NEW to the 99 and looking for a 250-3000

[Canders22]

Greetings from WV,

I wanted to introduce myself and learn a bit more about the 99 in 250-3000. I have been reading a lot and have narrowed down my choices to a 99 pre-wwii not a takedown and preferably already drilled and tapped---been looking at straight stock vs pistol grip and a few other things...main goal is to find one that is "used" but the bore is in good shape. I have been reloading since a kid and there is just something about that caliber and rifle that intrigues me...normally I shoot 6.5x55 in Ruger No 1 and Winchester featherlights, but I caught the 99 bug, and particularly in the 250....any thoughts from veteran 99 folks on things I should be looking for or not, and where is the best place to chase one down? Thanks again, Chris

 

[ONE-TEN]

Said everything in your first thread. But for posterity. Finding ANY pre-war 99 with a good enough barrel to be worthy of hunting (what I would called worthy, anyhow.), is not an easy task. Barrels labeled as “Good” still have pitting & rust. Use of Mercuric primers was the norm back then, and these are not AK47’s with Chrome lined barrels. So they suffered by & large. I’m not saying decent shooters don’t exist. But when you want a specific cartridge, being the 250 Savage, and limiting to Pre-war only. It really brings the number decent shooters down. And by decent shooters, I mean the guns able to group like 3” at 100yds. Not to mention, you are going to pay a PREMIUM! One like that could be upwards of $2000 in this market. You’ll see many more that say “Good” barrel, which they are typically speaking of the outward appearance. The bluing. Although, outward appearance can be a good measure of internal bore condition, it’s not written in stone. Just can’t be certain until you have it.

 

[Alan]

Greetings from WV,

I wanted to introduce myself and learn a bit more about the 99 in 250-3000. I have been reading a lot and have narrowed down my choices to a 99 pre-wwii not a takedown and preferably already drilled and tapped---been looking at straight stock vs pistol grip and a few other things...main goal is to find one that is "used" but the bore is in good shape. I have been reloading since a kid and there is just something about that caliber and rifle that intrigues me...normally I shoot 6.5x55 in Ruger No 1 and Winchester featherlights, but I caught the 99 bug, and particularly in the 250....any thoughts from veteran 99 folks on things I should be looking for or not, and where is the best place to chase one down? Thanks again, Chris

Best of luck. I hope you find one. Maybe post a Wanted on classifieds.

 

[Odin Road]

If you are looking for a pre-war 99 that has already been drilled and tapped you will save some money over an undrilled and tapped one, though perhaps less than was once the case. The number of 99s in the wild is shrinking, at least in relation to the number of folks that want one or more. At least at the gun shows here in the Missouri Ozarks nice old 99s with unobtrusive functional modifications do not carry the stiff penalties that we used to see.
My 99 accumulation is down from a high of 54 rifles to just one, an early post-war 250-3000 99R that is drilled and tapped. That combination of caliber, scope capability, and overall configuration is hard to top.