Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage Model 20 questions

My entire gun collection consists of mainly lever action rifles and a few single shot rifles. Believe it or not but I don't have one bolt action rifle in my name.

I have two model 99 rifles and kind of got the bug at the moment for collecting Savages. I've been reading up on the Model 20 and really like the looks of this rifle. It seems to set itself apart from most bolt actions of yesterday and today.

What's the groups feeling on this rifle (like, dislike, etc)?

I'm I too late to find a good example on the market for a reasonable price?

What should one watch out for when looking for a Model 20?

I have owned over 100 Savage 1920s and 20/26 over the past 40 years and still have 38 of them, plus parts. They have really bad triggers, so 2" groups are more common than sub-MOA. The nicest of the group of 4 is the 1920 in 250-3000, a classic light-weight mountain rifle, even better if it has a Lyman #54 peep sight installed.

What to look for? For a shooter, almost anything. For a collector, condition and no extra holes. The 1920 and 20/26 were never factory d&t for any after-market sigths, except for the bolt shroud being factory d&t for the Lyman #54 early in the production run.

JEff

Love them,lightweight, classic lines, esp the checked Model 20, none nicer looking. 250/3000 is more difficult to find, hence more dollars. Not the best triggers.

Nice ones can still be found if you dont mind the cost.
Stay with org as produced to protect your investment, no extra holes, swivels, changed sights, pads.

Have a 300 and looking for a 250 that I can afford. GW

Guess I messed up, about 4 years ago the gun shop here in town had one 250-3000.Had a peep sight on the bolt and a single-set trigger. Talked him down to $400 walk-out-the-door then changed my mind and bought something different.

Have had a few single-set triggers, this one was really weird, the way it worked. I don't know if it was factory or not???

What are they running now??

What's the main problem with the triggers? Hard pull, just compared with what's available today?

What kind of options where available for the Model 20?
Of course I knew the came in 250 and 300SAV, and maybe 30-06. But what kind of buttplates, triggers, sights, stocks, etc., were available.

I would REALLY like to see a 1920 with a set trigger... that would be neat.

As far as I have seen there were no standard option, that said, you could probably get what ever you wanted, butt pad, swivels, sling, up graded checkering, nicer wood, etc. I doubt they had a trigger option and ti was never available in 30-06 just 250 and 300, that's it.

ottsm,

The complaint is that usually the Model 1920s have a lot of creep before the trigger breaks, like the 1903 Springfield rifles on which they are patterned.

Steve- 1899SAV, IIRC posted instructions awhile back for tweaking trigger on these rifles. As 260Rem stated earlier, when chambered in 250-3000 combined with a Lyman peep sight, these are delightful rifles to carry and hunt. I was beside myself when I found my rifle at a gun show a few years back; it is Model 20, serial #80XX, chambered for 250 and came with the peep sight. Groups under 1 1/2" at 100 yards are common with this rifle.

In the "SAVAGE&STEVENS ARMS, 4th Edition" on Page 173 it states that a few were made in 30-06 with 24" brrls. Of course this may not be accurate or they were experimental. Don't think I'll ever see one anyway, just as soon of a 250 or 300.

Maybe Jeff will have some insight into this, I have never seen it offered in 30-06 in the catalog and would be surprised if the action/ magazine was long enough for a 30-06.

The savage 40 and 45 were offered in 30-06.

The model 20 is basically a short action mauser. Really ahead of their time didnt seem to catch on.Never chambered in 30-06 just 300 sav. and 250-3000.Got curious and pulled out my 20 in 300 sav. No way a loaded 30-06 round will fit but an empty case does fit in magazine. Ditto on the 40 and 45,i have seen one and it just seemed to me like a plainly and cheaper made gun than the model 20.

The Savage 1920 was the step-child of a design that was originally intended as a long action military rifle in 30-06 to supplement the Springfield 1903 as a main battle rifle sometime before the U.S. entered WW1 in 1917. The 1917 U.S. Enfield was selected to fill that role for the U.S. during WW1, so the Savage was set aside. After WW1, Savage redesigned the 1920 as a short action rifle for the 250-3000 and subsequently added the 300 Savage in 1921.

There were some long action military and sporting proto-type, "job shop specials", built, probably fewer than 20 and probably fewer than 10. The military proto-types were made in 30-06, for the U.S., 7x57, for the Central/South American trade, and in 303 British for the UK. The sporting proto-types were made in 256 Newton and 30-06.

There is a picture of a long action military proto-type and a long action sporting proto-type next to each other in Stuart Otteson's Bolt Action Rifles, Volume 2.

JEff

jeff, you ever seen (personally) or owned any of these prototype or job shop specials? An 1920 in 7x57 would be really cool.

Drew,
Fixed it for ya.

I have seen a military proto-type in 30-06 and a sporting proto-type, also in 30-06, but have not owned any. The Kittery Trading Post, in Kittery, Maine, had several of these proto-types cross their counters about 23 years ago. Many of the Savage Reference Collection gun were purchased by a guy named Peter Dowd, who owned the Village Gun Shop in ??, Massachusetts. Dowd, in turn, sold a lot of the Savage rifle that he bought to a dealer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, J.R. "Lash" LaRue and to the Kittery Trading Post, either directly or via LaRue.

Mark Benenson, who used to be "Mickey", once owned the 256 Newton proto-type and offered to sell it to me sometime in the late 1990s. He ended up selling it to a guy in Texas by the name of John Smyrl/Smyrls(?) and Bruce Jennings had it in his collection before he died and his collection sold. I have heard that it is now somewhere on the East Coast, maybe in Pennsylvania, but I don't know for sure and Jennings' Daughter, who sold his collection, has kept the buyer's name confidential.

JEff

Bert
That Rifle is a very fine looking specimen.

I know Steve has some beautiful restocked 20's, which I wouldn't mind seeing again, but does anyone have a factory rifle with fancy wood they want to show off? Not much exposed metal but how about engraving?

Did the model 20 come with sling swivels near the front forearm schnoble? I believe the "SAVAGE&STEVENS ARMS, 4th Edition" mentions about slings but how to tell what is factory and what is aftermarket?

Who makes Model 20 reproduction stocks?

http://www.gunstocksinc.com/web_pages/Plate-pics/Stevens-stocks/Rifle-stocks.htm
Never used them. They do advertise them.