Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Lyman 30 1/2 Question

Over the last couple of years I have picked up two Lyman 30 1/2 tang sights. The first one came off a gray rat 99 RS that had been d&t. It has a base that is about 2 3/4 inches long.

The second one I recently purchased from Ken Bean, and it is in about 95% condition. It has a base that is only about 2 1/4 inches long. The 1/2" difference in length is between the rear screw hole and the vertical portion of the sight.

The only sight reference I have is Nick Stroebel's Old Gunsights. It mentions that these sights were discontinued by 1955, but it makes no mention of two variations of the sight. Since the Lyman 29 1/2 is the same sight except for the fold down peep instead of the screw in aperture I assume the same variations would be found in those too.

Does anyone know when the change in base length was made?

Thanks.

Here are the variations, not sure of when changes occurred. Tom

Is the hole spacing the same among all the sights?

Is the second from the left included as a test?

I believe Rick provided this photo of the sights a year or 2 back. Tom

Yes.

The 3rd from the right isn't a 30 1/2 either.

The short tang 29 1/2 and 30 1/2 are later sights. Some have the full address and some (last production) only state "LYMAN".

Hole spacing is 1 1/8".

My take is that the sight on the far left is a Lyman 103. The one next to it is a Lyman 102. The third from the right is a 29 1/2. That leaves three long base 30 1/2 and two short base 30 1/12.

Looks like I need to find a 90%+ condition long base 29 1/2 or 30 1/2 to be totally correct on my 1931 rifle.

It would still be interesting to know exactly when Lyman made the change, and perhaps more importantly, why?

Thanks for the help guys.

I don't think you will find the short tangs on RS's.

They might have been made at startup after the war...?

I saw the King mixed in with the Lymans to.