I do not honestly know how many lever guns I have owned, but it has to be closing in on a hundred. Marlins, Winchesters, Savages, Brownings, lots of models and lots of chamberings.
The shortest stroke that I know of is the Browning BL-22 with a thirty-three degree stroke, and it is both fast and slick, a nice little rifle.
Between a Savage 99 and a BLR, without having them in my hands yes I would say that the 99 stroke is shorter. BUT (and this is a large BUT), there are relatively few 99s that are as smooth as the BLRs, so I would say that the BLR is faster. For all practical purposes, however, there is no difference at all between any of them.
Yes, a 99 will generally let you know that you have squeezed the trigger, and yes that is for most folks an issue of stock design and fit. For me, the worst are the Marlin 336s, which do not fit me at all and so I have to take my cheek off the stock to get a sight picture - and that increases recoil to my cheek and contributes to poor accuracy..........
Doug