Ralphie grows up.
I have always been a big fan of the Savage 99. I consider it to be the pinnacle of sporting levergun design, and  one of the loveliest, to my eye. And it came in such a variety of calibers, though sadly, none of them are currently deer legal in Indiana.
It is my opinion that the 99 represents the Savage high water mark, a very nice rifle that showed the world the capabilities of Savage. Since then they have sort of become the company of beechwood and plastic stocked Walmart rifles. Sure, they’re great shooters and any rifle is better than no rifle, but never since have they made better engineered nor prettier guns.
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So it gives me some pause to find a very nice rifle in great condition that has been treated in this way.
I have to presume that the individual who did this may have taken his cue from the old Daisy Buck Jones rifle made famous by Jean Shepherd, but the Daisy rifle was made out of stamped sheet metal and brass, and the Savage is casehardened tool steel- a LOT of it. I assume the guy set the compass down on the stock to decide where he wanted it. He had to mark the place where he would drill the hole. Â
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You would have thought, that one time in that whole process, he would notice that the compass always points to the receiver.
*grins* Don’t much care for compasses doing anything but compassing. Don’t like them set into knife handles, or whistles, or zipper pulls.
Every so often you hear a rumor that Savage will re-introduce the 99, but it never happens.
One little Savage I lusted for as a young teen was the 24C, the carbine-length combo rifle/shotgun with storage space in the butt for extra shells and cartridges. It came chambered in .22LR over 20-gauge, probably the most intelligent of all possible pairings for a combo gun.
yeah, I always loved the little 24’s, and damned if they arent’ the most expesive used Savages you can find, these days. Weird because it’s illegal to even have one of the damned things hunting in Indiana.
This guy with the compass in the stock is probably one of those who sat in science class and thought “Why are we learning this stuff. When will I ever use it?”
Oh yeah, I agree, the Savage 99 is one of the coolest rifles ever built. You can have one with any of several different stock styles chambered in any of several different cartridges – many being Savage proprietary cartridges that are very cool by themselves. You get a lever action, a rotary magazine, a cartridge counter, color case hardening, blued steel, walnut …. you can probably see that these rifles really appeal to me.
I have one that was built in the ’50’s and chambered in .300 Savage. It has a shotgun butt and a Schnabel forend stock. A Lyman All American scope sits atop the receiver. I love to carry that rifle in the forest.
Slash, we have almost exactly the same rifle and the same vintage, though mine has a Weaver 4 power. Beautifully made rifle that has only a few rounds through it. I missed buying one in .250 Savage years ago, and always regret not putting it on layaway when I saw it. It wasn’t there when I came back to do just that, darn it.
Does that price tag say $899.00? Wow.
LOL, obviously NOT someone familiar with how compasses really work… :-D And it’s a shame he screwed up a perfectly good piece of furniture!
I have a pair of 99s now, a 1930s 99F in 300 Savage (about on a par with .308 Winchester), and my newer 99E, a 1961 in the then-new 308 Winchester. I’ve owned that rifle since new on my 18th birthday, and it has a Weaver K4 scope.
BTW, the E-models had no round-counters, no caps on the stock, a different, not-schnabelish forend.
BTW, if you know where to get a set of mounts for the 99F which wil take a 40mm scope bell, let me know. Those old Weavers, the usual Savage scope, had a bell that didn’t quite clear the barrel hump in the usual length in modern-day scopes.
I appreciate the compass in the Tippler’s cane my wife got me. Wouldn’t want to get lost trying to find our way home…
— ARRognlie
A good woodworker could pull that and put in a plug.
It wouldn’t match the grain perfectly, of course, but it would look pretty nice.