History of the Savage Model 99

The older 99 design, the original, has a real simple trigger to sear to striker arrangement.
The engagement surface betw the sear and the striker is not a sharply cut notch as is normally found in most firearms mechanisms.

It is simply a flat surface on each pressing against each
other. This surface is at 90* to the spring loaded forward direction that the striker travels to hit the primer.

Pulling the trigger pulls the sear downward,,sliding it's surface away from the strikers surface. When the sear is clear of the striker,,the striker goes forward and fires the cartridge.

How smooth the two surfaces are and how long their engagement determines much of the trigger pull felt my the shooter. Some is also determined by the trigger return spring.
Lightening the striker spring is a common way to get a lighter pull on these but it doesn't shorten the pull any as that engagement surface stays the same and might get you some misfires for your efforts.

Shortening the engagement length of the sear is the usual quick fix.
A trip to the grinder and some matr'l removed from the tip of the sear to make that surface shorter seems to be an obvious fix. Fix 'er right up for ya...
The problem is that when the rifle action is levered closed,,the sear and the striker surfaces do not engage and stay in one position.
They engage and then the sear slides downward off of the striker lessening the overall engagement. Remember the striker is in the bolt and the bolt rises as the lever is closed to lock into the frame.
That upward movement of the bolt to lock into the frame draws the striker up with it.
That's when the two surfaces, though engaged, slide down one another.

It is designed to be a somewhat long engaged trigger pull.
Taking an eyeball amt off the top of that sear can and often does result in the rifle firing by itself as it is closed and locked.
The shorten sear runs out of engagement surface from being shortened and allows the striker to drop as the lever is closed.
Time for a new sear or to rebuild the old one back to where you were.

The newer trigger system (I think they are post 1 million ser#) they have a different sear in them. The trigger is shaped different and engages the sear all together differently.
The sear is called the 'sear bracket assembly' in these and is a large complicated looking part now. Made of stamped, folded and riveted assembly it directly engages the slightly redesigned striker in what you would expect to see as a sear and sear notch type engagement to hold the striker cocked.
With this arrangement, a crisp, clean trigger pull can be had with proper adjustment and knowledge.

The older design of drag the sear and striker surfaces accross each other till the sear releases the striker are gone. They could be adjusted to be quite a good trigger pull,,they were a hunting rifle after all.
But were never intended to be the very light 'breaking glass' type pull a lot of shooters of today demand no matter what the rifle is used for.

John's article was in 2014 and I doubt any of this will matter to that, but anytime Savage 99's are talked about, it's an interesting read.
Thanks for all the new pics too.

I have one left, an 1899 C Grade in 30-30 That's the 1/2 oct version.
(B grade was full oct.,,A grade was the full round bbl.)
I should shoot it more. They are great rifles.
 
Totally off topic, but I love how the ‘old’ Leupold turned a subtle shade of gloss Plum, from black. You can see in one of the pics. I wasn’t born till ‘71. So it’s all ‘vintage’, to me. LOL. Makes me a ‘kid’ here, I suppose. Respect thine elders, and their good stuff.
 
Classic Michigan deer rifle, mine's from '41 in .300 Savage

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So my dad's Savage 99 was a takedown model chambered for the 300.. first centerfire rifle I ever shot....I shoot left handed, and I wanted that rifle so bad, that dad left it to my younger brother. Years later I found a duplicate, so now I have one.

Robert
 
John;

You are a jewel! You write about "the good stuff." We're grateful that we can be guinea pigs for your efforts.

Love the Savage 99. One of my favorite rifles though I only have a single mid-1950s Model 99 in .300 Savage. I sure could pursue yet another collecting tangent if I ever allow myself to gather up Savage Model 99s.

Only the .30-06 has collected more deer for me than the .300 Savage, a cartridge which works a treat on whitetail deer here in Texas. The Savage 99 was the first sporting center fire rifle I ever acquired, buying the rifle used sometime around 1977.

I've read that Savage was trying to mimic original .30-06 150 grain service load ballistics when they brought out the .300 Savage in 1920. At 2700 feet-per-second with a 150 grain load, the .300 Savage cartridge manages that. Of course the .30-06 has been juiced up since then.

The .300 Savage can be improved upon as well. A published load found in an older manual finds a 150 grain bullet giving 2805 fps over the chronograph screens from my 24-inch Savage 99 barrel. Deer can't tell the difference between it and the .308 ... or the .30-06 for that matter.



The rifle'll shoot too. It's unfussy about most loads using 125 to 180 grain bullets with full charges and will group well with most all of them. Here's a 100 yard effort with 150 grain Sierra spitzer boat tails and IMR 4895.
 
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