A New Kind of Lever Gun
In the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, the sport shooting market was still dominated by lever guns. The Browning-designed Winchester guns were riding tall in the saddle, as were the Marlin designs, but those guns were limited by having tubular magazines slung under the barrel, limiting them to flat-pointed bullets to avoid an unfortunate chain-fire. But this was the time when pointed “spitzer” bullets were becoming more common, with their improved aerodynamics and sectional density making them retain more velocity and increasing the range of the round. John Browning and Winchester were up for the challenge, introducing the box-magazine fed Model 1895 rifle.
But there was another company, the Savage Arms company, that came up with something that was all the Model 1895 Winchester was, and a little different as well. It was a gun the likes of which we had not seen, and it’s still just a little different than any lever gun being made today.
Here’s why.
The Design
The designer of this uniquely American rifle was, oddly enough, born a British subject.
Arthur William Savage was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1857, but came to the United States in 1892 after spending a decade in Australia. His first gun design was in 1887, for a lever-action rifle that had a tubular magazine in the stock, like the Spencer rifles and carbines. In 1892, when the United States Army was looking for a new repeating service rifle, Savage responded with what he called his Model 1892, which failed to draw the attention of the Army’s Ordnance Department and was never placed into production. This gun was, though, the predecessor to the Model 1895 lever gun, which introduced the rotary magazine. Savage had not started his own company yet, so the few 1985 guns made were built by Marlin Firearms. This set the stage: The first hammerless, rotary-magazine-fed lever-action rifle, a gun with one foot in the 19th century, and the other in the 20th.
See Also: Sunday Gun Day Vol. II Ep. XXXIV - John Mahlon Marlin and His Guns
In 1894, Arthur Savage started his own company in Utica, New York, that was and is known as the Savage Arms Company. The new company refined the design and called it the Model 1899, later shortened to simply the Model 99. The new gun resembled the 1895 but had improved lockwork, and in 1921, it was released with the powerful (for the time) .300 Savage cartridge as well as the .250 Savage, the .22 Savage Hi-Power, and, over time, a host of other cartridges.
The Guns
The Model 99 quickly drew a following. In the Great War, it was even used in some martial applications; the Montreal Home Guard were issued long-barreled Model 99 “muskets” in .303 Savage, which was a proprietary round with about the horsepower of the .30-30 Winchester.
See Also: Sunday Gun Day Vol. II Ep. XXVIII - That Time Colt Made a Lever Gun and Winchester Made Revolvers
The new Model 99s with the rotary magazine had another interesting feature: A cartridge counter that appeared in a window cut into the left side of the receiver, which allowed the shooter to tell at a glance how many rounds remained in the gun’s magazine. The design did allow the shooter to “top up” the magazine, but if there was a round chambered, that meant ejecting the ready round and replacing it in the magazine, as the action had to be opened to load the magazine.
The Model 99 was and is a unique-looking piece. Like most lever guns of the day and since, it has a two-piece stock, with a separate butt stock and fore end with a steel receiver. When the lever is dropped, the bolt tilts downward and is drawn to the rear, ejecting the spent round to the right side of the receiver and picking up the next round from the magazine, which is chambered with the up stroke of the lever. The action was mightily strong for a lever gun in the late 19th century, which led to the aforementioned explosion of cartridge options. There were some notable variations, like the 99H takedown model, made from 1923 to 1940; the 99F Featherweight, which was a pound lighter than the standard gun, the 99R, which was factory drilled and tapped for a scope, and the rare 99T which came equipped from the factory with a tang-mounted aperture rear sight, which was only offered for five years from 1935 to 1940.
Finally, from 1965 to 1997, another major change was announced with the Model 99C, which used a more traditional detachable box magazine, allowing for reloading without opening the action. While Model 99 shooters then lost the cartridge counter, they gained the ability to reload without snow or rain entering the gun’s action. The Model 99C was the one I remember examining in the grand old Olsen’s Boat House in Cedar Falls, Iowa, when I was a kid; I nearly bought one, a brand-new 99C in .308, but couldn’t quite scrape together enough cash. A couple of years later, I did pick up a lever gun, a Marlin 336 in .30-30, but I always wondered how that Savage would have worked out. I still have the Marlin. I’d likely still have the Savage.Then, in 1997, diminishing sales and the growing success of Savage’s bolt gun line led the company to discontinue the Model 99, after 98 years in production – 102 if you count the earlier Model 1895. That’s not a bad run for any sporting rifle.
Where Are They Now?
Sadly, the Model 99 is no longer in production, nor have any replica manufacturers picked up the design. However, there are plenty of Model 99s available on online gun auction sites, ranging over the full production run. Some years ago, I had the chance to fire a Model 99, an older rotary-magazine version chambered for the .300 Savage, which can be handloaded almost up to .308 Winchester specs. It was a neat weapon; the ergonomics were pretty good, and it handled quickly and was more than accurate enough for most North American game.
Like the 1895 Winchester and the later Winchester 88, the Model 99 Savage lever gun was the product of two ages in American sporting arms. It represents the transition from lever guns originally designed for black powder to tough-as-nails bolt guns firing high-pressure, high-velocity necked cartridges loaded with smokeless powder. A lever gun firing bolt gun rounds appealed to plenty of shooters, and that’s the reason the Savage 99 was around as long as it was. That’s the reason it’s still a hot item in the used-gun market today, and it probably will be for some time to come.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my interest has been piqued; I’m off to the auction sites to look at Model 99s.
