I promised a non www friend that I would do some research on his old lever. It's got a bunch of dates on it, 1893, 1899, 1890. and last june 1 1909. I think he misread the model he has it wrote down here as model 1890. Its a 303 savage serial #118622 WHich in the data base at savage99.com gives a birthdate of 1911. It don't have any letters for the different features of the later 99's. He says it is in good shape showing good use though. It was in his family for a long time he said. He kind of wants to know what it's worth more than anything. After some reading I found ammo is not going to be real easy to find and I don't think he really wants to shoot it anyway. Which is sorta sad to me.