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I purchased an 1899 Savage in 32-40 some 50 years ago and also ran into the same problem… The rifle was not restamped to indicate it was rechambered to .32 Winchester Special, so had no way of knowing it was rechambered. The first 32-40 round fired in that old Savage rifle ejected an interesting surprise in the form of a newly resized expanded case. So immediately quit shooting, did some comparison to cases and also discovered that someone had rechambered the rifle to .32 Winchester Special… At first I was quite annoyed being a Die-Hard Collector of the Savage 1895, 1899 and the 99 Savage rifle, I currently own one of every caliber they ever chambered. After analyzing the situation and considering the price paid for the gun… I decided to keep it and try hunting White Tail Deer and a few pesky varmints. Since that discovery, I have fired hundreds of rounds through the old 99 and with the peep sight can easily hold 3″ and slightly under groups at 100 yards… additionally that old rechambered rifle bagged about 2 dozen deer… so using the gun as a shooter has greatly paid off very well and I would never change it back to the original configuration because both cartridges are now obsolete. I have since acquired an original 32-40 spare barrel so now have the best of both worlds and since the gun is still in @ 85-90% cosmetic condition the guns collector value is most likely @ 10 to 12x the $75 + $25 that was paid for the gun and spare bar
November 1, 2013
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JPLen said
I purchased an 1899 Savage in 32-40 some 50 years ago and also ran into the same problem… The rifle was not restamped to indicate it was rechambered to .32 Winchester Special, so had no way of knowing it was rechambered.
Consider yourself lucky–re-stamping would devalue it even more.
November 19, 2006
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JPLen said
I purchased an 1899 Savage in 32-40 some 50 years ago and also ran into the same problem… The rifle was not restamped to indicate it was rechambered to .32 Winchester Special, so had no way of knowing it was rechambered. The first 32-40 round fired in that old Savage rifle ejected an interesting surprise in the form of a newly resized expanded case. So immediately quit shooting, did some comparison to cases and also discovered that someone had rechambered the rifle to .32 Winchester Special… At first I was quite annoyed being a Die-Hard Collector of the Savage 1895, 1899 and the 99 Savage rifle, I currently own one of every caliber they ever chambered. After analyzing the situation and considering the price paid for the gun… I decided to keep it and try hunting White Tail Deer and a few pesky varmints. Since that discovery, I have fired hundreds of rounds through the old 99 and with the peep sight can easily hold 3″ and slightly under groups at 100 yards… additionally that old rechambered rifle bagged about 2 dozen deer… so using the gun as a shooter has greatly paid off very well and I would never change it back to the original configuration because both cartridges are now obsolete. I have since acquired an original 32-40 spare barrel so now have the best of both worlds and since the gun is still in @ 85-90% cosmetic condition the guns collector value is most likely @ 10 to 12x the $75 + $25 that was paid for the gun and spare bar
Cool – is this an example of turning, “lemons into lemonade”? Very neat that you were able to harvest so many deer with it. By the way, I also have been a Savage collector for very close to the last 50 years.
September 22, 2011
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steve004 said
JPLen said
I purchased an 1899 Savage in 32-40 some 50 years ago and also ran into the same problem… The rifle was not restamped to indicate it was rechambered to .32 Winchester Special, so had no way of knowing it was rechambered. The first 32-40 round fired in that old Savage rifle ejected an interesting surprise in the form of a newly resized expanded case. So immediately quit shooting, did some comparison to cases and also discovered that someone had rechambered the rifle to .32 Winchester Special… At first I was quite annoyed being a Die-Hard Collector of the Savage 1895, 1899 and the 99 Savage rifle, I currently own one of every caliber they ever chambered. After analyzing the situation and considering the price paid for the gun… I decided to keep it and try hunting White Tail Deer and a few pesky varmints. Since that discovery, I have fired hundreds of rounds through the old 99 and with the peep sight can easily hold 3″ and slightly under groups at 100 yards… additionally that old rechambered rifle bagged about 2 dozen deer… so using the gun as a shooter has greatly paid off very well and I would never change it back to the original configuration because both cartridges are now obsolete. I have since acquired an original 32-40 spare barrel so now have the best of both worlds and since the gun is still in @ 85-90% cosmetic condition the guns collector value is most likely @ 10 to 12x the $75 + $25 that was paid for the gun and spare bar
Cool – is this an example of turning, “lemons into lemonade”? Very neat that you were able to harvest so many deer with it. By the way, I also have been a Savage collector for very close to the last 50 years.
I like the Savage 1899 as well, but the appreciation (return on investment) just isn’t there as with antique Winchesters. Also, the forum website doesn’t get much traffic as this forum does.
November 1, 2013
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mrcvs said
I like the Savage 1899 as well, but the appreciation (return on investment) just isn’t there as with antique Winchesters.
But neither do they cost as much as a SUV.
September 22, 2011
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clarence said
mrcvs said
I like the Savage 1899 as well, but the appreciation (return on investment) just isn’t there as with antique Winchesters.
But neither do they cost as much as a SUV.
Bingo! The poor man’s Winchester!
November 7, 2015
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I enjoy shooting and loading for the 32-40 but quite honestly that’s a pretty slick hunting rifle in its current configuration. I’ve divested myself of Savages to concentrate on Winchesters but I like the gun and I certainly like the cartridge. I think you did just fine, JP.
Mike
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