Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1899-H sight project

My Malcom scoped 1899-H did not have a good set of sights, which became another part of the project. The front blade was filed down and after removing it it appears that it was also shortened, either that or the replacement is way to tall! Calculating the height from bore center of the front & rear sights, looking at pictures of other guns, and using a very cheap laser bore sight it looks like the height might be correct, or even a little low yet(still have not shot it) -



I lettered the rifle hoping that it would show it went to the Malcolm Scope Co, as JoeMartins did... but it did not, and that really was not a big surprise since the wear on the receiver indicated the gun saw a lot of use without the scope attached. I also hoped that with a manufacture date it would be easy to determine which rear barrel sight it originally may have had, but it was made right about the time they were changing from the No 14 RM sight to the No 15 WG. Based on wear patterns from the rear sight elevator I decided that most likely sight Was the No 15. The No 14 used a narrow standard type elevator that would have left an even width wear pattern with rather distinct sides and the No 15 had a very wide elevator with a rounded bottom that would have left a very wide wear pattern, which is what this had.

For anyone not familiar with the No 14 sight, it had rack & pinion gears to set the fine adjustment. These are very seldom found in working order, the teeth are so small that they are easily damaged and any rusting will eat them away. I have only had one where the gears worked & a couple others made up from several parts sights that looked good but the gears would not function.



Here's a video of a No 14 in action, it looks like a good idea, but I found that when the locking screw is moved to loosen or tighten it, the gear turns a little, so the slider moves, making it very hard to set - No 14 WG sight

When I got the gun it had a rough King rear with out an elevator, the sight was set as low as possible and the 'V' filed deeper too, probably because of the short front blade. (This picture also show the marks left by the previous owner from an attempt to remove the barrel.)



The gun went to the warehouse Dec 31, 1912 and shipped Jan 4, 1913 to Lee, Glass, Anderson Hardware of Omaha, Nebraska which is right about the time they would have been switching sights to the No 15. If it originally had a No 15 sight, it would not be one with the 1914 patent date. The patent application was filed Oct 26, 1912 which fits the time frame.

Up until about a year ago I did not own an 1899, but I had collected sights for them for many years, getting this 1899 and another one earlier this year, now gives me the opportunity to see what some of them look like on a rifle, so I did that for one that did not look like it would fit all that well, and it didn't! -









Now, in the opinion of the manufacturer, it was the best fitting sight for an 1899, maybe there is a later version, the design just does not seem to work well for a curved surface -



The front sights were probably pretty good -

Very cool.
The more I learn...the more I realize how little I know.
Thnx for sharing.

Very cool stuff, Gene!

Thanks, Gene.

Gene,
Thanks for the very informative post. I now know I have a 14 RM sight on my 1913 1899H .30-30.

If 1899H SNs help, from notes/pics: 130xxx, 135xxx and my 139xxx have the 14 RM rear sight on them; 185xxx has a 15 WG on it.

Keith, Thanks for the information, seems I may have to put a No 14 RM on it (it won't be the only No 14 I have that has good gears though!). Mine is serial number 1312xx, so two higher with the No 14 RM sight, and one by quite a bit. Were any of these lettered to know when they were sent to the warehouse?

Gene,
The first two are not mine; just data/pics I have. Mine is 139xxx; I did letter it. Letter says "It was accepted to the warehouse at the Savage, Utica, New York factory and was shipped on June 19, 1913 to the original cosignee listed to be Abercrombe & Fitch of New York City."

Thanks Keith, here it is with the correct sight on it -




I also want to thank JoeMartin again for the detail pictures of the Malcolm mounting hardware... now back to 22 rimfires.