Future Savage 99 project: Rebarrel or not to rebarrel?

hifiwasabi

hifiwasabi

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I live in a giant bucket.
Having only recently shouldered a 99 for the first time, I've decided I need to have one in my life...once the Christmas bills are paid. Having seen how uncommon .243's and .250-3000's are, I fired an e-mail off to Ellwood Epps for an estimate to change a .300 or .308 barreled 99 to a .260 Remington, so that I can hunt coyotes down here and deer up north. The estimate was $550 for the labour and associated parts, which sounded to be about the norm from what research I've compiled, which puts total cost at around the $800-900 mark if the rest of the rifle is in good shape and well bought. The question I'm mulling over, is it worth it to monkey with changing barrels or would it be better to just post a want ad on EE?

I've already got a 7600 in .243 and I really like the caliber, but I also appreciate the lineage of the .250. The .260 however would give me a little extra confidence at long range though, and if I ever get into reloading (it's probably an inevitability), one can neck up .243 brass to .260, as the .250 and .260 are running around $35-40 a box right now. As I said earlier, this will be an eventuality, unless someone is willing to part with a really nice 99 in the aforementioned calibers for a blowout price, my wallet may oblige :p

Sean
 
my dad usto talk about the days on the farm when his uncle had a 250. He had only great things to say about it

I've been looking over 25 years for an affordable one .... plenty of 300's and 308's come for sale, but rarely ever a 250

thought of doing exactly what your thinking... with the rotary mag model, but it turns out to be one of those far off dreams for me


good luck
 
The 250's aren't exactly unobtainium. I see a slight premium on some of them but still far cheaper than your proposed project, and there's usually several available at most gun shows. If you get one in good shape they're a sweet shooter. The 243 isn't impossible to get either. My vote is for hunt and advertise to get what you want, not scarce enough to warrant a build.
P.S. they were also chambered in 257 Roberts if you want to widen your search a little, another perfect little calibre for what you need.
 
the 308 does run at a higher pressure than the 300 sav .

I don't know if they did anything different to the receivers , but I would be looking for a 308 rifle to rebarrel to 260 .


I would also keep the old barrel ( sometimes gunsmiths like to hang on to them ) just so you have all the original parts if you choose to go back sometime in the future .
 
waste of time and money.
buy a 250-3000 in good condition. They are not scarce.
The later models have faster twist barrels for heavier bullets
If brass is an issue just neck up 22-250 brass. 250-3000 is the parent case.
.243's are a little harder to find because not as many were produced, but they can be found.
Expect to pay a little more because of it.
I passed on 2 last year.

years ago I bought a Savage 99 22-250 barrel from GunpartsCorp for $99...wish it was still possible without doubling the price for middle men
 
If Middlesex county had a rifle hunt for deer, I'd have just bought a .308 and be done with it. I need to stay under .277" for small game so that rules out 7-08. It's good to know that 22-250 brass can be formed for .250, but again, I don't reload...yet. How common is .250 in factory loadings, and what grains have you guys run across?

Sean
 
I really like the idea of a 99 in .260, and have been thinking about just such a custom build for a few years now. Not practical I know, but I'm also thinking a nicely figured walnut stock, a reblue, and re-do of the color case hardening on the lever. The easiest way would be a to have a .243 rebored/rechambered. I had a 99c rebored to .358W a few years ago, but much prefer the rotary mag to the detachable. I just haven't found the right donor rifle to jump into the .260 project yet ... and of course, the find would have to coincide with appropriate balance in the play money account.
 
The .250-300 with faster twist would be OK. Don't know when this changed. The .257 will handle up to 130 Gr. bullets if you can find one. Excellent cartridge. I have one in a Remington .722 and it has dropped every deer I have done my part on. Used to use it a lot on varmints in S.ON. Now I live in N.ON the hunting season is closed in summertime. Go Figure!
 
That's unfortunate there isn't a summer season for you, a lot of guys from down here that I talk to go up to Manitoulin for deer, most of them covet their 30-06's, but I do like the smaller calibers. Anyone know when the .250 got the faster twist? Also, are the serial numbers easy to decode for dating? Also also, what do the different letter designations refer to? (Eg. A, C , E)
 
pretty sure that when they went tang safety the twist changed as well.
Remington has always had a 100gr offering in 250Sav afaik.
You can go to Savage 99 dot com to figure out dates...and a few other things.
 
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