Hey all. I'm new to this forum. Was sent here by Ken from savage99.com after emailing him with my question. So here is my issue, but first a little back story. Lol. So when I was 15 (I'm 38 now) my grandmother loaned me a Savage lever action rifle to go hunting for the first time. I ended up getting in trouble and grounded and never went hunting, but my dad held onto the gun since my grandma didn't use it anymore. It was originally my grandfather's gun and then my grandmother's after my grandfather died. It sat in my gun locker since my father died in 2010 with the intention being that it go to my uncle, as requested by my grandmother. On March 11, my oldest son's 21st birthday my grandmother passed away. While packing up my grandmother's house, I talked to my uncle and told him I had the rifle and his mom wanted him to have it. To my surprise, he told me he wanted me to have it. Then he told me several stories of the family hunting and stories about the gun. So here is my question. What caliber is my 1899? The Barrell stamp clearly is stamped 30-R. I have never been able to shoot this rifle because I don't know what shells it takes. My uncle said it uses a round almost like the 30-30 but doesn't have the lip at the rear around the primer? If anyone could help I would appreciate it. I would love to take this gun to the range and shoot it and let my kids shoot what used to be their great grandparents hunting rifle. Thank you.

Can you post a picture of the caliber marking? Heck, the whole rifle?

However unlikely, your description sounds like a 30 Remington. I'd have a gunsmith check it out....

Apparently my picture are too high resolution (exceeded 97k) and can't be uploaded to the site? I'll try taking some lower resolution pictures this weekend.

I was kind of wondering if it might be 30 Remington but can't find any reference to that caliber used with the 1899 or even 99 models.

I haven't taken it in but have asked all the local gun Smith's and they've all just referenced the .303 caliber and said you can't get rounds for the 1899 anymore. Then offered me $400 to take it off my hands. I just don't think I have any knowledgeable (or honest) gunsmiths around here unfortunately.

Here is a cropped image of the barrel marking.

I think you should hold your water on selling it, email the photos to a senior member here who will sort it out for you.

Great to see a new and unusual topic pop up

Johno

I'll never sell it. It has too much meaning to me and my family. We just want to be able to taking it the range. It's a great addition to our collection. I also have an old Springfield 1908 .22 and 2 Remington model 11s that were passed down from my grandfather to my father and then to me. It feels good to be teaching my kids to shoot with the same guns that were used to teach my dad and also me. Just want to be able to take the lever action out and shoot it for the first time and also let my kids do the same.

The stamp was originally 30-30, and the R was stamped over the second 30. No idea...

What you need to do is have a gunsmith do a mold of the chamber and measure the dimensions. It might be a 30-30, or might be rechambered to something else. Until you know the dimensions of the chamber, you can't be sure what is it.

30 Rimmed ?

Yeah it sounds like a 30 Remington, but as noted you need to do a chamber cast to know or certain.

Other than the rim, aren't the 30-30 Winchester and the 30 Remington the same? So the only change would/could have been the extractor and ejector?

I've bee loading for my 30 Rem with 30-30 Win dies for years. Seems to work.

Doug

No

Welcome to the site. Hold on to that one and keep us up to date. What part of Oregon are you in? We have a member out there that may be able to point you in the right direction of a good gunsmith. If you get lucky it's just a 30-30 and ammo is easy. I've never seen one over stamped with an "R". We would love to see some pics of the whole rifle so we can tell what model it is. Thanks for posting, Joe.

Absolutely have a chamber cast done so you know for sure what correct round should be used.

How about a photo of the bolt face, and the chamber mouth. If it was chambered for 30 Rem wouldn't the headspace need to be set back to eliminate the lip for the rim?

Jeff, that's what I was thinking. But not knowing when it was made? If for some reason the factory did it, you would think the "R" would be the same size as the 30-30, but it's much bigger font? Definitely need a chamber cast, Joe.

Load data for the .30-30 Win. and 30 Rem. is interchangeable, but the cartridges have different dimensions....

Thanks everyone for all the help and advice. I've gotten further in this in 12 hours here than I have in years elsewhere. I am in Albany, Oregon (about 30 minutes south of Salem). I will post more pics when I can. Gotta play with camera resolution first. When I punch the serial number into savage99 date info it says it was made in 1915 or 1914. I believe it is an 1899a but not sure yet.

This is somewhat irrelevant since the rifle was originally a 30-30 but 303 Savage ammo is still manufactured by Jamison and is available from Midwayusa.com for 31.99 per box of 20. I'll bet the rifle is worth way more than $400. But you are right, keep it and hand it down to family members. Heirlooms are priceless. David

Heirlooms are far from priceless.

"If for some reason the factory did it..."

Savage stated in their catalogs that they would not re-chamber a barrel. Being over stamped I would think it was not factory. Someone probably had a good reason for doing it at the time.

The "R" is clearly over-stamped on the second "30". This is obviously someone doing after-market work, and re-using the original 30-30 barrel. It was just labeled for future users to know something was changed... Tinkerbells have ethics too you know.

Chamber cast answers everything important, except "why?"

Get some Cerrosafe and make a casting of the chamber. Report back to us. I'm quite curious as to what has been done to your rifle.
Were it chambered for 30 Remington, the bolt face would need to be altered in such a way I think would be quite a task.

Were it a 30-30 improved, I'd think it would be stamped 30 AI.

There is a 30 R Blaser, but it was developed in 1991. I'm guessing this work predates that.

Granny didn't send ammo with it when she loaned it to you?

I can't believe I didn't see it before, but the R is definitely stamped over the 30. Thank you all for the help on this. I'll have a cast made to determine what casing it uses. I wonder why it was modified in the first place.

Some of the other rifles you spoke of were Remington's maybe the modification was for keeping things simple?

I don't have a clue. The model 11s just use normal 12 gauge shells and the Southfield is standard .22lr. I wish I had this info before. Maybe my grandma would have known. I'm really intrigued as to why it would have been rescheduled from something so common to something less common ( possibly).

If it is a 30 Remington a popular deer cartridge, it would have to have an extractor cut where the bolt face meets the back of the barrel for this rimless cartridge. His grandfather said, is was chambered in a cartridge similar to the 30-30 but without the rim around (the primer).

Looking at dimensions it appears that the 30 Rem is about .050 longer from base to shoulder. Would re-cambering maybe be a fix for a head space problem?

That's very much a possibility. I'm trying to get more information from relatives. My uncle said he thinks he might a have some ammo for it at his house. He's going to look. If any work was done it was before he was old enough to remember. I took more pictures of the rifle to upload. Not sure what model it is either. Serial number is 178077 and has a circled H stamped on the lever boss. She's gonna need a good restore. She was definitely a hunting rifle and not a family show piece. Lol

Here's a couple of pics of the chamber and bolt

This. If I had hung onto everything of my dad's granddad's I wouldn't have room to breathe.

Where is the ammo you used when you hunted with it? I really can't believe someone rechambered it to .30 Remington. I just tried make .30R's feed through a .30-30 and they didn't work wort a tinker's dam.

I think a box of ammo was sent with the gun. However I never got to hunt with it (got in trouble and got grounded). I have no idea what happened to the ammo. It would have made this a lot easier if I had it though

20" or 22" barrel? Looks to me like a 20", making it a takedown model 1899H. Stock has been sanded and refinished, may not be the original butt plate, but should work and hunt just fine.

Butt plate has the Savage stamp on it so I'm pretty sure that's original.

I haven't measured the barrel

It may be a Savage plate, but it may be the wrong one. The 1899 H had a Rubber Butt Plate. A steel shotgun butt plate was available on special order. I'd keep that gun just as it is. Once you restore it, it will be just another Savage. Keep that one for the memories and buy a couple more for the cool factor. If it's still a 30-30 that's cool right there. Keep up the work on solving the mystery, that adventure would be enough to keep it the way it is, Joe.

Looks like it's missing the carrier spring screw. The one that locks tension on the spring.

It's definitely an 1899H. It has the small integral base front sight. I wouldn't do anything to but replace the magazine carrier screw. David

As Calhoun mentioned, it is a take down rifle. If you decide to take it down, pull the tab on the for end down and it pops off. Open the lever and the barrel unscrews. It won't unscrew with the lever up. Don't try to force it if it's tight, just leave it. I only take mine down when I clean them, Joe.

From what Gary posted it may have some feeding issues which might account for the apparently missing spindle head screw?

Haha. I was waiting for someone to mention the missing screw. Based on parts breakdowns, I thought it might be that but wasn't 100% sure. But yes, it is missing. Not sure when it went missing either. The magazine "defaults" to 2 rounds remaining showing in the window. From what I found it looks to be about a $3 part so no biggie there.

That's great to know. It should make getting a casting of the chamber easier as well as replacing/troubleshooting the feeding system easier. Thank you

That's confirmed. It is a takedown with a 20" barrel.

I'll bet it's a 30/30. If it'll chamber a 30/30 case it is a 30/30. The 30/30 won't chamber in a 30 Rem chamber and it won't chamber in a 303 Savage chamber, so you don't risk a thing by trying. If you were close to Prineville we'd find out in a hurry because I have all of those suspects so we'd very soon find which case slides into the chamber.

You're in Prineville? My grandparents used to live there as well as my Uncle and Aunt. I have cousin's in that area still.
Don't suppose you know any Halsey folks.

I have a co-worker who does a lot of custom gun stuff. He's going to do a casting for me Monday evening, so I'll know soon what it is for sure.

Be sure and let us know. The suspense is killing me!

Don't know any Halseys but it is a familiar name for Prineville area -- school teacher or principal?. Looks like you'll get a chamber cast tomorrow and find out just what you have, though the profiles are similar enough it'll take some close measuring to figure for sure I would suspect.

You can find 30/30 cartridges or brass everywhere, and last time I looked both Midway and Grafs had 30 Remington and 303 Savage brass. A few years ago both would have been tough to find: this is a great time to own and shoot old Savages!

Any updates?

No update yet. We work 50-60 hour weeks so not a lot of free time during the week. Most likely he will do the casting sometime this weekend.

Well, the mystery of this rifle continues to deepen for me. I pulled the carrier assembly today to replace the spring and put a new carrier head screw in it. The carrier is stamped "22". All of the pictures I've seen of the carriers have the specific cartridge stamped in them, so how does a 22 carrier work for any of the 30 caliber cartridges that might be used? I've decided regardless of what my coworker determines, I'm taking the gun to a gunsmith. I've gotta get this whole thing figured out professionally.

I wonder if a 30-30 and a 22 High Power are similar enough to use the same rotor.

Don't fire it, but run a 30-30- round through the magazine and chamber and see what happens. I'm betting it feeds fine.

Same damned parent case.

Oh ok. Sorry. I'm far from a savage or antique gun expert. Sorry for the ignorance there. Guess I should have googled it or something.

Its time to quit screwing around with this, Gabeh. It is probably a 30/30, so take a 30/30 cartridge, go outside and point the rifle at a tree (just in case...) and see if the cartridge chambers. If it does you have a 30/30 and don't need to see a gunsmith or do a chamber cast. If it doesn't chamber, then you might worry about the chamber cast. Or you can come visit your cousin in Prineville, give old earlmck a call and we'll plop cartridges in there until we know what fits.

None of the potential alternative cartridges will chamber in a 30/30 chamber, so if it chambers it is 30/30.