BS>Tuesday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go and shoot my "new" Savage 
99.
  >Full "Shooting Report" to follow (within a day or so, whenever I get time 
to
  >write it) but for now, suffice it to say - I'm sold, I'm hooked, this 
Savage
  >99 is the neatest thing since smokeless powder. I only had time to fire
Another toy, congrates!
  >magazine). They chambered kinda "hard", due to having been only neck-sized
  >(and for another rifle, too) but the 99 had no trouble getting them in
  >there. Man, that thing DOES have camming power! Once I figured out where 

If that doesn't work, use a bigger hammer!
  >aim (about a foot low!) the bottles died the usual spectacular death. The
  >trigger's a bit creepy, but I can get used to it. Main problem was I've
  >injured my trigger finger (rope burn, more about that in the "Shooting
  >Report") so it kinda hurt to squeeze the shots off, but I managed. 
Perceived
Louise struggling against the ropes again, huh?  Or did she have you
this time!?!
  >recoil was non-existant (bear in mind that I evaluate all recoil in 
relation
  >to that of the Ruger .45-70 with full-power bear-stimper loads, also these
  >were pretty puny-powered loads).
Must have been as a .308 will kick more than a .45-70.
BS>Then, with the light waning, I filled the mag and stood up to try a 
function
  >test. Fired the first round - and went under the bottle by about a foot.
  >Worked the lever - and got a pleasant surprise. I've become accustomed to
  >Winchester and Marlin lever guns, where you really have to whack that 
ever
  >down *hard* and slap it back up *hard*... with the Savage, MUCH less 
ffort
  >is needed, and I had the first case ejected and the second one chambered
  >almost before I knew what I'd done. Cool! With the second round, I 
corrected
  >my aim, sighted dead-on the bottle, and blew it away. (Gee, another
  >"miracle" - I'd tapped the Winchester rear sight into the Savage's 
dovetail,
  >at home, w/o any attempt at precision - just tried to get it more or less
  >centered, and then stuck the step-elevator piece up under the springleaf
  >base - and yet, here it was "sighted in" for 50yds with full-power ammo.
Good deal!
  >This sort of thing happens to me with greater regularity than can be
  >dismissed to mere coincidence... must be a gift). Levered again (easy as
  >pie, never even noticed the final little "extra-effort" push you need to 
o
  >as the bolt locks into place), fired, bottle blew up, levered, fired, etc.
  >The Savage chugged happily right along. Man, that rotary mag is something
  >else! And that smoooooooth lever action.... nice! Oh, and recoil? Still
  >seemed non-existant to me. Like shooting a very LOUD .22!
BS>At the conclusion of this string, I turned to my lovely wife Weezie 
(Louise)
  >and informed her that we now had no need whatsoever for the Marlin 336 in
  >.35 Remington, and quite little use for the No4 Enfield. In fact... well,
  >I'm damn sure going to KEEP the best-beloved Ruger #1 .45-70, but it may 
not
  >get out to the deer woods this year. This Savage is the obvious natural
  >choice for that little chore - and many others. :-)
BS>Weezie was tired and declined to shoot the Savage - frankly, she's not 
uch
  >for any centerfire rifle that doesn't operate by the turnbolt method 
anyway,
  >no matter HOW neat it may seem to ME.... (So, if she goes after deer this
  >year she'll probably just tote her old infantry Krag again, as usual - 
yeah,
  >that's HER idea of an all-around rifle, go figure).
Good rifle.
BS>The crack in the Savage's stock didn't "grow" any during the firing, and
  >looking at it closely I *think* it may have already been epoxied and
  >repaired, perhaps years ago.... If not, though, no problem. This Winter 
when
  >I have the stock off to refinish it (to get rid of the putrid Savage
  >"painted-on" finish) I'll take a better look at the crack and see if
  >additional repair is required, and do whatever's necessary.
BS>I guess I'll put a scope on the Savage eventually, but I really don't mind
  >the iron sights. Maybe I'll split the difference and put a receiver sight 
on
  >it? Don't know yet. Plenty of time to think about those options though - 
the
  >rifle's a definite keeper, so it'll be around....
BS>Only one trouble with this whole Savage 99 deal... already, I'm wanting
  >*more*... a .250 would be nice, and maybe a .358, and, and.... :-)
BS>So it goes...
More, more, I'm still not satisfied!
Chuck
Chuck.Cunningham@HDCAFE.Riverside.Ca.US -or- Chuck@pe.net
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