Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 100 Year Old 250-3000

Nice pair, dear Oldgrouser!

There's a 99F in 300 Sav. standing in the gun cabinet. It sports a Meopta 1,5-42 Artemis glass in EAW quick detachable mounts.

I believe it dates back to the late 50's or something near.

Talking of the french, they are still prolific users of 300 Savage rifles in general.

Reason is the following: up to september 2013, possession of any firearm chambering any military cartridge ever used anywhere on the planet was subject to:

-the holding of a valid sport shooter licence,
-a medical examination signed by a physician,
-a recommandation by the president of a gun club,
-a police investigation, and ultimately the delivery by local authorities of an authorization to possess said firearm for a limited period of time, subject to renewal.

In case of interruption of shooting activities and non-renewal of the shooter's licence, such weapons had to be sold or disposed of.

For these reasons the 308 Win. caliber was seldom seen and used by french sport shooters.

They would rather purchase and use 300 Sav. caliber rifles which could be purchased freely and possessed for life.

Truth is that, given the right barrel and action, the 300 Sav. is as accurate as the 308 Win. and equally useful at ranges over 600 yards.

Very well written and extremely interesting. Thank you.

Oldshot, hard to tell, pics are dark, is that gun drilled and tapped for a Lyman #54 rear peep sight or not?

In response:

No provision for any peep-sight. Peep-sights were issued on the later Savage 1920 Models.

The rifle is the early model in fully original, untouched condition. The rust blueing is original and 99%, save for the bolt body whose blue is fading due to cycling.

The stock retains the original varnish. No sling swivels. The checkering is sharp with no dings.

This is indeed a very trim, lightweight rifle. If I were in Europe I would certainly have a custom scope mount in Mannlicher-Schoenauer claw-mount fashion made for it, either in Germany or in Austria.

This rifle would for sure become a conversation piece.

I would not hesitate one second to use it for wild boar and red deer stand hunting, though I have read somewhere that the very slim barrels of the early versions 300 Sav. Model 1920 did not like the 180 grains bullets very much.

They were made with the 150 grains bullet in mind.

I am 68 next February and live in Canada for the past 6 years. I am a dedicated user of optics and will probably never shoot the little piece which is also of minor interest to my son who's left-handed and over-equipped with rifles of various calibers.

Again, I have no explanation as to why this rifle is in near new condition after all the years. I do not know the previous owner and the store who sold it to me would not divulguate his identity.

I was simply told that it belonged to a senior citizen who brought it to the store to sell it for old age reasons.

I was aware of the existence of the Savage Model 1920 for reading De Haas's "Bolt-Action Rifles" many years ago but I had never come across any such rifle.

Obviously the rifle did not stir up the interest of the store's gunsmiths and employees and no customer asked to take a closer look at it.

Well, you Folks know darn well where the trend is nowadays with regards to firearms.

Talk to You,

Oldshot

Nice! Great history!

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! Good God man, don't you dare! It would kill all the worth the gun had!

Yes, the #54's were a factory provision on the 20/26's but a lot of 1920's with serial numbers below yours were either drilled and tapped for the 54 or are still wearing them. Now whether they were done post factory or added at the factory we may never know but I've seen more of them wearing or drilled and tapped for them than I have without.

I've seen a few without checkering as well that I believe were factory stocks, the fit and finish is identical to the checkered stocks.

Hi'Bwana mad dog:

I confirm: positively no sign of any drilling/tapping on the bolt sleeve (or elsewhere).

The rifle's serial number is 7710 and I presume rifles of the same production period came with the sporting open rear sight only.

Of course I understand your reluctance toward mounting an optic on the rifle and the logic behind it.

I will offer the rifle for sale if anybody is interested because I believe that collectors must be given access to firearms in original condition.

With regards to this, I like to mention that Savage Arms maintains a beautiful collection of firearms and various articles produced over the years, including a washing machine at their plant in Westfield.

I was priviledged to visit the collection in the early 90's under the guidance of Carl Hildebrand then Savage's Senior firearms engineer.

The Mod. 99 was still made, but it was very expensive to produce.

I have bagged a fair number of game animals with either my own series A 300 Sav. or 358 Win. of the early 70's. Both rifles were left in Europe and continue to hunt in the hand of friends I met over the french Tirmailly forum.

The vintage Mod. 99 that thrones in the gun cabinet belongs to my son. It was purchased for him at a small gunshop in the Gatineau area around 1998.

He also owns a vintage Mod. 110 in left-handed version. This one chambers the 270 Win. round and still has the horseshoe extractor upfront the bolt. The original stock was re-shaped/ rewamped and checkered by the late gunsmith Charles Marboeuf ("Armor Arms"/ Hochelaga street, Mtrl.) who was a very good friend of mine.

I did send piuctures of the finished rifle to Carl Hildebrand and this may well be the debut of Savage's Mod. 14/114 Classic rifles series, for the ressemblance is obvious.

At any rate, it became my son's pet rifle and he bagged a large number of roe-deer, wild boar and red-deer with it in Alsace.

If you ever fall short of Savage parts, the Company's bible is Ms. Effie Sullivan. Hopefully she 's still at the employ of the firm in Westfield.

Our friendship with Savage started in the early 90's when Savage Arms Canada accepted to provide my son with a heavy barrelled 22 LR bolt-action repeater. The platform for this rimfire rifle was the Lakefield 900 target rifle. It was delivered to him with a hardwood stock that Savage later replaced at no charge with a black/gray laminate. About 3 years after the initial purchase, Carl Hildebrand sent us the improved trigger group for the rifle that served extensively for varminting and training purposes.

A key person at Savage Canada was Ms. Heather Martin then responsible for the customer desk. She was always extremely kind and responsive towards the demands of the pre-adolescent would-be hunter.

Consequently I have regularly recommended Savage Arms to french hunters and shooters for the years I spent in France, both in person and as a forumner in front of the computer's screen.

Terry Mc. Cullough, present V.P. of Savage Arms Canada is a man of great class, flair and personal involvement. He was helpfull getting my 250 cal. Savage Mod. 14 from Westfield.

I have lots of respect for several other firearms manufacturers, but Savage Arms is in a class of it's own.

This is one time I wish the border wasn't there. I appreciate our conversations.

Ya, I saw your serial number was in the 77XX range, I've seen 1920's with serial numbers lower than that wearing #54's though, all it means was that yours left the factory without being drilled and tapped for one.

I've got a 20/26 in 300 Sav in 98% myself so I'm not going to jump on yours as the safes are jammed now, even though I'm only 1 province over from you.

Congratulations for the nice pieces!

The above picture obviously shows a late model 1920 with heavier stock and sling swivels, peep sight, heavier barrel and swept back bolt handle.

Should you or anybody else ever wish to acquire an early model you all know there's one in the neighbourhood.

So long!

Are the .30/06, .30/40 Krag and 7.62x54R treated as military cartridges as well?

Fascinating submission Old Shot - I really enjoyed it. I wish I could read French but as you say, the pictures speak for themselves

Fortunately that is not the case around this forum! Just look at Kaywoodie's campsite for Heaven's sake And Hat!

They are military cartridges and were treated as such by the french authorities up to september last year.

So were the 7x57 Mauser, 8x57 Mauser, 8x57I, 8x57JS, 6.5x55 swede, 6.5x54 M-S, 6.5 Carcano aso.

An exception was the 45-70.

At present, the 223 Rem. is still restricted in France, as well as a couple of russian calibers.

The former firearms regulation found it's roots in the 1939 firearms regulation which would remain almost unchanged until 2013.

French politicians are extremely shy with regards to firearms ownership by ordinary citizen, probably due to the fact that frenchmen have been historically prone to chopping their heads since the Revolution of 1789.

That is an awesome rifle!!

I have a 1899 250-3000 takedown i got from my dad. He had gotten it from a family friend in the 70s. But it was made the same year, according to a website I had looked it up on. Same model, except my trigger is only has vertical grooves.

It wasnt as fortunate as yours and suffered some barrel pitting somwhere along the way. But it shot well under minute of deer until I learned about copper solvents at 18 and proceeded to clean the filler out of the potholes! lol Anyways, I had it rebarrelled a few years ago and now it shoots terrific!! It has put many a deer on the table for me and my dad and untold numbers for the owners that first 60 years or so.

Thank you for leading back to the subject at hand, WB.

Glad to hear you're still hunting your 250. Post a few photos if you can.

Personally, I get excited when a working firearm has unmolested screws after years of faithful service. That is one of the details that convinced to jump for this rifle - the screws on the fore end, lever and receiver were all clean and straight.

Last Friday, I took my old 250-3000 out to the woods to put a few rounds down the pipe. It preformed flawlessly cycling and ejecting shells. Now I need to take it to the rifle range and seriously shoot a few more hand-loads at targets at 50 and 100 yards. I'm hoping for the kind of accuracy that gave these old Savage rifles the stellar reputation as shooting weapons.

That is a sweet rifle, Bert. I would jump at the chance to own its twin. Factory varnish on the wood?

No.The walnut on the rifle maintains the original red stain in places but has been given an oil finish. It was not uncommon for the owners to refresh the wood to seal it against the elements as these were working guns before we deemed them collectable.