Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors What to do with this 1899B made in 1901?(Image heavy_

SN 19.116- Octagonal. 22" barrel.
30-30, bore appears good.
Someone has refinished the stock poorly and sanded too much when they did so.
I plan to strip it and work some lindseed oil in and bring it back original.

Should I make this a wallhanger?

Not sure if the front sight is a bubba job or not. Can't tell if the forearm matches, too much crappy stain and varnish to make out the digits.

What say you Savage Brethern? Shooter or wall hanger? I'm building a house in Montana overlooking Flathead Lake in 2018. I could put it over the fireplace mantle....







[img]https://photos.smugmug.com/1899-B-1901--30-30/i-XXFVzFh/2/aa024106/XL/20171119_162635-XL.jpg[/img]

[img]https://photos.smugmug.com/1899-B-1901--30-30/i-zfZLD9T/0/5e3e2cab/XL/20171119_162406-XL.jpg[/img]

Nice rifle, I vote for wall hanger. It has lots of great character and would look great over the fireplace.

Both.

That is a user what does the spent brass look like?

I’d hang it on the wall in the library and leave everything the way it is. I think it will look a little odd if you strip and redo the stocks. Your going to end up with redone heavily sanded stocks hung on a rifle with tough metal. Right now everything matches and, unless you do a complete restoration, anything else will look conspicuous and not good. Leave it alone and put your time and energy into another project.

It does look pretty cool on the bookshelf.

ctw,haven't shot it yet!
I was wondering if modern day 30-30 rds are even safe? Or should I reload low-pressure rounds for it?

S99VG, I like that answer best so far...I have so many other projects with higher priority...

Modern 30-30 ammo is fine, tho low or medium hand loads wouldn't be a bad idea. I think it'd be a ol wall hanger / range gun.

Thank Calhoun. Was hoping you'd weigh your experienced opinion here.

I might take it out to the range next time and fire her for good old time's sake, then put it back on the shelf.

So,the $10,000 question....

I was selling it for the widow,couple local Savage guys were interested,then not after handling it.

What should I offer the widow for the rifle? Or just return it to her? I'm thinking $150 Mantle piece price....

I would not want to be in your shoes.

Try to always be kind......can be kind of hard.

I'd say that since its a widow then you should offer what you think its worth and then some more. Or just give it back to her. As Angus said, "try to always be kind." And to that I'd add that what you get out of it is the act of being kind to someone, especially if the person is in need. The shoes are not hard to fill and its not a difficult thing to do, just be comfortable in your actions and don't worry about maybe paying a little too much. This isn't GB. Good luck in your decision, it shouldn't be a hard one to make.

That's why I like Angus, and you.

*Although Angus can get a little squirrelly and needs his better half to keep him in line. Still can't figger out what she gets out of that deal!

If you end up with the gun, I would leave the metal as-is. It tells a story that can't be denied. As for the wood, the garish finish on it now would have to go. I would strip it and lightly refinish it to preserve as much of its character as possible. It would certainly look at home over a mantel or in a library as well as look at home at the range or in the field. Guns like that are shooters as well as lookers to me.

That's the longest "both" I've ever read!

What good is owning a bunch of words if you don't use them?!

That ^^ is a concisely succinct singular elucidation of the proper use of eastern US vernacular in a narrative regarding the expounding and colorful stringing together of prose.

Near as I can tell using all the Google-Fu I can muster on short notice.

A walking lexicon, he is!

I don't know about Google-Fu but that one certainly Kung-Fu'd me up side my blind side!