Here is my most prized savage, 1899 .38/55. Bought by my great grandfather and passed to my father and then to me and will go to my boy. Let’s see your most cherished 1899/99. 😎
Cherish is a rather strong word. I like every one of mine, otherwise I wouldn't own any of them. I buy guns with condition and enjoy the eye appeal as a whole.
No history with me but the last one I'd let go would be this little 250-3000 M1920 with the ever desirable Lyman #54 peep sight:
I have a 1920/26 in 300. I chased after one for years and finally found my 300 in 2014. I think these rifles occupy a special place among Savage colluters (collector + shooter = colluter).
My most cherished gun isn't a 99, nor is it even a Savage. It's a basic Mossberg .22 semi-auto I received as my Christmas present in 1965. A POS I wouldn't even slow down to look at were it on a table at a show, but this one holds so many memories of my youthful innocence. (Heck, even that morning I unwrapped it I was mildly disappointed- by then I was shooting smallbore target games with borrowed target rifles and a used M52 is what I craved- but it won me over like a plain girl at a bar after a couple beers who turns out to have a libido a mile long.)
That little rifle sits proudly amongst a plethora of nifty shooting irons and would be among the last to ever go away.
My most cherished gun isn't a 99, nor is it even a Savage. It's a basic Mossberg .22 semi-auto I received as my Christmas present in 1965. A POS I wouldn't even slow down to look at were it on a table at a show, but this one holds so many memories of my youthful innocence. (Heck, even that morning I unwrapped it I was mildly disappointed- by then I was shooting smallbore target games with borrowed target rifles and a used M52 is what I craved- but it won me over like a plain girl at a bar after a couple beers who turns out to have a libido a mile long.)
That little rifle sits proudly amongst a plethora of nifty shooting irons and would be among the last to ever go away.
That's a bold statement. Though I have to tip my hat to Mossberg as they were able to do something that some of our most vaunted gun makers couldn't - stay in business!
I don't know about most cherished, but most fun to shoot by far is the 38-55. Mine isn't special like yours but I sure understand why you feel the way you do about yours! My dad never had a Savage lever gun to hand down to me, I had to find them all on my own.
the 99 i have that i have the most attachment for is a 1956 f in 250-3000, left to me in his will by a close friend and neighbor. other savage i have most attachment to is a early 110 given to me by a fellow here we all know and love! and it wasn't painted!
Probably my 1950 R in 250. It was my first 99 and I’ve taken a truck load of deer with it. It was factory D/T, yet a previous owner drilled it for a side mount, go figure. Then my 1912 22HP with the Malcolm scope. Took a nice 8 pointer with it this year.
I get this question pretty often when I display my collection at collector gun shows. I love them all although I like the pre-mil rifles a lot better than the post-mils. I've had the 1895 round barrel since 1966 so it's really high on the list. But I can't call any one of them #1. The ones I killed critters with rank high but we're talking about maybe 10 of the 1895's, 1899's and 99's. I killed a whitetail with the 1895 round barrel in 1967 so it's got two things going for it.