Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Never knew any 99 sights were painted

1928 99G front sight, Rick tells me they did that then.

So much to learn, such limited brain capacity.

New to Me too.
Tnx for sharing Rory!


Now have to get out the old rustolum paint and do some touch up

we've heard over and over NEVER SAY NEVER

plab

Just remember, Steve, the barrels and receivers were NOT painted!

Though there are some painted Savages out there...

I don't know that it was really paint per se. Wasn't it called 'sight black' back in the day?

Rick thought it might be "Japan Black", maybe not a paint so much as a baked on lacquer or varnish.

Looks like paint tho.

My eyes are getting old, but is it possible I might see a tool mark on the sight and then somebody touched it up with black paint?

Prolly not

Huh. I never knew that either. Thanks!

I bet it was Japan black. It was quite popular back then as a cheap finish for metal bits. You can scratch it off like paint though. "Sight black" was used to blacken sights to cut glare when target shooting, and still used today by old dinosauers who persist in shooting with iron sights. Most common source of that back then was the soot from the flame of a carbide miner's lamp. Those things were found in every serious target shooters range box, and they didn't use them to see their targets!

We should have a party in Loggah's vault and go down the rows scratching every front sight with a pen knife to see which ones were painted and which ones were blued- to establish a data base for the enrichment of us all. Think he would mind??

Umm... you ever seen those Don't Mess with Sasquatch commercials? You try it first!

Have to agree with Rory on that!

When Savage went to the medium weight barrel with ramp front sight the full sight was silver in color (German silver) and coated with the Japan black except for the top of the blade. It flaks off pretty easy. Around the 37x,xxx (1938) range they stopped coating them. If the rifle has been used a lo it may only show in he very protected areas.

Another of those small details that you see but don't think about.

Anyone scratchin my front sights better come with a big fat "WALLET" !!!!!!

Glad I live on the left coast. These days can't even afford the trip let alone the price for defiling those front sights.

Saw gas at $2.95 a gallon here today,cheapest its been in 4 years !!! The only way to get the economy going is cheap fuel!!

The media harped on the housing crash as being the Great Economy Killer, but it never was IMO. It was then that gas went over $4 a gallon. Our discretionary income went in the gas tank.

We've got three stations out here selling for $2.73 and we've got the third highest gas tax in the nation. At that price I could almost drive my F250 halfway to your place and back.

AND BRING BACK JOBS INSTEAD OF OUTSOURCING

Back to the original subject, I finally found where I had these sights put away. I have always thought the three on the left were Savage and possibly the one on the right - it has a crack & has had the bead cut back making it hard to identify. I have seen copper colored ones on rifles and just looked at a 99 with one like the 2nd from left this weekend.

The first two from left are made in two pieces with both pieces of the same material, the two on the right are one piece - none of these sights are magnetic.

First on left was used till end of WWII...maybe end of Utica.
Second from left is `50's
Third from left `60's and later? Some have numbers on left side (early?) and some have on the right (later?). I don't have enough post `60's rifles to say more than that.
I don't think the one on the right is Savage but not 100% sure.