Since I was back in the land of my youth last week, I visited the wife of another dear friend I'd lost several years ago (this getting-old stuff is a bit wearing). We've been in contact somewhat regularly lately as she'd finally reached out after I'd found some photography of her late husband this Spring that neither of us had ever seen before. The photographs caused me to catch my breath when I first saw them and when I arrived for our visit, she'd even had the best one framed and on her living room table. Her world has been very hard since her husband's passing (she has no other immediate family) and she only is just now starting to deal with her surroundings on more-even terms. As I had been back there for another funeral, I'd hoped this visit would be more of a nostalgic tour of my old stomping grounds (and a break from all the painful, emotional stuff) but this visit was almost as emotional as my earlier duties. Oh well...lots of things had been unsaid for several years now and my visit did seem to be somewhat cathartic (for us both). After several hours, I left feeling pretty good about it all and... she had even gifted me with one of his rifles (which he'd evidently wanted me to have). I've never owned anything like it before and wondered what the general feelings were about these firearms here. She included two boxes of clearly early (antique? from the 40s and 50s) ammunition and one more modern box as well. This is easily the nicest Savage I've ever handled. Machining and blue are quite flawless and the wood is clearly wearing it's original finishes. The weight is minimal and the 24-inch barrel is wearing it's original iron sights. Many of his other 99s had been fitted with early Weaver scopes, but this one is unmolested and I seriously doubt that it's even been afield. While it's almost too-nice to use, I was considering using it on a mule deer doe hunt this coming Fall.

These guns seem to have an almost cult-like following back in that part of the world, as does this cartridge. What says the cognoscenti here on the subject?

Last edited by Lloyd3; 07/04/22 05:17 PM.