New from S&W.

[OfficeCat]

The Savage got no respect from a lot of people who should have known better. Most of the people I knew who owned them were fairly well-read-up on guns and hunting, and also a bit older than the people who had gaudy post-WWII bolt rifles.

You touched a nerve with that one. My greatest "one that got away" regret, one that still haunts me, is the one I passed on 40 years ago as a teenager shopping for my first deer rifle. A mint condition 99A in .308 in the used gun rack of our local dealer. I can clearly recall wanting it pretty hard but getting a very lukewarm reaction from my dad, uncle and granddad, who were all bolt action guys. As in, it's your $250 (yes, that was the number on the tag) and I suppose it's OK if that's what you really want, but... I would have expected a similar reaction had I expressed an interest in applying for cosmetology school rather than college. I didn't have the guts to make a stand. I can still remember justifying it to myself with the reasoning that it wasn't a .250; I don't think I could have resisted that.

And as you might have guessed, before the summer was over I ended up buying, for the same price ($250 asking, $225 + tax out the door) a sporterized 03A3 Springfield with nods of approval from my elders.

[gato naranja]

I would have expected a similar reaction had I expressed an interest in applying for cosmetology school rather than college. I didn't have the guts to make a stand. I can still remember justifying it to myself with the reasoning that it wasn't a .250; I don't think I could have resisted that.

And as you might have guessed, before the summer was over I ended up buying, for the same price ($250 asking, $225 + tax out the door) a sporterized 03A3 Springfield with nods of approval from my elders.

I can see the people sitting around the table shaking their heads, muttering things like, "He didn't get that Savage 99 thing from MY side of the family!"
My dad was pretty good about not showing obvious disappointment in my choices, expecially considering what an odd duck I was in comparison with him. But he was not one of the family gun guys and I could have wanted about anything without his raising an eyebrow.

But yeah, if you wanted anything other than a bolt action rifle for "serious" use, you were in the minority back at that time and place. It was like Jack O' Connor had spiked everybody's punch. You could have any rifle you wanted as long as it fit in this little - cramped, in fact - hypothetical action/caliber box.

The really cool old stuff like Savage 99s, reworked single shots and SxS shotguns started disappearing from the used racks in my neck of the woods around the mid to late 1970s. It was like a tight bunch of wealthy collectors bought it all up and that was the end of that. After that, you had to check the estate auctions. I have not seen a 99 on a rack in ages.

[Half Moon]

I can see the people sitting around the table shaking their heads, muttering things like, "He didn't get that Savage 99 thing from MY side of the family!"
My dad was pretty good about not showing obvious disappointment in my choices, expecially considering what an odd duck I was in comparison with him. But he was not one of the family gun guys and I could have wanted about anything without his raising an eyebrow.

But yeah, if you wanted anything other than a bolt action rifle for "serious" use, you were in the minority back at that time and place. It was like Jack O' Connor had spiked everybody's punch. You could have any rifle you wanted as long as it fit in this little - cramped, in fact - hypothetical action/caliber box.

The really cool old stuff like Savage 99s, reworked single shots and SxS shotguns started disappearing from the used racks in my neck of the woods around the mid to late 1970s. It was like a tight bunch of wealthy collectors bought it all up and that was the end of that. After that, you had to check the estate auctions. I have not seen a 99 on a rack in ages.

I'm thinking it must be a regional thing (or maybe the wealthy collectors are passing). My father-in-law's deer rifle growing up back east was a .300 Savage 99. When he retired he found himself wanting another but couldn't find hide nor hair of one. By contrast where we were living in the southwest you couldn't pass more than 3 or 4 booths at a gunshow without seeing one or more 99's. You were basically tripping over them. Finally bought him one as a Christmas gift. Back in our gunsafe recently since he passed a couple months back.

[OfficeCat]

I can see the people sitting around the table shaking their heads, muttering things like, "He didn't get that Savage 99 thing from MY side of the family!"
My dad was pretty good about not showing obvious disappointment in my choices, expecially considering what an odd duck I was in comparison with him. But he was not one of the family gun guys and I could have wanted about anything without his raising an eyebrow.

But yeah, if you wanted anything other than a bolt action rifle for "serious" use, you were in the minority back at that time and place. It was like Jack O' Connor had spiked everybody's punch. You could have any rifle you wanted as long as it fit in this little - cramped, in fact - hypothetical action/caliber box.

The really cool old stuff like Savage 99s, reworked single shots and SxS shotguns started disappearing from the used racks in my neck of the woods around the mid to late 1970s. It was like a tight bunch of wealthy collectors bought it all up and that was the end of that. After that, you had to check the estate auctions. I have not seen a 99 on a rack in ages.

Exactly. Complicating matters was the fact that my uncle did actually have a 99 in his gun cabinet - a 99C in .243, which even I looked down my nose at because without the rotary magazine it wasn't a real 99 - but it was my aunt's rifle, and she didn't even hunt anymore. So in our family a 99 was good enough for a woman who rarely if ever actually needed to use it ...

What really stung was a few years down the road, over which time 99s on used gun racks became extinct, my uncle's daughter married a guy from a very gun savvy family, the patriarch of which had an impressive collection of 99s, and the 99 suddenly started getting some respect in my family.

[Hambo]

even though I find ARs and AKs repellent, nowadays I'd grab one before I would a levergun as I am on my way out the front door and headed for Valhalla.

I prefer a Headed for Valhalla rifle with panache, say a full stocked Mannlicher-Schoenauer, or at least a No 4 MK I...

Perhaps we need to start pestering gun companies about the necessity of a new 99, which they could even chamber in 6.5 Creed to entice the younger crowd. The OG model could be stocked in wood, while a Tactical model could have receiver to muzzle M-Loc.

[gato naranja]

I prefer a Headed for Valhalla rifle with panache, say a full stocked Mannlicher-Schoenauer, or at least a No 4 MK I...

I once had a No. 4 Mk II (ROF Fazakerley) that was practically like new, but it had the most generous chamber of any rifle I have ever owned. I could have dipped .303 Brit cartridges in honey, dropped them in the litterbox and still been able to chamber them in that rifle... at least I think I could. This may have been of benefit in a Malaysian jungle or the sands of Wadi el Bumf, but the fired cases had to get one H of a squeeze when reloaded. Granted, it was a "cool" conversation piece despite the black painted finish, and it shot faily well even with the two-groove rifling and cavernous chamber.

But would I grab one on the way out the door? No. Alas... I have a deep, dark, shameful secret--

Much to my own great surprise, my idea of panache vis-a-vis TEOTWAWKI firearms would be the BAR. I innocently ran a couple of magazines through a rather beat-up example at a machinegun shoot some years ago; "What could it hurt?" Only my common sense. It is big; it is heavy; it fires from an open bolt; it is aesthetically brutal; it is neither fish nor fowl... in short, it is not anything to wax lyrical about. But for chewing up scenery without resorting to belt feed and a prone position, what a chopper! The firearms equivalent of a jackhammer.

**

A resurrected 99 with modern steels, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor would actually make a pretty dandy - and handy - multipurpose rifle, now that you mention it. The masses still probably wouldn't be able to wrap their heads around it, but it would handle an awful lot of tasks in a laid-back way.

[Trigger]

So a .44 Mag lever action. Is this at all related to the growth of straight wall deer hunting cartridges? 44 Mag for deer in states that do not allow bottle neck cartridges, spawning the 350 and 400 Legend?

I get that gun companies are in the business of reselling guns to us, and I recognize my addiction. But I’m trying to see the market for this.

[Screwball]

They said they did .44 because it gave them the ability to scale up or down more easily than building/designing it for .357.

[gato naranja]

They said they did .44 because it gave them the ability to scale up or down more easily than building/designing it for .357.

Makes sense. Especially if they plan on a .45 or .454 version.

I actually preferred my .357 Rossi carbines to the .44s partly because they had just a bit more meat on the barrel. Not a lot, but just right for me.

While having more choices is good, I still await Ruger bringing back the 1894 CSBL simply because:

a. I am already familiar with the mechanism
b. aside from the oversize lever loop, it is the closest thing yet to an off-the-rack "Official Gato Naranja Signature .357 Magnum Utility Special."



ETA: the "OGNS357MUS" must have:

All-weather stainless construction
16" barrel
Rifle style forend and magazine tube (no carbine barrel bands need apply)
Aperture rear sight and optic rail
Factory sling studs
Rubber buttpad.

A threaded barrel is a "meh" for me, but I wouldn't object to it.

[OfficeCat]

I prefer a Headed for Valhalla rifle with panache, say a full stocked Mannlicher-Schoenauer, or at least a No 4 MK I...

No. 5 MK 1 would nicely split the difference there.