Savage 99 only cocking when held vertical?

[dand883]

Hi Guys,
A friend of mine is looking at getting one of the old lever guns from savage, but he said he was told that if it was held horizontal like you would normally carry it that the firing pin would stick out, and that you had to point the muzzle at the sky when you #### it.

I'm not familiar at all with how these guns work, but at first glance it sounds like it might be a firing pin return spring?

Is this a common thing with these rifles?

If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated.

 

[tiriaq]

No, it is not a common thing with these rifles. Not at all. Obviously the rifle is defective.
Remove the buttstock and inspect the mechanism to see what is wrong. Determine what needs to be done.
If he cannot do that, he is buying a rifle with a potentially dangerous defect. If it is really, really cheap, it might be worth buying as a project.

 

[trevj]

I had a Browning Trombone that had a similar issue, the root cause was a piece broken off the firing pin. Sounds like a strip down and some replacement parts is in order.

Pay accordingly, if you are willing to risk that it is something more unrepairable.

Cheers
Trev

 

[gunrunner100]

Years back, I had someone do some "file work" on their 99 to make the trigger pull a little lighter. This person filed too much and made the rifle unsafe and it would slam fire occassionally. Luckily for him, I had the parts and was able to correct his faux pas.
As Tiriaq points out, remove the buttstock and have it inspected by someone familiar with these rifles.