It find it interesting that none of my old Marlins 1894s or 1893s and Winchester 1894s have cracks in the tang area. Not exactly the same but the stock to receiver fitment is somewhat similar.
I guess none of my 99s have cracks either. So there is that.
Indeed the stock heads of those guns aren't dissimilar from the Savage, note too that neither of them utilize a draw bolt....
Another great old timey rifle that suffered from cracked wrists was the Marlin Ballard single shot, and gasp, draw bolt there also.
Common denominator between the Savage and Ballard: tapered parts being forced into wood via screw pressure.
Good point, don't I feel dumb now
Oh goodness, don't feel that way!
It's not the draw bolt that's to blame, it's the wedges. (The Ballard wedge is a tapered receiver extension - which is the draw bolt receptacle - which sticks back into the stock, contained in a closely fitted tapered hole.) Many many other rifles and shotguns utilize a draw bolt but their designers had the good sense to make the stock heads solid and butt squarely against a solid wall of steel.
With the Savage, as I've said before
ad nauseum, it has more than just the draw bolt working in its disfavor. Any force/shock that acts to drive the wedgie tang back into the wood can have the fickle finger of fate pointed at it, not to mention horny-handed folks putting lateral pressure on it when attempting removal. But I will lay down most of my betting money on The Big Screw.
