SHOT SHOW 2011 - The Savage 99 - An interview with the president

I had a nice talk with the President of Savage USA. Albert Kasper President/C.O.O.
He is IMO, a very nice fellow, dedicated, and well informed. Not your typical paper pusher.
He told me that Savage had spent two years, and quite a bit of R&D money trying to work out a way they could bring back the 99.
End result, for the foreseeable future, it's not going to happen. He said it could only be done by making major design changes, and he said that the 99 is an "historical icon", he would not change the 99. "So I killed it".
He said he would not absolutely rule out it's return some day, but right now, it's not a financially viable option.
The way he put it, sounded to me like it won't happen in my lifetime.
He quoted the figures, I didn't write them down, lets just say the sales would have to be astronomical just to break even.

The only good news here was the very glimmer of a hint from him that Savage might develop a completely new lever action design.

He said they were not interested in making clones, or commemorative models based on designs by other companies. "If we come out with something, it will be uniquely Savage"

{quotes above are from my notes and memory, and may not be word for word}

thanks for the news...

99 or nothing imo

I was thinking yesterday that someone must be able to make a solid box fed levergun that can bottle the pressures of magnums without looking like the BLR ( ugggly )

Damn. The 99 is the finest lever.

That's sad news. The 99 is a sweet rifle.

How old is model 99?I'm getting an old lever action savage from one of my dads old hunting buddies,its probably 40 to 50 years old.he is giving it to me because it was my dads,it is a .300 savage that's all he told me.could it be a model 99?

Most likely a 99.

I am going down to the safe to hug my 99.

the model 99 is with out a doubt the finest lever action ever made.I got my dads model 99 when he passed away. He purchased the 99 back inthe mid 60's and at that time the owner had the rifle for about 20 yrs before he sold it.

Thanks for asking for me Bob. Would have liked to talk to Ron myself but had to be in Tennessee for some work stuff.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to shoot the bull with him.

I knew the 99 idea was clobbered but I'd love to know what kind of design they have in mind for the new one.

Could probably try Effie down at Savage but she stays pretty tight lipped about stuff that ain't out yet.

When i bought my 99, i thought, "Why in the f*ck did i just buy a Savage?" Then i used it for a hunting season and i'm now officially hooked. I traded in a very slightly used (less than 20 rounds) 1000 dollar rifle (got just shy of 600$ for it ) and i needed a new carbine so i gave the 99 a try. At the time I didn't like Savage. But other than the sights being a bit off, this was one of the best purchases i ever made. Now i'm looking for a nice 99 with a clip in 308 for a truck gun.

I fail to see how Savage could not produce a 99 based on the original design and make a profit.

I have a small collection of them and to me, this is the most interesting lever action ever produced execpt for the Winchester 1895. I'm sure that they have done serious marketing research but nevertheless, like the Win 94 still in production, give me a 99 and I will be a happy camper.

Duke1

PS. I do have a small collection of Win 94 and happy with it.

99's Forever..........

I was in my local gunsmith's place Saturday. He had a new slightly used 250-3000 in a bolt action savage. He says savage is bringing back the old calibers but in bolt action rifles. This may be old news for some of you but I just found this out. Pricey for the 250 bolt over $700.00.
I would personally like to see a 99 back into production. But as stated earlier probably not in this lifetime.

everyone should own one, have great fun with my sav.99 takedown in 22hp, a historic piece

Too bad.

A friend of mine recently picked up an old Savage 99 in .308 (produced some time in the 50's I think) for next to nothing. It was in rough shape, but cleaned up very nicely and boy, does it ever shoot! They're great rifles IMO, too bad they're not putting them into production again.

For whatever reason, I am partial to Savage. I have a 340, stevens 200, model 99, and used to have a model 110 that was stolen. All very good firearms for the money!

Savage new models are all bolt guns this year.
They are:

11/111 Light Weight Hunter
5.5 lbs short action, 6 lbs long

16/116 Bear Hunter
medium weight fluted barrel, polymer stock

Model 25 Walking Varminter:
Trimmed down reduced diameter action made for smaller cartridges.
weight under seven pounds
Calibers include the traditional 223 Rem. And 204 Ruger. New calibers are 22 Hornet, 222 Rem., and 5.7 x 28


Model 12 Long Range Precision.
High end full-profile, fluted heavy barrel, detachable box magazine
blued finish and an HS Precision fiberglass stock
Trigger adjustable down to 6 oz. It is chambered in 243 Win. 6.5 Creedmoor and 260 Rem.


AXIS Stainless:
available in rifle only, or with scope


14/114 American Classic Stainless:
American Walnut stock, long and short action

They have a line of rifles with threaded muzzles for aftermarket brakes or suppressors.

Model 110 Predator Hunter Max 1
in 6.5 x 284 Norma only.

Svage 99 are great guns. Here's mine with my biggest deer yet. My grand pa was really proud of this rifle. He traded his 250-3000 for this one when he began moose hunting. He gave it to me when I was 16. No money can buy it.

duke1 said:

I fail to see how Savage could not produce a 99 based on the original design and make a profit.

Click to expand...

Because there is no tooling existing for the design (some yahoo decided to scrap it after the 99 was discontinued). Many of the 99's were hand matched and fitted together.

New tooling costs would be in the $400K+ range making the 99 stupidly expensive to get a decent ROI (read a few thousand $ per 99).

yhink about the first post for a second here .......

then think about what savage has come out in the last few years in terms of bolt action rifles . these rifles are possiblely the easiest rifles for the regular guy to play with WITHOUT having to spent alot of money .
they are simple well thought out and reliable , and very inexpensive .

i would expect any new bolt action rifle from savage would be based on same concept as their bolt actions .


i grew up with a savage 99 in 300 savage and have a certain fondness for it , but the technology behind it is over 100 years old ..... i'm curious to see what savage might come up with if they start from a blank slate .