Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Cost to rebarrel 99E

I got a chance to buy a savage 99E in 308 for $300. Bluing is actually pretty nice on it wood not so much. I’ve got a very early production rifle in 300 savage that is factory so no scope. I don’t want to mess with that one but the E I’d like to re-barrel. An old take off would be fine. Living in Illinois the most use it would get would be deer (straight wall only) so only the 375 Winchester. I also shoot yotie an such. So a 22-250 I already have or a 243. Id imagine the 375 probably would be alot of work but the 243 or 22-250 wouldn’t be bad. Can some one provide me with a little advice and who you would have do it?

PM sent.

I would buy the 300$ 99e many options with that platform.

Missedbycrachey I am interested at what you would charge to fit a blank barrel and the cost of a factory take off you would fit.

Morgan12,

Technically in IL, you can’t have more than one round in the chamber and magazine combined for deer season. I don’t even know how you could that in a 99?

ctw, I don't do a lot of work with blank barrels, I fit many Savage 110 barrels to the 99 receiver, primarily for caliber changes. That conversion starts at $250 plus the barrel. I do keep an inventory of 99 barrels; they range in price from 100 to 300 or more. The 110 barrels are generally less, often around 100.

BTW, I just finished a 450 BM based on a 99 C in 308 using a 284 clip. I say finished, but the 3rd round does not always feed correctly, so more clip mods may be necessary. The receiver mod was similar to that required to convert the 308 C to 284, which I had done previously.

Sam

One of the best shooting and performing Savage 99's I ever had was a post mil 300 Savage with a shot out barrel I got super cheap at a gun show. I had JES rebore it to .358 Winchester. All he had to do was mod the rotor slightly for it to function perfectly with the rebore. The guys at the range could not believe how well it shot. Super Accurate. The .358 outperforms the .308 in almost every category. That is a rock solid option.

If you are limited to straight wall cartridges only, I love my Savage 99C in 450 Bushmaster.

I had a new barrel put on an F, bout 250 for a Shilen barrel, 300 for installation as I recall. Have you thought about a 338 Federal, love mine. CTW did a wonderful job on mine

Looks like no complaints from the critters!

Sam
Fitting the110barrel requires threading, whatever chamber work, cartridge guide and extractor cuts, and a dovetail for the forend essentially you are starting with a blank. 250 is very reasonable.
What barrel did you use for the BM? My experience with that cartridge in a c was it would feed from the left side of the clip but not the right

Still think it may be possible to start with a pre mill and make it a 3 shot 450 but no time to experiment

I used a 110 takeoff barrel, ball milled additional relief in the 308 receiver, just as I had done for the 308/284, welded a small segment from a 1/2" thinwall tube to the right side of the clip to extend its lip forward about 5/16". The clip mod makes the first cartridge behave perfectly, the second cartridge is a no brainer, and the 3rd works ok if you operate the lever quickly. Increasing the spring tension on the clip helps with the 3rd shot, but also causes uncommanded regurgitation of the first 2 at times. Slow operation of the lever sometimes causes a jam on the 3rd shot, easily corrected by opening slightly and closing crisply. I played a bit with changing the follower profile, but can't say it helped much. Interestingly enough, I took this one to the field yesterday and simulated running shots, and shot it empty without ever thinking about it jamming. I could hunt with this one, but am not ready to put my name on it yet.

Starting with a pre mil has advantages in terms of both availability of parent rifles and magazine length. Big challenge is the carrier. I decided to experiment with a 5 round carrier to see how many of the fatter cases could be accommodated just by grinding away portions of the dividers. The answer was 2. I may look at brazing a 3rd divider, leading to making a new carrier, either by CNC or 3D printing. There is also a magazine cavity issue which I solved with judicious grinding. I also want to look at using a 284 carrier in the shorter action, but that will have to wait for another day. My plate is just too full.

Thanks for starting this conversation; I do enjoy dialogue with people who have been there and done that.

Regards,

Sam Hurt

Just curious, Could you rebarrel a 300 to 7-08? theres a ton of 300's around. Wondering if the rotary mag would cycle? .20" bullet length difference.

If the serial number is over 900,000 you can test load and feeding before rebarreling. Just see if you load the magazine with 7-08's, and then work the lever - but only allow the 7-08 to go halfway in the chamber. Then open the lever and the round will eject without ever fully chambering.

If the serial number is under 900,000... then no. The internals are built for shorter cartridges than the 243/308/358/7-08/etc. None of those will fit in the magazine.