Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 30-R caliber 1899my

Heirlooms are far from priceless.

"If for some reason the factory did it..."

Savage stated in their catalogs that they would not re-chamber a barrel. Being over stamped I would think it was not factory. Someone probably had a good reason for doing it at the time.

The "R" is clearly over-stamped on the second "30". This is obviously someone doing after-market work, and re-using the original 30-30 barrel. It was just labeled for future users to know something was changed... Tinkerbells have ethics too you know.

Chamber cast answers everything important, except "why?"

Get some Cerrosafe and make a casting of the chamber. Report back to us. I'm quite curious as to what has been done to your rifle.
Were it chambered for 30 Remington, the bolt face would need to be altered in such a way I think would be quite a task.

Were it a 30-30 improved, I'd think it would be stamped 30 AI.

There is a 30 R Blaser, but it was developed in 1991. I'm guessing this work predates that.

Granny didn't send ammo with it when she loaned it to you?

I can't believe I didn't see it before, but the R is definitely stamped over the 30. Thank you all for the help on this. I'll have a cast made to determine what casing it uses. I wonder why it was modified in the first place.

Some of the other rifles you spoke of were Remington's maybe the modification was for keeping things simple?

I don't have a clue. The model 11s just use normal 12 gauge shells and the Southfield is standard .22lr. I wish I had this info before. Maybe my grandma would have known. I'm really intrigued as to why it would have been rescheduled from something so common to something less common ( possibly).

If it is a 30 Remington a popular deer cartridge, it would have to have an extractor cut where the bolt face meets the back of the barrel for this rimless cartridge. His grandfather said, is was chambered in a cartridge similar to the 30-30 but without the rim around (the primer).

Looking at dimensions it appears that the 30 Rem is about .050 longer from base to shoulder. Would re-cambering maybe be a fix for a head space problem?

That's very much a possibility. I'm trying to get more information from relatives. My uncle said he thinks he might a have some ammo for it at his house. He's going to look. If any work was done it was before he was old enough to remember. I took more pictures of the rifle to upload. Not sure what model it is either. Serial number is 178077 and has a circled H stamped on the lever boss. She's gonna need a good restore. She was definitely a hunting rifle and not a family show piece. Lol

Here's a couple of pics of the chamber and bolt

This. If I had hung onto everything of my dad's granddad's I wouldn't have room to breathe.

Where is the ammo you used when you hunted with it? I really can't believe someone rechambered it to .30 Remington. I just tried make .30R's feed through a .30-30 and they didn't work wort a tinker's dam.

I think a box of ammo was sent with the gun. However I never got to hunt with it (got in trouble and got grounded). I have no idea what happened to the ammo. It would have made this a lot easier if I had it though

20" or 22" barrel? Looks to me like a 20", making it a takedown model 1899H. Stock has been sanded and refinished, may not be the original butt plate, but should work and hunt just fine.

Butt plate has the Savage stamp on it so I'm pretty sure that's original.

I haven't measured the barrel

It may be a Savage plate, but it may be the wrong one. The 1899 H had a Rubber Butt Plate. A steel shotgun butt plate was available on special order. I'd keep that gun just as it is. Once you restore it, it will be just another Savage. Keep that one for the memories and buy a couple more for the cool factor. If it's still a 30-30 that's cool right there. Keep up the work on solving the mystery, that adventure would be enough to keep it the way it is, Joe.

Looks like it's missing the carrier spring screw. The one that locks tension on the spring.

It's definitely an 1899H. It has the small integral base front sight. I wouldn't do anything to but replace the magazine carrier screw. David

As Calhoun mentioned, it is a take down rifle. If you decide to take it down, pull the tab on the for end down and it pops off. Open the lever and the barrel unscrews. It won't unscrew with the lever up. Don't try to force it if it's tight, just leave it. I only take mine down when I clean them, Joe.