Savage 1899 in 303

igojuone

igojuone

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Need some help in valuing this rifle, thanks in advance. As seen in the photos a repair to the stock has been made by the looks many years ago. Don't know if the rotary mag is special, drilled for a sight, barrel length is 24 3/4 and serial number is 108998.

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The serial number dates the rifle to 1910. The rotary mag was the Savage 1899's claim to fame. They didn't come with a box mag till much later.

Value is a little more difficult to determine. The bluing looks to be about 50%. I can't really tell from pics. There are many handling marks on most of the metal as well as a fair amount of patina. These all detract from the value.

The stock repairs do not help either. The foreend looks original, but I can't be sure. The buttstock is less likely to be original as it should have a crescent buttplate. This has a shotgun buttplate that leads me to believe it was either cut or the entire stock was replaced. Also it doesn't sit tightly to the receiver, which is never a good sign. If it is original the serial number should be stamped on the butt plate, butt stock, and forend.

All this considered (and the fact that I'm no expert) along with current retail prices, I wouldn't expect more than $400 at the highest.

That said, it's likely a great shooter and a fascinating experiment for the handloader.
 
I'm not a Savage man, but you can see that the barrel has been cut back as well. It should have came with a 26" barrel. You can tell though by seeing how close that front sight is to the muzzle.
Matt
 
I bought mine in this sort of condition for $100 (albeit with original barrel length) played with it, refurbished it and took a couple of deer with it and eventually sold it on for $250, with a cheap scope. Took a long time to sell!
 
In agreement with p53Enfield. Have one similar to yours but with curved rifle butplate in 30-30, picked it up for 100 bucks last year.

Sadly those guns arent worth much, which is odd for how well they are made and how they handle. If you put a tang sight on that, and reloaded for it you would the slickest handling, deer shooting guns around.

Just because it dont have a collector value doesn't mean you dont have a gem of a rifle there.
 
I have one. The .303 Savage rd was very popular in the 1950's and 60's however this rd is expensive and hard to find these days. This rifle is actually a military one in concept and there is full wood and bayonet version out there..somewhere...please someone tell me where!? Anyhow; It was felt that the lever would be problematic for an infantryman shooting prone so it was passed over in favour of the...??? {can't recall}. All said and done these rifles are fantastic and back in the day were responsible for taking a lot of Ontario White Tail. {and the rotary mag is just cool }.
Mine has the "Crescent Butt" but I do recall that later versions did come with a Savage 99 "Shotgun Butt". Yours may have been replaced, but if so it was replaced with a Savage stock no doubt about it...the "cheeks" are way too distinctive.
I say fix it, reload for it, and shoot it! :D
 
plinker 777 said:
I have one. The .303 Savage rd was very popular in the 1950's and 60's however this rd is expensive and hard to find these days. This rifle is actually a military one in concept and there is full wood and bayonet version out there..somewhere...please someone tell me where!? Anyhow; It was felt that the lever would be problematic for an infantryman shooting prone so it was passed over in favour of the...??? {can't recall}. All said and done these rifles are fantastic and back in the day were responsible for taking a lot of Ontario White Tail. {and the rotary mag is just cool }.
Mine has the "Crescent Butt" but I do recall that later versions did come with a Savage 99 "Shotgun Butt". Yours may have been replaced, but if so it was replaced with a Savage stock no doubt about it...the "cheeks" are way too distinctive.
I say fix it, reload for it, and shoot it! :D
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.303 savage is a awesome cast bullet round :) it was popular in the 50's and 60's for one reason it could be formed from .303 brit brass and that was in high supply as most of the surplus brass is boxer (i got about 200 i bought off a guy a bit back he had more of the ammo i told him it was worth more loaded because its almost gone)
 
antiqueguy said:
.303 savage is a awesome cast bullet round :) it was popular in the 50's and 60's for one reason it could be formed from .303 brit brass and that was in high supply as most of the surplus brass is boxer (i got about 200 i bought off a guy a bit back he had more of the ammo i told him it was worth more loaded because its almost gone)
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Actually I just ordered some new stuff (.303 Savage) from Canada Ammo a few days ago. Not a bad deal really if you factor in free shipping and good re-loadable brass. Check out their web site. Just leave some for me ok:p I plan on having them send me another shipment in a few weeks.

OP. My rifle has about an inch of barrel in front of the front sight and your rifle most likely had a Lyman rear aperture flip up sight on the wrist like mine. That's what the screw holes are for rather than a scope mount.
 
plinker 777 said:
Actually I just ordered some new stuff (.303 Savage) from Canada Ammo a few days ago. Not a bad deal really if you factor in free shipping and good re-loadable brass. Check out their web site. Just leave some for me ok:p I plan on having them send me another shipment in a few weeks.

OP. My rifle has about an inch of barrel in front of the front sight and your rifle most likely had a Lyman rear aperture flip up sight on the wrist like mine. That's what the screw holes are for rather than a scope mount.
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no i was talking about mk7 ball .303 brit ammo up there yeah theres still alot of .303 savage being made not even a real need to form brass

id give cast a try in a .303 savage if its anything like .303 brit and cast it should work out well
 
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