Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Marble sights for Savage 99?

My 99 already has a newer Marble peep tang sight on it. I am thinking about replacing the original front sight with a florescent orange Marble contour front sight to increase visibility for hunting. Another idea is to install a folding rear sight for short range shooting, 50 yds. or less. As it is, I have trouble focusing on the front sight at long distances, but figure for eastern woods, I can get away with using a peep. At some time I may have to drill and tap the Savage, but I really do not want to do that. What kind of sight set-up do you use on your 99. I just got this gun last week, so first I will get to the range and see how the existing sights work. It looks like a previous owner took out the elevator on the rear sight to have enough room to see over the rear sight. But still it sticks up enough to be visible through the peep. I am just trying to get a practical set-up for hunting.

Skip the drill and tap, there's lots of 99's out there that are already d&t and you're better off selling that one and buying one of those.

I think you'll like the peep, though I'd get a smith to yank the rear sight and either put in a blank or put in a folding sight.

I'm out here in the great wide open spaces of the prairie, so I hunt with 3-9x scopes on mine. But I've got peeps on several, and I do like to put vintage peep sights on the older rifles. For the newer ones (late 40's on up) I don't mind having a newer receiver sight on them.

Blair, A florescent front sight sounds like a good way to make the gun work for you without permanently altering your gun. I have wondered myself about fiberoptic front sights with a peep sight. If you do it , let us know how you like it.
Gary

Hey Blair,

I've got a post mil Saddle Gun in .308 with a receiver sight and a fiber optic front. Its probably the fastest thing I have to get on target. I have several other guns set up the same way, but nothing seems to jump to my shoulder like that '99. Now if I could just bring myself to do it to a pre-mil....

Doug

I recently put a williams fiber optic front bead and williams peep on an early e .303. I have shot it a few times. It is very bright and my old eyes focus better if I make sure both eyes are open. The 26'' barrel on my 30-30 a has a wider blade up front that is easy to see. I think I will be real happy with that bright red bead on the .303.

HR.
I sent a Couple P.M.s Did Ya Get??
Steve

I put the new Mable's tang sight on a 1957 F that came to me with the factory sights and a Tasco on see-thru mounts. I tried using the factory metalic sights, but with poor results. At the same time I put on a new front bead, I forget if it is Williams or Marbles. I meant to order the 1/16", but accidentally ordered the 3/32" bead. After trying it, I decided to leave the big bead on that rifle. I wouldn't want it on all my rifles, but it seems to work well with that tang sight and rifle. I put away the factory sight so they could go with the rifle if it ever goes. Before the sight change I had a difficult time geting a three shot group under three inches at 100yds, but now 1-1/2 is expected, with the occasional 1".

When I take off the original rear sight (and sometimes the front), I wrap them up in VCI paper and stuff them in the butt stock hole, along with a note telling anything I know about the particular rifle. With a string tied around the bundle and hanging out the hole but still under the butt plate. I didn't do that early on and one time had a hell of a time getting the package out when I needed to get to the stock screw.

D,
Could you possibly make that sound more perverse?

If I had thought about it, probably

We all know where your mind is....

Hey, Midway USA has a Merit Corp. adjustable aperture for a good chunk of change, maybe $60. Is it worth it? Maybe just take out the aperture and shoot through the screw hole for hunting.