God Bless, Marc

Pictures?

I think Rick99 was right. I have tried a temporary hard plastic shim and it lifts it enough and the screw still catches. The shim can be seen as a tan rectangle in the photo. If you look closely, you can see how the tang falls away under the sight, but the bottom of the Lyman wants to touch the stock. I need to make a metal shim under there and that should do it. Lot of experimenting. BTW, what is the tang sight mounting screw thread for the 99's? Sorry for the flash photography. Many thanks, and God Bless, Marc

Have you looked at all the #s Wood sure looks proud just after the top tang!

Threads are 8-40, 1/4" long, oval head. If you need a longer one PM me, I think I have a couple of 3/8" around here somewhere.

From the Photo,The wood Looks like it was raised a Tad,,Look at the receiver you see about the same exposed metal as the wood is proud to the tang,,Perhaps try loosing the Butt Stock bolt and see if the wood will move down a tad.

The line from the front of the Tang/Receiver back looks right, it's at the end of the tang it looks off!

Tang/Receiver/Stock! Line!

That is a significant hump right behind the tang. Haven't seen anything that large on any of my pre-mils. Somebody sleeping on the stock fitting line? Maybe a swapped stock? Or possibly mis-aligned as others have suggested..

Good luck.

Thank you for the comments all. I had a .300 where the wood was "proud" all the way around, with all matching serial numbers. In this case, the numbers on the wood are not serial numbers. As in, there are an assortment of letter and numbers stamped into the butt and the foreend in no particular pattern, but they are not close to adding up to a serial number. They do seem to match each other as far as factory finish and each other's color. The wood seems to fit the receiver and tang lines fairly well (allowing for some shrinkage over time), but there is a "hump" behind the tang inletting. Oh well, no biggie. I will continue to play with a shim for the current sight (thank you for the tang screw offer Rick99, I PM'ed you). If that doesn't work out solid, I think a Lyman 57SA would work just fine on this rifle. Best wishes, Merry Christmas, and God Bless, Marc

Oh yes, I will also try loosening the stock again and shifting the buttstock down a bit. I've had it off twice in the last few days making a thin shim for the lower tang as described here in the forums. Each time it went on, it seemed to go back in the same place, but that could just be my lack of attention to seating it downward fully. Thank you again for the input. God Bless, Marc

Marc, in the 50's they stopped stamping the serial numbers on the stocks and started stamping a code. So what you're seeing is normal.

as Rory says... the number/ letter combo is original... to check if your stock is correct to your gun... the number/ letters should match on the butt plate, stock , and when the stock is removed the same combo will be stamped on the left side of the lower tang. ALso, depending on the serial range... my experience is that the forearm should be stamped with it as well (or often something very similar +/- one letter or number, etc) up through the around 650,000 or so but will have to check my stats again to verify that.

After that the forearms and stocks are often completely different number/letter sequences but the forearms will often have the last digits of the serial written in chalk on them.

Here is where the stamping is located on the tang



stock with partial serial and stamping sequence also in chalk



and butt plate


didn't see any pics in my photobucket account of a forearm with the chalk...




Hope that was not confusing.

Drew, the stamping under the stock on the receiver can be anywhere, not just on the rear portion. I have found numbers stamped on the very thin back edge of the body of the receiver...!!!

Mike...

You guys are tons of fun. What knowledge. I'll check the next time I have it apart....which may be this evening. God Bless, Marc

By jove, I think I've got it! Mad Dog, your suggestion ended up correct. I straightened the Lyman and the sight is on the gun, fitting perfectly. I also shifted the stock slightly downward as y'all suggested, and it may have made a small difference. I decided it was better to risk a sight base than it was to alter the gun. Yes, it was a risk, but came out great. I am now thinking that this sight may have had too much bow to begin with, as the last 99 it was on needed a shim to get it to work. Tonight I simply placed it on a pine 2x4 with the stem pointing upwards, heated it to "hot-to-the-touch", and tapped it with a piece of soft pine and a light hammer. The arch reduced. I kept trying and checking until I got it to fit my 99 with a sheet of paper able to slide between it and the wood with light drag. It's "free floated". :-) Unless you were looking for it, you'd never notice the sight was straightened. The two mount screws are down tight with no problems or shims. Whew. Nothing left now but to wipe the bore and go shoot. My sincere thanks to all, and especially Rick99 for his willingness to send me a longer mounting screw. You guys are swell. God Bless, Marc