All:

I have a prototype of a Savage 99 made in 284. If Photobucket was not giving me an issue tonight, I would have pictures. It is the oddest of all Savages that I have ever seen other than the one in the NRA museum in Fairfax, VA. The serial number starts with an "S"XXXX. Is that how Savage serialized their prototypes? Also, how would you go about valuing something like this because I may sell it in order to fund another project.

I think you guys will like looking at this one. Should be an interesting conversation. I will get pics up when the PB site is working for me. I have them, just cannot load up.

RAS

Always thought prototypes started with RD.

+1 on that...............

Not so No R&D on all prototypes some just a letter some with

strange #'s !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for clarifying.

Here are a few photos of Jeff's gun:(check your library when you are trying to load photos on photobucket, these loaded like 3 times when it showed they weren't loading at all !!!)

That's an interesting way to stock a 99.

Very Remington 88ish.

Did I put words in your mouth???

Winchester 88'ish is the very first thing I though about when I saw it.

Wonder how much the recoil lug on the barrel would have helped with the tang crack?

Very cool!

Jeff, is it a firing weapon? Have you? Results?

You did, and I thank you

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Jeff, is it a firing weapon? Have you? Results? [/quote]

No, I have not fired it. If I do, it is going to tied to a tire and string.

Oh, there is a big RD or RN stamp on the inside side of the receiver. Cant remember which. It is packed up in the trailer now. I cannot find the serial # in whole at the moment.

The previous owner says he has paperwork on it somewhere, and will get it to me when he finds it. Maybe that will figure this cat out.

RAS

Maybe Savage was figuring out a way to compete with the 88 when the Win 88 in 284 Win came out. I think that was 1963.

Kinda looks like today's Tubb captive recoil lug for Remington 700s. In use, the stock would probably be as fragile as the Winchester 88s around the action area.

I guided for elk hunters for many years and I've seen several 88 stocks break. Savage 99s, with their two-piece stocks are WAY better for horse and mule work.

Uber-COOL rifle. How flippin' great to see this.

Thank you, RAS.

Steve

I saw one of these a few years back at a show down in springfield. don't recall the dealer that had it. but he told me it was factory workers idea .. ??? Winchester 88 look
very unique. how do you put a value on a rifle like that ?
auction I guess. GB ?? I rather put in a Julia auction or something similar.. JMO
plab

The serial # is on the white tag on the side of the stock. Maybe someone could enhance the picture and decipher it.

I have held in my hands a 99DL in 284 that had an "RD" prefix. I believe that either Jed, or Jed's buddy Lynn, may own that rifle or may have owned it. I was contemplating buying it when a hand reached past me and snatched it out of the rack at the Kittery Trading Post about 27 or 28 years ago. There were 3 RD prefix 99s in the rack, a 22-250 99C, a 284 99DL, and a 375 99A. I bought the 22-250, SN RD1041, held onto it for a few years and sold it to fund some since forgotten project.

Very neat 99 variation! So we have confirmed sightings on two of these 99/88's. It appears to have a clip magazine, yes? What does the clip connect to? Is there an external box using a normal 99 clip (The "C" model already existed when this was designed, right?)

The tag does say 99C.

It is a 99C (says on the normal place) and it is a 284 Win. The magazine is permanently attached I think. The stock allows (not blind mag) for it to removed, but the mag seems to be on there for good. The clip on the gun says 284 win on it. The sticker on the gun is from a well known gun shop. The gun packed away right now or I would look. There is a picture of the sticker, but it is on the wife's phone. More to follow.

The gun came from The Yankee Armorer and was listed as a Savage 99C in 284 prototype.

Serial # is S74XX.

RAS

The new RT.

Wildwood had a 99 with a one piece stock for sale in Gun Digest a few years ago. Unfortunately there weren't any pics. They must have sold it pretty quickly. It doesn't seem like it was listed for long.

Looks like it'll hold from here.



Jeff, is it a firing weapon? Have you? Results? [/quote]

No, I have not fired it. If I do, it is going to tied to a tire and string.

Oh, there is a big RD or RN stamp on the inside side of the receiver. Cant remember which. It is packed up in the trailer now. I cannot find the serial # in whole at the moment.

The previous owner says he has paperwork on it somewhere, and will get it to me when he finds it. Maybe that will figure this cat out.

RAS

[/quote]

How do these R&D firearms wind up in public hands?

Should be able to letter this one. Moving to Michigan are you planning to reside in the northern lower?

There was a big auction of the Savage R&D and reference collections back in 1987/88. Peter Dowd, Village Gun Shop in Northborough, MA, bought a lot of the collection and then sold it off in smaller lots to other gun shops. The Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, ME, and J.R. LaRue in Portsmouth, NH, moved a lot of Dowd's Savages. LaRue ran a full page ad that was all R&D and reference collection guns in the old GUN LIST.

I still have 1 R&D Savage, a 24V, SN RD1137, that came from the Kittery Trading Post.

You never know where you're going to run across an odd Savage. My lowest SN 1920 came out of a crappy little gun show in Leadville, CO., SN 1014, the 15th 1920 to come off the line on day 1 of production. Not in the best of shape, IOW "well used", but a 1st day of production gun is still a 1st day of production gun.

EDIT: I understand that Mr. Dowd is doing business on-line via www.yankeeartifacts.com. This IS NOT an endorsement of Yankeeartifacts and I recommend that you do your homework before buying from any on-line dealer.

The JTC letter on my 99CD R&D rifle says it was produced in 1974, the year before the CD was released. It was used as a show sample and was probably the rifle which was first used in the 1975 catalog. It was retained by the factory until it was sold to Nick Rosselli who was a gun smith in Westfield, January 19, 1981. The only markings on the rife are 250-3000 Savage on the barrel and RD278 on the left side of the receiver. I got it from Loggah's brother Dick in 2014. David

Nick Rosselli bought a lot of stuff from Savage back then, R&D guns, mistakes and miss marked guns. I bought some guns from him, as did my brother and my dad. Back then a lot of stuff was "custom" made for employees, special bbl lengths, ect. The head of R&D back then was a man named Bob Greenleaf. Brillant. He's in his 90's now, and he's a Pearl Harbor Navy vet. He was in machinegun school then, and he and the Marine instructors were among the first to shoot back at the Jap planes. Excuse me if this is old news.
Someone mentioned Pete Dowd, when I was a sales rep for Camfour Pete owned a shop called "The Gun Room" in Shrewsbury, Ma. I called on his shop weekly, and he was always honest and up front. I have no reason to think he would be any other way on line. Just my experience.

Blast from the past!!I bought a lot of 99 parts from Rosselli's in the 1970's. [img:center][/img]

If you read the buyer reviews, Yankeeartifacts appears to have more than its share of dissatisfied customers.

Bunch of 99 prototypes at Syracuse gun show in the 70s. One in 30-40 one in 30-03. I had a 23 "A" factory experimental gun in 44-40 with a special magazine and no serial number. Very accurate rifle.

Larry Root, back with yet another handle. How many different handles have you had on 24HCF Larry?

I'm surprised, I was just going by my exp. from 30 years ago.

I have a couple rifles that came from the group purchased by Peter Dowd, in trying to find a way to contact him with questions I found out that part of his business now seems to be based on being one of two bonded gun warehouses in MA that stores guns confiscated by law enforcement and that is where many of the guns he sells come from, much of that is in this link - Peter Dowd info, post #5 & on, I don't know how factual it all is but I did find other information that supported much of it. This is a direct link to the policies & fees involved with his "Bonded Public Warehouse for Firearms Storage"