Savage 99 problem

I have a 30 year old Mod 99 .250. Over the last several years it seems to have lost it's accuracy. Shoots about 6 inch group off a 100 yd bench.

Before you suggest, I don't believe it's me, since I still shoot a pretty good group with other rifles.

I've tried:

Cleaning the bore Tightening all the screws on gun and scope Substituting a different scope Relieving any tight spots between the forend and barrel.

I now am really puzzled and would appreciate any tips.

Does anybody know a gunsmith that would take a gun with non-specific problems and get it tuned back up?

I don't think there was any reason to expect relieving the forend wood to improve anything...it's a two piece stock after all, but who knows...You didn't mention if you tightened the scope bases, but I'll assume you did. Six inches at 100 yards doesn't sound like a defective scope to me...in my experience, when a reticle starts floating I can't even call whats happening on the target a *group*. A lot of the time, out of 5 shots, a couple won't even hit the paper.

I'd suspect something physical has happened to the rifle...perhaps a damaged crown? Do you notice any small dings there?

I'd bring it to any reputable gunsmith. If you don't know of any, check with your local gunshops, they will be able to steer you in the right direction.

Hi Ben,

I'm no gun expert, and I've had guns temporarily lose accuracy for darn near all the reasons you mentioned.

Last time I took a gun in to have an accuracy problem addressed the gunsmith simply tried a whole series of new factory loads, and found one that would shoot well. In this case, it was a 150 grain Winchester load instead of the 180 grain load I had been using.

That may or may not be the problem, but if you haven't tried it already it may be worth a whirl.

Buck

Is it possible you that you might have some throat erosion in the barrel or possibly worn riflings? Someone I know had a Model 99 in 264 Mag that he shot for years and when it threw shots he had to releive the fore stock a bit but you mention you have done that. I might also check the fired casings and see if maybe the case heads have a uncommon wear mark on them from the bolt face possibly not squaring in the chamber due to a worn mechanism. I bought my wife a 99 in .250 a couple years ago that would blow the casings in half upon firing! I took the rifle apart and noticed that not one of the numbers on any of the parts matched like they did on other 99es I have owned and seen. It put an image in my head of someone at a gun bench in the backroom looking at a bunch of old 99 lever parts and building a rifle from spare parts he had lying around the room. I returned the rifle to the dealer I bought it from( a local pawn shop a freind owns) and used the money towards my Custom mauser in 7mmRemMag. Turned out the 99 needed to be head spaced. My wife still wants a Lever rifle so the 99 in .243 is still a possibility in the future to be a member of this household. Unless I get lucky and find a Winchester Model 88 in that chamber.

Someone I know had a Model 99 in 264 Mag

Check the crown, does it have any dings?

Ben, Have you cleaned the bore with a solvent intended to remove jacket fouling? If not, try again. If you are cleaning a lot from the muzzle I hope you are using a brass cleaning rod guide otherwise your crown is at risk. As others have mentioned a good gunsmith can tell you if that is the problem. As for the foreend I'm not sure I wouldn't go for full bedding between the barrel and the wood and creating relief between the wood and the front of the receiver. Leaving it looser than the factory made it 30 years ago is probably not the answer all of a sudden. It will take a riflesmith with a talent for two piece wood to sort that out for you. You don't mention whether you've suddenly changed your ammunition, or your handloading recipe, but going back to whatever was most accurate a few years back might be worth trying. If the scope is cracking up then it might show its stripes if mounted on another rifle of known accuracy, but I'm sure you are probably loathe to mess with a rifle that is all sorted out. Interesting challenge; please let us know how it turns out. Good hunting! Michael

It's possible that the barrel is just plain worn out. Or, it's possible that there's excessive copper build up in the barrel. Many common bore cleaning solvents are great for powder and lead deposits, but do nothing for copper. I'd try a GOOD copper solvent and keep cleaning, cleaning, cleaning the barrel until white rags come out without a trace of blue on them. The blue color is dissolved copper.

I picked up a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser for a song because the guy said the barrel was shot. I expected to have to re-barrel the rig, but decided to try giving it a good, thorough copper bath. The rifle now shoots 3 shots inside of a quarter at 100 yards. It did take me hours to get all the copper deposits out though.