Built by Collectors, for Collectors

Mike was born and raised on a dairy farm in the woods of Northern Minnesota. After graduation from high school in 1965 he went on to college but, realizing that he didn't have a real career in mind, he joined the Navy to avoid the draft. After four years of growing up he completed his education and went into engineering in the world of computer mainframes. Eventually he went from hands-on work to management and earned a master's in technology management. He had a great career and retired in 2010.

Despite a career and lifestyle far removed from his rural childhood, he never lost the love of hunting and fishing. He took his first whitetail buck with a Stevens 325 at age 11. Also at home in the gun rack was his Granddad's 1899 B — bought on his way to settle in the North Woods and create the family farm. The old Savage 99 just sat there because of a lever droop issue that no one knew how to resolve. He inherited it and finally took an interest in making it shootable again after one of his many career moves landed him in Texas.

His new work associates were outdoors folks and revived his interest in hunting and shooting. Y2K was right around the corner and the internet was alive and well. In his search to get information to make the 1899 functional again he discovered a group of guys on a chat site that lived and breathed Savage lever guns — the G&K forum that preceded the 24-Hour Campfire group. After a lot of back and forth, JT Callahan introduced him to the concept of 'lever bite' as it related to the lever droop problem. From there he was able to get his Granddad's 1899 shooting again, and his interest in Savage lever guns was ignited. Next thing he knew, he owned a whole bunch of Savage 99s.

Mike had become used to having a scope on all his rifles and the lack of factory holes for scope mounts on the early guns were a challenge. The Stith Mount was really the only viable option — expensive and offering a very limited scope selection. The ingenuity ingrained in him for keeping farm machinery running kicked in. He cobbled together several prototypes with Weaver bases but nothing had the rigidity he was seeking. He took a leap and got some simple extensions welded to the front and back ends of a one-piece Redfield mount. Tig welding was expensive so he had two created to start and went about hammering, bending, and grinding them to the shape of the 99 receivers. The tang mount section was a real challenge with simple hand tools in his garage. It was a pretty crude creation to begin with, but the concept proved out at the range.

After the first two, he was overwhelmed with his regular job and put further development on hold. Just before retiring in 2010, he had three more welded up before returning to California. Those three stayed packed up for a couple of years until he became totally bored of retirement. He needed to be productive again. This was the real beginning of the Lightfoot Mount run.

In November of 2011 he announced his intention of building the mount on the 24-Hour Campfire and solicited feedback. There were a few interested parties so he started taking orders. In the first year he made 22 mounts — a slow beginning in terms of getting the final shaping and finishing refined. For the next four years he built about 25 per year, a manageable pace. Then someone posted some pictures on Facebook and it caught fire. Production built up to 80 mounts in 2022, and he decided it was time to re-retire in 2023. In all, he built about 500 mounts for all models ranging from the 1895 to the SRC to the lowly EG. It was an adventure which grew tiresome, but he has never regretted the purpose it brought to his life as a retired computer nerd.

Jay Ward is a long-time resident of Clarke County in Northern Virginia. Originally from Gainesville, Florida, he made his way to Clarke County in 1988. He is a U.S. Army veteran having served with the 32nd AADCOM, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 11th Special Forces Group. He is an avid collector of firearms with a large collection of Savage 99s, Marlin and Winchester lever actions, along with a variety of vintage shotguns.

Jay's interest in firearms started at a young age and was enhanced further when he was in the Army and obtained a Unit Armorer secondary MOS. In 1986 Jay met his mentor, Master Gunsmith John Leber (Retired USMC). John taught Jay over the years the fundamentals of being a gunsmith — from metal prep, lathe and press operations to wood finishing, among other tasks.

In addition to his gunsmith business, Jay is a seasoned Enterprise Architect in the information technology world for the last 40 years, having earned a BS in Computer Science, a BSBA in IT Management, an MSM in IT Management, and a PhD in Information Assurance and Cyber Security.

When Mike Watson retired from making the original Lightfoot mounts, Jay decided to take on the mission to keep these scope mounts in production — using CAD and CNC technologies to produce them as opposed to how Mike was producing each mount by hand. This journey started in 2023. After meeting with a number of machine shops and CNC CAD engineers with nothing promising in terms of pricing per unit, Mike Valentine stepped in and was able to find Steve Haase, a machinist from Falls Church, VA willing to produce these mounts. The first five prototypes were produced in 2026 and were sold immediately to Savage 99 owners.

Steve Haase is a resident of Falls Church, Virginia. He started doing metal fabrication work years ago to earn money for college. During his time in college, Steve learned how to run mills and lathes to produce models for wind and water tunnels.

After graduating he bought his own mill and lathe to start a small company called PIFMA, LLC, building prototype parts for local businesses in Northern Virginia. Over the last 25 years Steve has designed and built parts for medical companies, aerospace companies, and university laboratories.

Building scope mounts for the Savage 99 represents a new industry pursuit for him — and is the perfect entry project. Soon after he moved to Virginia and started his company, he inherited a 99 from his grandfather-in-law and has been using that rifle for hunting for many years.

Michael (Mike) Valentine is a retired judge with more than thirty years of judicial experience. He served as senior judge for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Fairfax County, Virginia. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Washington College of Law at American University. A former partner in Dunn and Valentine of Fairfax, he was appointed to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in 1980.

Mike served 35 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, including service in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia. He is a nationally recognized expert on court and judicial security and a frequent lecturer to judges, sheriffs, and city managers.

Mike is an avid firearms collector and outdoorsman. He started collecting Savage 99s later in life and has had Jay Ward work on and restore a number of his 99s along with other rifles in his collection. Along with his modern firearms, Mike enjoys building black powder primitive muzzleloading rifles and pistols.