Savage 99

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I recently gunbrokered a beat up Savage 99 takedown in 250-3000 (1927 vintage)

This is the first sister to my lovely #1 in 25-06 and will eventually be paired to a 257 Roberts on a Mauser 98 or Win 70 blued / walnut stock, and also a Weatherby in 257 Weatherby Mag for a 25 caliber project of mine. When all is said and done I plan to have an iconic rifle for one of each of these American quarter bores, and to take a North American sheep with each of them to complete a Grand Slam

Curious if anyone has Savage 99 love to share…accuracy tips, general photos, all is welcomed as it’s my first lever besides an original Win 1895. In my youth I went hunting in Virginia and the taste there was for Win 88s and Marlin 444s and I may have residual lever gun bug.
 
25-06 above a 375 H&H
8F6E124C-C1A1-4A82-BE77-93C6E910E97E.jpeg
 
This is my 1950’s .300 Savage. I installed the no drill scope mount as this is not drilled and tapped for a scope.
It’s not my primary deer gun but it works fine.
This is my firearms deer from last year. It took one doe this year as well. Hand loaded ammunition.

IMG_3246.jpeg
 
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My EG (1947) in .300 Savage was my primary this past June in Africa. I used it on kudu, gemsbok, impala, and warthog. I was shooting handloads with 180 grain Accubonds.

I have a second in .308 that I have used on Sitka blacktail. And kudos to you: a .250 is still on my bucket list.

355868580_10231248812983082_7648938467890613698_n.jpg
 
I understand Savage made half a dozen 30-06 prototypes in Model 99. Wonder why they gave up on the cartridge. Too bad.
 
I have a few 99’s, .303 Savage, .250-3000, .300 Savage , have shot whitetails and muleys w all of them - classic guns and cartridges - there is a Savage forum on another site that has everything you will ever want to see/read about 99’s
 
I have my grandfathers 300 savage that has killed a couple deer, Texas sheep, and a pig with me. Planned to take to Africa but don’t reload and the last few boxes of core lokt I bought shot all over the place. I need to get it to someone to work up a load and see what’s up. Damn beautiful gun.
 
Well, they have a great rotary magazine feed. Not sure if that prohibits rechambering to a different cartridge like it does on the Mannlicher Schoenauer.
 
I recently gunbrokered a beat up Savage 99 takedown in 250-3000 (1927 vintage)

This is the first sister to my lovely #1 in 25-06 and will eventually be paired to a 257 Roberts on a Mauser 98 or Win 70 blued / walnut stock, and also a Weatherby in 257 Weatherby Mag for a 25 caliber project of mine. When all is said and done I plan to have an iconic rifle for one of each of these American quarter bores, and to take a North American sheep with each of them to complete a Grand Slam

Curious if anyone has Savage 99 love to share…accuracy tips, general photos, all is welcomed as it’s my first lever besides an original Win 1895. In my youth I went hunting in Virginia and the taste there was for Win 88s and Marlin 444s and I may have residual lever gun bug.
I suggest that you check the twist rate before getting carried away with load creation. The original twist rate was nominally 1-14" but John Barsness discovered that his rifle had a barrel twist closer to 1-15". He advised that 87gr flat-base bullets worked well in that barrel. The late rifles reportedly had a twist rate of 1-10".
Have fun.
 
You will have a lot of fun with your 250...........I have 3 in Model 99's and one in a bolt. @ZG47 has given good advice. Your inter-war rifle should have a 1:14 twist. I would not bother measuring that. But measuring the head space is a great idea. If you rifle is a solid frame gun it can still be badly worn, although the take downs were the worst for this problem. The short Speer 100 grain Pro-Hunter was the best bullet for me.......backed with 34 grains of 4320 it has killed some big heavy mulies and half a dozen pronghorn. If your rifle shoots this bullet well, then it is a true 14 incher. If not, you will have to experiment.....some of mine will not stabilize even 85 grain bullets from other manufacturers with long ogive or monometal construction. @Tundra Tiger has completed a dream of mine: to take two 99's to Africa.....one for Springbok and the like, and the other for oryx. Best of luck with fulfilling your dreams with this gun................FWB
 
@Gimpy............most of the High Powers I have seen are takedowns. I also have 3 of those, and would love to take one to Africa for a Springbok and smaller hunt. A member here sold me some bullets for this gun..... they are hard to find for sure. 71 grainers. A 32-40 would be a fine addition (shot my first deer with one in a Mod 94). A 25-35 barrel would be another great addition. Good luck with the project... keep us posted..............FWB
 
Mine will work on nearly anything that is based on a 38-55 case and I have a spare magazine spindle as well, I’ve got a 25-35 on a martini cadet action so probably won’t do that but may do a 30-30 for the hell of it. I’ve got two boxes of jacketed 22HP projectiles (one box of Speer and one of S&B )and a Lyman mould for hard cast
Gumpy
 

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Grz63 wrote on roklok's profile.
Hi Roklok
I read your post on Caprivi. Congratulations.
I plan to hunt there for buff in 2026 oct.
How was the land, very dry ? But à lot of buffs ?
Thank you / merci
Philippe
Fire Dog wrote on AfricaHunting.com's profile.
Chopped up the whole thing as I kept hitting the 240 character limit...
Found out the trigger word in the end... It was muzzle or velocity. dropped them and it posted.:)
Fire Dog wrote on AfricaHunting.com's profile.
2,822fps, ES 8.2
This compares favorably to 7 Rem Mag. with less powder & recoil.
Fire Dog wrote on AfricaHunting.com's profile.
*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS FOR MY RIFLE, ALWAYS APPROACH A NEW LOAD CAUTIOUSLY!!*
Rifle is a Pierce long action, 32" 1:8.5 twist Swan{Au} barrel
{You will want a 1:8.5 to run the heavies but can get away with a 1:9}
Peterson .280AI brass, CCI 200 primers, 56.5gr of 4831SC, 184gr Berger Hybrid.
Fire Dog wrote on AfricaHunting.com's profile.
I know that this thread is more than a year old but as a new member I thought I would pass along my .280AI loading.
I am shooting F Open long range rather than hunting but here is what is working for me and I have managed a 198.14 at 800 meters.
That is for 20 shots. The 14 are X's which is a 5" circle.
 
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