Winter 2006

The Legendary Savage Model 99

By ED NOONAN
Christmas came a little early for me this year when I received a phone call from Gary DeCesare, the proprietor of Instant Replay Sports informing me he had found the Savage 99 rifle I had been looking for. ''It's chambered in 300 Savage and it is in excellent condition,'' he added and 10 minutes later I was in my truck and headed for his Queensbury shop.
I first became interested in the Savage 99 last year at the annual Adirondack Sportsman's Alliance banquet. During dinner I just happened to take the last seat at a table with eight true-blue Adirondack Mountain hunters. As expected the conversation that evening never strayed far from deer hunting and eventually I brought up the topic of deer guns. But it wasn't much of a conversation, because after I voiced my choice as a semi-auto .30-06, I asked the choices of the others. The first answer was also the last: ''we all carry the 300 Savage Model 99,'' and the others just nodded their agreement.
Until that time I had seen the Model 99, but never really paid much attention to it or even picked it up. But shortly after the banquet I spoke with a friend who had one and when I actually shouldered and pointed it I knew I really had to have one. It was then that I started to research the gun's history; which was a very interesting project.

HISTORY
Arthur Savage established the Savage Arms Company in 1894 in Utica, N.Y., and it was here that he developed the Savage Halpine torpedo and invented the first hammerless lever action rifle, the Savage 1899, with a fully enclosed mechanism in the receiver. Savage hoped to win a contract with the U.S. War Department with his new rifle; but he never did.
In 1919, Chief Lame Bear contacted Savage to purchase his Model 99 lever-action rifles for the Indian Reservation and they entered an agreement. In exchange for selling them discounted rifles Savage received permission to use the Indian head symbol of the Chief that is currently used by Savage Arms as it's company logo.
Originally called the Savage 1899, it later became more popularly known as the Model 99 and it was truly a rifle ahead of its time and despite the fact that it is no longer manufactured, it still remains in high demand by collectors and hunters alike. Let's take a look at how this gun revolutionized lever guns during the time when the likes of John Browning and was introducing his famous Winchester designs.
First, as mentioned earlier, it was a true hammerless gun with an internal spring operated firing pin which alerted the shooter when the gun was fully cocked using a visible metal pin on the tang of the stock which the shooter could see and feel with his thumb as he held the gun.
Unlike other lever guns that set the hammer as the lever is opening, the Model 99, cocks the firing pin as the lever is closing on the shell. Also, since it was first introduced, this gun offered a side ejection which facilitated the addition of a scope optics, something most avid hunters and shooters have always wanted. Other level guns at this time did not offer this in the early years.
Another brilliant design that Arthur Savage added to his Model 99s was a rotary five-shot magazine; also a real favorite of the hunters. Other lever guns store their shells in tubular magazines one behind the other which does not facilitate the use of ballistically superior pointed nosed bullets like the spitzers. These pointed nosed bullets could not be loaded into a tubular magazine for obvious safety reasons and therefore the round nosed bullets that they did use were inferior ballistically to those with pointed noses.
The design of the internal brass rotary magazine also offers advantages. First it is machined specifically for each caliber which facilitates a straight line and smooth feeding into the chamber. And because of this slim design it measures only 1.5 inches wide and 2.25 inches deep, it is a pleasure to carry afield.
And lastly, Savage added the convenience of a visible cartridge counter. A small opening on the left side of the receiver displays how many shells were held in the magazine. Very simple but very useful.

300 SAVAGE
Initially chambered in .303 Savage more calibers were introduced for the Model 99 over the 100 years of the gun's existence. The .250-3000 caliber introduced in 1913 was the first commercial sporting cartridge to exit the barrel at 3000 feet per second and resulted in skyrocketing sales.. But it was the short action .300 Savage introduced in 1920 that became number one for the company for the next six plus decades. Based on a short .30-06 it became not only a popular deer rifle but also could be found on many elk hunts as well. And it was this cartridge that helped lay the groundwork for the development of the modern day .308 caliber.
Somewhat inferior to the .30-06 it is still more than ample power for most of the big game animals that we intend to hunt. Ballistically the .300 Savage 150 grain SuperX Power Point by Winchester leaves the muzzle at 2630 feet per second(fps) and with energy of 2303 foot pounds(ft-lbs) while the same bullet in the .30-06 caliber produces 2920 fps and 2839 ft-lbs. However when compared to the .30-30 Winchester lever which attains a velocity of 2390 fps with 1902 ft-lbs the .300 Savage delivers significantly more punch. All this from a gun and cartridge that has been around for 85 years.
As I headed north on Route 87 all this information was running through my mind and when I pulled in to the Mount Royal Plaza and walked into Instant Replay Sports I knew that the only tests that this Savage 99 had to pass before I bought it were Ñ how it looked cosmetically and most importantly, how it felt. But even before I touched it I could see it standing in the rack, and Gary didn't exaggerate its condition; it was excellent. And when I shouldered it and sighted in on a mounted 10-point buck hanging on the wall of the store. Gary smiled and asked, ''Check or credit card.''
Bright and early the next morning I was at the range and using the Bushnell 1.5-4 powered scope that came with the rifle I placed the first three shots I took touching the edges of the bullseye. That was good enough for me and that afternoon I watched the sun set sitting atop an oak cover ridge overlooking a cedar swamp. Unfortunately I never did see a deer but come January there is a very good chance that this Savage will be sighting in on a wild boar at the Old Stone Fence Ranch in Rensselaer Falls.