IMO the only sling fit for a Springfield .22 is a M1907 military sling, either original (pricey for a nice usable one) or a quality repro.
My barrel date is 2-1930, the month and year my Mom was born. But the gun started life in 1927 as an M1. Like I said, it made it to the civilian world one piece at a time. M2 production started in 1933 and ended in 1942. Brophy reported that the highest serial number he was aware of was #12328, with records ending at 11171 for July, 1942. With so few of the guns made (2000+ M1922's, 20,000 M1's, and 12,000 M2's) it's a miracle they aren't priced a lot more these days. (Each of the 3 models had their own serial number series.)
The saga of the .22 Springfield ended with the growing popularity of the M52 Winchester. After all, the main reason for the gun's existence was to fill a niche for a quality/accurate/heavy enough .22 bolt gun for the then extremely popular smallbore position shooting competition. As soon as commercial interests rose to the challenge, the gov't saw no reason to stay in the manufacturing game. Since then to this day the gov't has always purchased their .22 training/target rifles rather than build their own.
To try to tie all this in with Savages, the M1919 was Savage's attempt at a .22 bolt target gun. (Bolt guns of all ilks took off in popularity with the return of the Doughboys from WWI.) Even though they had excellent barrels, their one piece receiver/barrel assembly was frowned upon by the top shooters (as mentioned in articles in ancient American Rifleman's)*, and even though they had passably good triggers their light weight and crummy sights kept them out of the hands of serious competitors. The writers of the day, guys like Ness and Landis, recommended them as entry level guns with which to learn the basics and to use while saving the nickels to buy a Springfield, M52, or Winchester/Ballard/Stevens/Martini single shot.
*Remember, that was still the era of corrosive .22 ammo. A brain fart in the cleaning protocols could very well result in a rusted bore necessitating a barrel swap- a near impossibility with a M1919. Another gaff on the part of Savage engineers along with the 1-14" twist .250's.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 09/14/17.
