Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1899A .25-35 Problem.

I have an 1899A in .25-35 made in 1905. I've had it checked out by 2 different gunsmiths in my area (San Antonio ,Tx) and both said it suffers from excessive head space and do not shoot. I'm looking for possible ways to get this rifle back in action. Right now it's hanging proudly on my living room wall. The stock is a perchbelly that had been broken and repaired. The repair job is good. It has about 80-85% bluing. Does anybody have any ideas?

Depending on the OD of the barrel, a liner may be installed. The liners are not visable from the outside. Redmans has been doing the installations for years. Your barrel may not be thick enough for the drilling procedure <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I would call Redmans and talk to them. Let us know what you find out.

.....(thinks to hisself)...hmmm...hotloads...

The headspace problem could quite possibly be corrected by a really good barrel man by cutting new barrel shank threads and turning the barrel in by one or two rotations and then reaming the chamber to the proper headspace. This procedure would be worthwhile only if the bore was in decent condition. It would be necessary to shorten the forend at the junction of the forend with the receiver in order to match the forend screw hole with the threaded stud on the barrel which will have been set back as the barrel is turned into the receiver by one or two rotations. Certainly a procedure involving alot of work but probably worthwhile if the bore is in good condition and the rifle is worth saving. The only gunsmith that I have had this sort of experience with has departed this planet and I know of no other with his competence. There must be others worthy of the task. Good luck. Beware of "klutses", amatuers, and "know-it-all" self annointed "experts".

I don't know...I once had a 'smith tell me the same thing about a model 94, but firing the rifle was safe...have you fired this gun? The headspace gauge for these guns is a coin sized disc that tells you the distance between the bolt face and the rear rim of the cartridge on a rimmed caliber.
If you fire this with a 25-35 load, and have a backed out primer, or a case head separation, then you have excessive head space. But without firing, I think that you will never know for sure whether you have this or not.
Firing this gun with headspace trouble can be risky.
As for re-lining the bore...the 1899A has a heavy barrel, and would be able to handle a heavier caliber that .25. It might be worth doing a 250 Savage or some other caliber with more clout. See my note regarding the re-lining of the barrel of an old 1899H under the recent listing "25-35".

Best wishes,

rooster

If you re-line it to 250 you are defeating the purpose, same bore size, go to a 30-30 at least or my favorite 303 Savage, then you just hacve to get it rechambered and bored, no relining needed. Les

Thanks for the info. Yes, I have fired it and had primers back out. That was when I took it to the gunsmiths. If I fix it, I want to keep it a .25-35. I'm at a point where I'm not wanting to sink a ton of money into it. I doubt that I could find a new barrel to match the looks of the original.

Contact info :
Redmans Rifling and Reboring
Randall Redman
189 Nichols Rd.
Omak, WA 98841
509-826-5512

I don't think a 1905 action was heat treated to handle the .250 load. We have information that indicates that Savage heat treated only the .250 and .300 actions till around 1926. After that they were all treated.

Watch for head seperation. You will see a bright ring around the outside and if you run stiff wire down the inside you will feel a ring where the metal is thinning.

You might be able to take some of the slop out by reloading so that the case seats against the shoulder rather than the case rim.

Does the lever lock up good and tight?

It seems to lock up tight. However, when I fired it (over a year ago) I saw what I thought was scorching on the next round in the mag. That and the pushed primers caused to have the rifle checked out.

I have no knowledge of relining barrels and will look into that. Of course, it will depend on how much $$$$ it will take to get her in shootin form. It looks good on the wall, but I want to shoot it.

cowchip,
I'm in the same boat w/an 1886 winchester in 40-65 that was my Gramps huntin' rifle...
It's unadulterated...and if ever...i'd like to be able to put it back thata way....
Soooo....
1)New Badger tube in 45-70 caliber was 450$
(the 40-65 tube was used up,so it will be taken off and put away) 26" full oct.
2)Montana Vintage Arms has a Marbles repro combination tang for 233$ shipped to my smith.
3) front sight may end up being the original.I kinda dig the original buckhorn rear too!
4)Labor...not sure how much yet.

The thought of having the reciever REcasecolored was abolished for this reason.>> it would be to pretty to use if it was recasecolored.
I wanna shoot mine too...and 45-70 caliber is readily available over the counter.I've every intention of shooting a brown bear in Ak. w/mine

This restoration biz in not for the feint of heart when it comes to droppin dough on um...

I checked last year on getting a 25-35 relined and it was around $260.00 at two differant places...I got the phone # from gun-list paper..

Is a reline going to do anything for a head space problem??

Lightfoot, my understanding of the lining process is that a entire new chamber is cut after the liner is in place, so the headspace would be corrected at that time.

you are right..

The re-reaming is to cut a throat in the liner and clean up the end of it. If the chamber is already too long or the rim too far from the bolt face(excess headspace) it will still be too long or too far.