A post in the hunting section got me thinking, this rifle and Gramps deserves it's own story.
Grandpa was a 3rd generation Norwegian farmer in central MN. They were'nt rich growing up, not dirt poor either. In the fall of 1942, he married a Norwegian refugee girl at 19 years old who was being supported by the local Lutheran church. He also took in her 13 year old brother to help work his share of the dairy farm. He had grown up hunting and trapping with his father, they owned one rifle and one shotgun. He had always admired the fancy rifles and shotguns the city men who payed to hunt their woodlot carried, and his wife knew it. In 1943, he volounteered for the Navy as his father and the boy Lars could work the farm and he felt it was his duty to fight. He served on a destroyer in the Pacific until early 1945 and saw action in several engagements. While away, his wife got the idea that their family should never be without a proper rifle after her experience with the Nazis in Norway and asked the city hunter with the Sav 99 about his rifle. It would also be an amazing welcome home present for her young husban. She was assured that it was a great rifle and her husband would love it but they were expensive. She spent the next 2 years squirreling away spare money from eggs, sewing and their springtime sugarbush operation and put together enough to buy the 99 from the city guy (she said he didn't want to sell it but she badgered him into it) 1 month before Grandpa Palmer was discharged. She had told him about her plan so he'd have something to look forward too. Gramps died the year I was born, but I heard many stories about his hunting exploits from my uncles. When my oldest uncle died, lots were drawn for Grandpa's guns and my mom drew first choice. There could be only one, the Sav 99. It spent most of it's life on the family farm shooting deer and the odd coyote, but Grandpa also took it on his dream hunt for Yukon caribou and on a hunt for MN moose. He also carried it with him for a stint driving truck and contract combining on the great plains as "every man should have a rifle out there." according to uncle Harlan. There was a picture of him with a couple of antelope undoubtedly taken with the Savage.
Now it holds a special place in my collection and I still try to get it out in the woods sometimes.
Grandpa was a 3rd generation Norwegian farmer in central MN. They were'nt rich growing up, not dirt poor either. In the fall of 1942, he married a Norwegian refugee girl at 19 years old who was being supported by the local Lutheran church. He also took in her 13 year old brother to help work his share of the dairy farm. He had grown up hunting and trapping with his father, they owned one rifle and one shotgun. He had always admired the fancy rifles and shotguns the city men who payed to hunt their woodlot carried, and his wife knew it. In 1943, he volounteered for the Navy as his father and the boy Lars could work the farm and he felt it was his duty to fight. He served on a destroyer in the Pacific until early 1945 and saw action in several engagements. While away, his wife got the idea that their family should never be without a proper rifle after her experience with the Nazis in Norway and asked the city hunter with the Sav 99 about his rifle. It would also be an amazing welcome home present for her young husban. She was assured that it was a great rifle and her husband would love it but they were expensive. She spent the next 2 years squirreling away spare money from eggs, sewing and their springtime sugarbush operation and put together enough to buy the 99 from the city guy (she said he didn't want to sell it but she badgered him into it) 1 month before Grandpa Palmer was discharged. She had told him about her plan so he'd have something to look forward too. Gramps died the year I was born, but I heard many stories about his hunting exploits from my uncles. When my oldest uncle died, lots were drawn for Grandpa's guns and my mom drew first choice. There could be only one, the Sav 99. It spent most of it's life on the family farm shooting deer and the odd coyote, but Grandpa also took it on his dream hunt for Yukon caribou and on a hunt for MN moose. He also carried it with him for a stint driving truck and contract combining on the great plains as "every man should have a rifle out there." according to uncle Harlan. There was a picture of him with a couple of antelope undoubtedly taken with the Savage.
Now it holds a special place in my collection and I still try to get it out in the woods sometimes.
