Nice example of a rifle made of steel and walnut. I only have one Savage, a 99 made in 1915, chambered in the first year of the 250/3000. I still carry the old gal to the woods sometimes in the fall. She was rough when I got her but the barrel is ok inside and she will do 2" at 100 yards if I do my part. OK for woods whitetails in the Appalachians as most shots wind up be less that 60 yards in my part of the world.
That’s one of the two best 22 HPs I have ever seen. I never owned one, in fact I use to turn them down because of ammo issue. I did get to shoot one once with cast bullets. The .228 made it an orphan. Cartridge very similar to 219 Zipper. The HP also called the Imp. It was said coastal Indians liked the HP for seal & walrus. The bullet would wipe out their computer chip with head shot and they wouldn’t make it into water. The Savage 99 is a fine rifle as well made as a Winchester of the period. Savage went down the tubes in 80s taking 99s with them. The last ones they made were junk.
Now the older 99s have collector status and it’s hard to find one in decent condition for less than $500, a nice one goes $1K.
I'd like to have a Savage .22 HP. I gravitate toward guns chambered in obsolete calibers. The only Savage 99 I now have is a takedown model in .303 Savage.
I have always believed that Winchester never made a lever action rifle which could withstand comparison to a Savage 99, at least the older ones. About a year back, there was a guy at the local gun show trying to liquidate a fairly sizable collection of maybe 20 or so nice-condition 99s. I don't think he sold many, if any, mainly because he had them priced at what they were worth, which was too much for anyone who wasn't a serious Savage 99 collector. I considered making an offer to him for all of them but didn't as I just didn't have anyplace to store them.
I went to Shooters Paradise in Shamokin Dam, Pa. in 1964, that had a 219 Zipper I wanted, It was gone by the time I got there and the store owner talked me into a Hi power. He sold me a box of Sisk 70 grain bullets and 30 MT cases. I kept that 99 until the early 80s then someone offered me $200 for a rifle I paid $35. Big mistake, I always regretted selling it. I took that rifle with me when I was stationed in Spain and Germany, never had a problem getting ammo in Europe because it was a popular caliber there.
SWCA 892
It's been a long time since U. S. ammo manufacturers have loaded .22 HP, but it is still available from S&B. I have seen that it was a fairly popular chambering for various European drillings and combination guns. Not so good for use in bolt action rifles due to its having a rim. Some of the specialty manufacturers still sell .228 bullets, but I don't think the majors make them.
That's a fine looking Savage. I'm a big fan of the rifle, both of mine in the pedestrian .300. A thing to consider is if you reload for it, and that's the only way you're going to go if you shoot it, the bullets are not standard .224. Can't remember what: .225?
That early Savage polish and charcoal blue on the frames was something else.
Beautiful rifle!
I never had a 22HP caliber rifle. I came close one time when I bought a large canvas bag of jacketed .228 soft point bullets made by a small independent bullet maker,,probably from the 40's or 50's.
The bag was full and unopened and marked quantity '500'.
I paid $8.00 for the bag. I did open it to inspect them and they were in perfect condition.
I set out to find and buy a Sav 99 in 22HP.
Think I could find a nice one?.
I finally put the bag of bullets on Ebay and it went for some crazy price.
Still no 22HP but I do have a single shot in 22Vierling. That's .228 also. No bullets now.
.22 HP is very popular or at least it was as the rifle caliber in Euro Drillings and some light weight single shot break open rifles.
Good caliber for Big Kittys too!
I have formed 22hp. It’s not bad if you anneal necks first. If you don’t and try one step with 22hp dies the area of shoulders will corrugate. As far as ammo & bullets for odd ball and obsolete cartridges we are better off now that anytime before. The new hi tech stuff allows short runs that weren’t cost effective for conventional processes.
Still computers that are suppose to give us more choices are killing us on ammo & components. Cartridges like 35Rem, 250 Sav, 25/20 are getting harder to find without custom ordering. $1@ is nothing for brass anymore.
The companies can run Para military cartridges and sell to their harts content, they are going to loose time on shut down to change tooling for a less popular cartridge. In factory ammo they make up for in with lines of specialty ammo. Got to have whitetail ammo for deer, gummy tip for levers and that old favorite Zombie loads.
I like odd calibers and form my own cases for them if possible. Most every obsolete case or cartridge is available somewhere if you don't mind paying the price. Over 10 years ago I was visiting the Remington, Winchester, and Federal ammo factories frequently as part of my job. On one of my visits to Federal they were making a run of .35 Remington ammo. They made one run per year of it in a quantity to meet the projected next year's demand. Also, Remington was making one run per year of .30 Remington, cases only, for reloaders and custom loaders. I don't think they even do that anymore.
I recently got to see one of them. My SIL had a friend that had just inherited it when his Grampa passed.It had spent most of it's life in Mexico just across the border near me.
It was really neat, because down through the years the front sight was lost or broken, and some Mexican had sawed a small silver coin in about half and soldered it on the barrel, then filed the top kinda flat. You could make out a little of the Spanish writing on the coin. I did some research and found the kid a box of shells made somewhere in Europe. He was a happy camper and it was kind of fun imagining the stories that old Savage could have told.
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