Arthur Savage, founder of Savage Arms, was the kind of character who could only have lived at the close of the nineteenth century. Born in Jamaica and educated in England and the United States, he spent years exploring Australia with his family, where his adventures took on storybook proportions - being held captive by Aborigines, escaping, and finding his way into cattle ranching; eventually owning the largest ranch in Australia. But afflicted with a degree of restlessness that sounds downright exhausting, Savage ended up selling the ranch and settled back in Jamaica briefly before ultimately relocating to Utica, New York - arriving back in America for his 35th birthday. And it would be in Utica that he founded the gun company that still bears his name today.
As befits such a remarkable man, the first Savage designs were groundbreaking. The 1892 and 1895, for example, were among the first hammerless rifles extant, both designed to take advantage of the new smokeless powder that was then changing the field of ballistics. The 1892, a joint venture between Arthur Savage and Colt, received relatively little attention despite competing for the replacement of the legendary Trapdoor Springfield with the US military (it lost out to the Krag-Jorgensen and never went into full production), while the 1895 was selected by the New York National Guard over the Springfield 1895, but political wrangling halted the contract and the Guardsmen were saddled with single-shot Trapdoors instead.
Despite these setbacks, Arthur Savage pressed on and modified the 1895 slightly, producing the Model 1899. This rifle was similar enough to the outgoing rifle that 1895s could be converted to 1899s directly at the factory; a service for which Savage Arms charged the princely sum of five dollars.
Distict from any other lever-action rifle before it (and many since), the 1899's biggest innovation was the use of an internal rotary magazine, instead of the tubular magazine slung under the barrel of every other lever gun before it - and in doing so, allowed the 1899 to make use of what was then a cutting-edge piece of ballistic technology: Spitzer bullets. By retaining all the rounds in an almost revolver-esque fashion inside the receiver, the 99 could make use of the new style of pointed bullets, without any concern of a sympathetic ignition under recoil (an issue in the bullet-to-primer orientation of rounds inside a conventional tube magazine). This gave it a significant edge when it came to available calibres, and obviously, the ballistics associated. In short, the Model 99 brought modern ballistics to the lever gun, at a time when "modern ballistics" were only just beginning to be understood - and gave rise to an entire family of cartridges: The Savage calibres.
Another innovation of the design was its hammerless nature. The first lever-action rifle equipped with a striker-fired ignition system, it would also be the only one produced for decades, until Winchester released the Model 88 in 1955, and is certainly the most popular. Meaning less snagging in the bush or astride a horse, and no issues with optic fitment, it's just another underappreciated feature that speaks to the incredible capacity for forward-thinking that Arthur Savage was endowed with.
One quirk of the early 99s was a cartridge counter on the rotary magazine visible through a small hole in the receiver. This feature seemed futuristic at the time and was intended as a counter (no pun intended) to other lever action rifles' abilities to be "topped off" to assuage consumer concerns of running dry. However, the relatively costly-to-implement feature was rendered superfluous upon the introduction of the detachable magazine-equipped Model 99c in 1908. With the same five-shot capacity as the internal rotary magazine-equipped 99, the 99c offered consumers the ability to load their gun much more quickly than either a conventional 99 or Winchester, and became a popular rifle among those who expected to require a higher volume of fire.
Aside from the detachable box magazine and strong, hammerless action, the 99 also sported an innovative cocking indicator on the tang, and an ejection pattern that angled spent brass outward and away from the rifle, rather than the vertical ejection common to many of its contemporaries. While this seemed relatively unimportant when the 99 debuted at the turn of the century, with the popularization of sporting optics in the '50s, it became another of the rifle's many features that proved incredibly ahead of its time. It’s easy to forget that the 99 wasn’t designed to compete with sporting rifles like the Remington 721, or even the Winchester 88 released nearly half a century later, but military rifles like the 1898 Krag-Jorgensen Springfield. And how many .30-40 Krags are still being used to hunt across the continent today?
The Savage 99 was initially offered in .303 Savage which, despite several improvements and slightly superior ballistics, obviously never managed to supplant the Winchester 30-30. The Savage round was, somewhat ironically, limited by its superiority: By designing a higher-pressure round with a pointed bullet, Savage had also limited the round's market to users of their own new rifle. Put simply, the Model 99 was not successful enough to allow the .303 Savage to unseat its more popular and versatile competitor.
Not long after the introduction of the 99c, Savage developed a round with uncanny parallels to modern service ammunition: the .22 Savage High-Power. Possessing a .227 calibre, 70-grain projectile leaving the barrel at 2800 feet per second, the similarity between .22 Savage High-Power and 5.56 NATO ballistics is remarkable today, and the round was lauded as a hunting triumph among the contemporary press. However, it fell out of favour after proving somewhat ineffective on dangerous game; a key market for lever-action rifles in North America at the time. This summary led to it drifting into near-total obscurity here on this continent, but interestingly, it did live on in Europe, where effectiveness on dangerous game was of significantly less priority. And today, it actually still sees some popularity among European hunters, who today know it as the 5.6x52mmR.
Savage next released the .250 Savage, also known as the 250-3000 for its title as the first commercial cartridge to break the 3,000 feet per second mark. Driving an 87-grain bullets at that speed, it compares fairly well to the modern .243 Winchester, which drives a 90-grain projectile at about 3100 FPS, for comparison's sake.
Finally, the .300 Savage. This was the Model 99's real success story: a .30 calibre, 150-grain projectile moving at 2,600 feet per second. A necked-up .250-3000 intended to replace the venerable .30-06 Springfield, the .300 Savage was only slightly slower than contemporary .30-06 ammunition, but it packed nearly all of the punch into a case that was almost an inch shorter overall. This allowed for a much shorter action and, therefore, a lighter, quicker-handling gun than any .30-06. In fact, the .300 Savage remained a benchmark of American .30 calibre rifle performance until the emergence of the .308 Winchester, which itself was derived from the .300 Savage. And it was the perfect cartridge for the Savage 99. It fit easily within the 99's compact dimensions, and finally allowed the strength of Arthur Savage's action to be put to use.
Enjoying an incredibly long production run from its turn-of-the-century inception until the production tooling finally wore out in 2003, there is not only a great volume of used Savage 99s on the market today, but there are also a great variety of variants available. Aside from the switch from rotary to box magazines that occurred with the inclusion of the 99c to the lineup, there was a wide gamut of chamberings including the aforementioned high-velocity .22s, 250-3000s, and .300 Savages, but also more modern .308 Winchesters and even heavy-hitting .358 Winchester models made. At one point, even a single-shot factory conversion to .410 shotshell was produced. There were takedown versions, various sight configurations, different lengths of barrel, and of course, a few different stock/fore-end options - but they were all so far ahead of their time that today, many models look, feel and shoot like classics, not relics.
Older 99s should have matching numbers stamped on the fore-end, the butt plate, the stock and the bottom of the receiver. The model designation, identified by one or two letters, is stamped on the front of the receiver just behind the fore-end. Later versions become less predictable in this regard, but if what you’re after is a hunting rifle, the collector information is perhaps less valuable than the aesthetic or functional options.
The Savage 99 came with wood of different designs over the years, from plain, smooth walnut to checkered (either cut or pressed-in on later-production rifles). Likewise, the forestock was made with anything from a pronounced Schnabel to none at all - if you’re not familiar with the term, this is the classic German or Austrian flourish at the furthest forward point of the fore-end, where it flares out into a knob instead of simply ending. It has a rather stylish appearance on the 99, although it’s somewhat incongruous on such an overwhelmingly American rifle, but nonetheless suits the rifle. Prettiest of all, though, are the handful of Mannlicher prototypes produced by Savage in the 70s - sporting full-length, steel-capped fore-ends that reach all the way to the muzzle; a style often replicated with custom woodwork since.
One of the more frustrating aspects of the Savage 99, however, is that there is often no definite correlation between the model number and the features; legend has it that Savage serialized their guns simply by leaning every rifle produced in the factory on a given day against the wall and stamping sequential numbers on it, regardless of the features, or even whether it was a rifle or shotgun. As a result, there seems to be no definitive guide to say which models, or serial number ranges, can be tied to features like octagonal barrels, overall barrel lengths, sight options, drilled and tapped receivers, or otherwise.
Likely as a result of Savage’s rather haphazard approach to serializing guns, today's references are similarly jumbled: Multiple websites that claim to be able to look up Savage 99 serial numbers often generate different results. The rifle I have next to me as I write this is either a 1951 or 1950 model, with either a lightweight or featherweight barrel, with either a bead or ramp sight - all depending on who you ask. Thankfully, there is a book on the subject by Douglas Murray called simply “The Ninety Nine,” and that is the authoritative text on the rifle if you’ve taken a serious interest in all its permutations. It remains readily available on the internet right now, but as with all gun reference books, is likely to become less so with every passing year on account of their limited print runs.
Any lightweight rifle with a manual action and a moderately powerful cartridge is going to have some kick, and the 99 is no exception; it hits with authority on both ends of the rifle. In one of the many discussions which preceded the writing of this article, a local collector bemoaned the fact that an overwhelming majority of older 99s had been altered to include a recoil pad - he declared it a tragedy. I, on the other hand, have found it to be an act of self-preservation, and the frequency with which this modification is performed should probably be considered a hint, if not an outright warning.
The action cycles beautifully with a fairly short throw - roughly seventy degrees - and the lever is comfortable throughout the cycle, particularly on models with a curved grip. The lockup is satisfyingly solid, and feeling the bolt drop into place and the rear lugs engage is an atavistic pleasure, not unlike shooting a quality 1911. Having chambered a round, the shooter has the option of pushing the safety forward, which not only stops the trigger but also locks the action closed by way of engaging the lever itself; a handy feature when you're pushing bush.
Even though it operates an entirely different system, the 99 should be commended for maintaining a classic American hunting trigger. It breaks cleanly at a reasonable weight, with most in the three-pound range these days on account of their wearing-in, and although there’s more overtravel than is strictly necessary, it’s a non-issue in terms of practical accuracy. I have found the triggers to be without significant creep or mush to them, with a very solid feel and no perceptible wall before the break, which makes the rifle easy to shoot well.
While not a precision rifle, the accuracy is certainly adequate for most general-purpose hunting duties. As usual, the internet abounds with stories of rifles that shoot half-inch groups at a hundred yards, and those stories are likely worth what you paid for them; two to three-inch groups are much more realistic - even four or five for older, high-round count models chambered in higher-velocity calibres. It is simply not a benchrest rifle. It was intended as a general-purpose middleweight rifle; handy, robust, perfect for carrying in the field, and utterly reliable. Enjoy the sleek lines of the rifle when admiring it in camp, the light weight and perfect balance point when you carry it afield, the solid, short-throw action and striker-cocking indicator when you chamber up a round in anticipation of a shot, and the classic, timeless experience of a (small) horse kicking you in the shoulder when you touch it off.
If you have the opportunity, give the 99 a try. It’s an iconic firearm, not only because of its stunning prescience of design but also for being one of the great unsung military-intended rifles to be adopted for sporting use by shooters across the continent.
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