As it happened an older fellow had just cleaned out his safe and asked the shop to help him sell some of his guns. I walked into my local gun shop and asked if there was anything odd or unique that had come in. My favorite Model 99 is a post war 99EG made at the Utica, NY plant in 1947. Ultimately, the 7.62mm NATO/.308 Winchester was the result. military when they began developing a replacement for the. Later it was to become the basis of the experiments conducted by the U.S. 30-caliber deer and elk cartridges of all time. 300 Savage, went on to become one of the most popular short action. 243 Winchester will push a 90-grain bullet to 3100 fps. 250 achieved this breakthrough with an 87-grain bullet. Shortly thereafter came the first commercial cartridge to offer a muzzle velocity of 3000 fps, the. It is still popular in Europe today, where it is known as the 5.6x52R. This cartridge was developed by Charles Newton and would push a 70-grain bullet to a muzzle velocity of 2,800 fps. This cartridge was a ballistic twin to the. The cartridges developed for and offered in the 1899 and 99 were as far ahead of their time as the rifle. This provided a distinguishing touch to an already attractive rifle. Another of its prominent aesthetic features was the color case hardened trigger guard and lever. The rotary magazine would hold five cartridges, thus enabling the rifle to be fully loaded with a total of six shots. This is why so many rifles still around today, have receivers with worn bottoms.
In an "Instructions for Use" guide that came with a rifle made in the 1950's, Savage encouraged customers to carry the rifle fully loaded, as it would balance perfectly if carried at the bottom of the rounded action. The rotary magazine caused the bottom of the action to be rounded, which fit naturally in the hand. In the 1960's impressed checkering became standard on deluxe (DL) models. Later models appeared with a pistol grip stock, and rounded fore end tip. This era of rifles was stately, and as pleasing to the eye as it was satisfying to use. The early models were produced with a straight grip stock and slim Schnable fore end. It has a good trigger and is reportedly a very accurate and dependable rifle.Īnother characteristic of the 99 that is worth mentioning is its great looks and balanced carrying qualities. Until that time, most were only available with drilled and tapped tang mounted peep sights or standard iron sights. Most 99s were not drilled and tapped for scope mounts until the late 1950's. It has a cocking indicator on top of the tang and it ejected spent cartridges at an angle, which made it easily adaptable to the use of telescopic sights. 308 Winchester.įor a rifle designed in the last decade of the 1800's, it had many modern day features that are still prevalent on currently produced rifles. A few of the most popular calibers were the.
Its strong action allowed it to be chambered in many modern, short-action, high intensity cartridges.
The rotary spool magazine allows for the use of pointed bullets, which retain greater velocity downrange than the flat point bullets required by lever guns with tubular magazines. It has several superior design features that make it more comparable to the Browning BLR and even modern bolt actions like the Winchester Model 70. The design of the 99 is superior to lever actions such as the Winchester 94 and the Marlin 336, because it can handle high intensity cartridges. One such prototype is on display at the Savage factory and the other was recently sold for $6000. It was manufactured for nearly a century with over a million rifles produced before the Savage 99 was discontinued due to decrepit machinery and increased cost.īefore it was retired, it is purported that the company had plans to introduce the 99 with the capability to handle long action cartridges, such as the. In fact, it was a solid performer well into the later part of the last century, nearly one hundred years after its creation. Although he did not, his design endured and the 99 went on to become a representation of its creator's genius.įor hunting North American game the Savage 99 is still one of the finest hunting rifles of all time. He designed the 1899 in hope of winning a contract with the war department. It was a great design that was truly ahead of its time when Arthur Savage developed it in the 1890s.
In my humble opinion the great Model 99 should have ranked higher. I was sure it would have at least made the top 5. To my surprise, the Savage 99 was ranked 35th. I have a real affection for the great Savage Model 1899 and later 99, and highly regard it as one of the jewels in the history of America firearms. I immediately skipped the introduction and went directly to the list. I recently read an article in Field and Stream and the article was ranking the 50 best guns ever made.
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