Quote:
Originally Posted by Pioneer2
The early ones were .311 that were sent for army trials according to Ken Waters . He never saw one but the commercial ones may have all been .308 after the military gun was rejected.Should all be 1-10" twist for the 190gr offering.He has this same thread with lots of answer in CGN's.
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Well, the reason Ken Waters has never seen one is because they were never made. In 1892, a prototype of what was known as the Savage No. 1 with a 29-inch barrel and full-length stock was submitted to the Ordnance Trials for the military market. When the bolt action Krag was adopted over the other submissions, Savage modified the rifle for civilian use and produced the model 1895. The model 1892 was never produced or sold. Thus, the original version of the Savage 99 was designated the Model 1895 and were actually made for Savage by Marlin. The only cartridge it came in was the 303 Savage. If you find a true 1895 in any other cartridge it is a later conversion, many of which were done by Savage as they offered a $5 upgrade of the 1895 to 1899 specifications. When the 1899 model came out there was a greatly expanded range of cartridges made available.