Savage 99s like this 99-R were hammerless lever actions chambered for high-intensity cartridges, and because they fed from rotary—and later detachable box magazines, they could safely shoot spitzer bullets. (Photo submitted by the author)
August 02, 2024
By Payton Miller
Savage’s signature Model 99 boasted a 99-year production run, with more than a million units made. During that span, it served as the launching pad for an array of proprietary chamberings: .22 Hi-Power, .300 and .303 Savage, and the .250-3000. Toward the end of its run, the Model 99 was also chambered to such competitive short-action standbys as the .243 Win., 7mm-08 Rem., .308 Win. and .358 Win.
If you’ve ever done any research on the Model 99, you’ve probably been somewhat befuddled by the avalanche of lettered ID suffixes after the “99”: C, DE, RS, T and many others. They all mean something. They indicate the degree of embellishment, whether the variant in question was a takedown or solid frame, whether it featured a tang-mounted receiver sight or was drilled and tapped for scope mounts—or, toward the end of its production life, whether it featured a rotary or detachable box magazine. Within each lettered designation, there were variations as to barrel length, barrel configuration and stock style, not to mention caliber. To attempt to explain them all would take far more space than we have, so in the interest of something approaching brevity, let’s take a look at this specimen: a 22-inch barreled 99-R in .250-3000 with a serial number indicating a manufacturing date of 1935.
The 99-R The 99-R was produced from 1932 to 1960, a respectable run of 28 years. Somewhere along the line, someone had elected to mount a nice Weaver K 2.5X with a post-and-crosshair reticle on the rifle, and it remained that way when it was snatched up by my shooting buddy, Doug Fee.
(Info submitted by the author) According to Jay Kimmel’s excellent Savage & Stevens Arms (1990), an excerpt from the 1939 Savage catalog describes the 99-R as follows: “Solid Frame. Tapered medium-weight round barrel. Raised ramp front sight base. Special large stock and fore-end of selected walnut, oil finish, corrugated steel butt plate of shotgun design. Full pistol grip stock. Fine checkering on grip and forearm. Adjustable Semi-Buckhorn rear sight and gold bead front sight. Matted trigger. Weight about 71⁄4 pounds. The Model 99-R has been designed to meet the demands of expert riflemen requiring a solid-frame rifle of extreme accuracy. An Ideal deer rifle. Model 99-R solid frame…$53.50.”
Advertisement
By 1956, according to a period catalog, the suggested retail price of the 99-R was $109—still below the price of some of the higher grades. It was one of the first 99s to feature a beefier, rounded fore-end as opposed to the flat, slender schnabel tipped fore-end of previous iterations. This aspect, along with the pistol grip and supplied sling swivels, is what sets it apart as an “R” model.
Its streamlined, hammerless design featured a shorter lock time than the traditional tubular-magazine Winchester and Marlin lever guns of the day. The trigger on this sample was three pounds with the crispness you’d expect from a bolt action. The rifle could handle high-intensity cartridges, and early rifles featured a rotary magazine with a small round-count window. It also had a visible/tactile cocking indicator atop the bolt. The safety is a small, latch-like unit situated in the rear of the trigger guard. Later guns had a sliding tang safety.
Competition When Introduced At the time the Model 99 was introduced, the only competition it had in what you could call the “modern” lever-gun category was from the 1895 Winchester. Later of course came the Model 88 Winchester, Sako Finnwolf and Browning BLR.
Advertisement
At the range, this 99-R proved to be a solid gun. Recoil with 100-grain bullets was minimal, even with the curved buttplate that lacks any sort of recoil pad. Accuracy was gratifying. At 80 yards the best three-shot effort measured 0.75 inches. But performance aside, the Model 99 has a special quality that most gun guys will recognize. You see one, you want to pick it up and work the action—and, if circumstances permit, shoot the thing.
Ultimately, increased production costs and worn-out machinery were the two main factors that doomed the model. In 1965, the company introduced the Model 99-C, which replaced the classic rotary magazine with a detachable box magazine as a cost-cutting measure. It was reintroduced for two years in the late 1990s in .243 and .308, right before the Model 99’s chapter in American sporting rifles finally closed. Be that as it may, the 99’s sleek hammerless design and instantly recognizable configuration can probably be best described as “timelessly futuristic” in much the same way as the P08 Luger and C96 Mauser Broomhandle.
True believers are still paying tall dollars for Model 99s. I’ve seen Savage 99-Rs in .358 go for well over $2,000. But most in the more common proprietary chambering—such as this .250-3000—run from around $800 to $1,500. Minty specimens, naturally, can go higher.
