Savage Lever Action .308?

[firstchoice]

  I believe there is/was a Savage lever action made in the .308 caliber, but I can't remember the model number at the moment. I still have a fair collection of .308 Winchester and 7.62x51 NATO ammo. I remember the Savage had a "rounds left" counter made into the receiver. Kind of a cylinder-like thing that counted down the rounds as you used them.

  Were these Savage LA's in .308 worth owning? Handling one, thinking they look great, and liking the caliber doesn't necessarily mean you've got a worthwhile investment. So, what's the consensus on these rifles?

  The reason for wanting one of these? I ended up selling my German-made HK-91 A2 (a very foolish thing to do, but divorce sometimes necessitates crazy.) I had bought the HK-91 NIB almost immediately after they started importing them, around 1982-84, I believe it was. I paid $565.00 to my LGS to order it in. It came in with the full "kit", styrofoam insert with all accessories, extra mag, sling,...nice deal. I sold it a number of years later for a huge profit during the Clinton Assault Ban. But now, I'd give every penny back to have it back. Man, to have all the guns that I bought and then lost because of divorces or unexpected emergency expenses!

  Thanks for any opinions and feedback!   

firstchoice

[Greasemonkey]

I think your probably speaking of the Savage 99 these still have a pretty good following and were quality rifles. Older ones had a rotary style mag, I think these had the round counter, but later ones had a removable box style mag. Usually the rotary style mags are the more sought after ones, the box style mags didn't really catch on. Usually when I see a Savage lever in my area, it's typically in .300 Savage, it is pretty much the .308s father. The one nice thing is you can use modern spitzer bullets in these levers, the bullet tip won't contact the shell before it's primer, which is something the tube feed lever actions suffer from.

Usually the lever actions are not as stout built as a bolt or even a singleshot, I also can't attest to the use of Nato ammo in a lever action either, never really thought about that one. I don't think the pressures would be an issue, as the 99 is pretty stout built for a lever action. How ever, your dealing with a "hunting" rifle designed for "hunting" ammo, not a military weapon dealing with military ammo. There may or may not be a difference in barrel twist which in the end, it shoots like crap with milspec, but fine with regular "hunting" ammo. Also the chamber and throat could have sight differences vs a military rifle, I would think it would be tighter, that could also possibly have some accuracy difference.

The pricing on them can go either way, either way over priced, to reasonable. Most of the times, it seems they are asking way too much for what you get when you compare it to other or newer levers, but thats any rifle. I've seen the real old, think late 20's-1930's old, .300 Savage ones with long octagon barrels go for 1700plus, usually a fairly decent well used one runs about 500-650, a very nice, call it 90% you might see 700-900, or more depending on just how nice. Condition, age, caliber(like 13 or so calibers) and mag style can and does alter the price greatly.