Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 25-35 Take Down Barrels

From the thread this came from, (Dec. 24, 2017), I see that one can use a 25-35 take down in a 303 take down rifle. This also aplies to a 30-30 TD and a 25-35 TD.
My question is what were all the take down calibers Savage made available. And which ones were interchangable.
For instance, the 22 HP was made, ( I think ), exclusively as a TD. What interchangable barrels could be put on it?
What would stop a person from finding out what particular action aft of the barrel could be used with every take down barrel Savage made? And have a 4 or 5 barrel set for that one action?

The 25-35' s parent case was the 30-30, and the 22 HP's parent case was the 25-35, so I would think they would make good switch barrels. I took the barrel off my 1926 F 303 and tried putting 22 HP in the magazine. Only 3 rounds would go in, they did eject fine. But that was the only time I tried. Others with more experience will be along, Joe

The other thing about switch barrels is will all the different barrels index. I have a 22 HP barrel I've tried on 3 different actions and it won't index on any of them. It comes up about a 1/16 of a turn short. The front sight is leaning to the right and the index cut is just short of lining up, Joe.

Just to clarify ----- the 22 HP also came in a solid frame version called the 99E ( not to be confused with the newer 99E), now back to original programing.

.... and the EG and a few T’s

I never think of the .30-30 as being the parent case of the .25-35. The only thing the same is the head diameter and the rim. It would be the same as saying that the .38-55 is the parent case of the .30-30. Is it really? There's a lot of taper in a .25-35 case that isn't there in a .30-30 case. I sometimes wondered why Winchester didn't simply neck the .30WCF case down to .25 and call it a day.

As for barrel interchangeability, this has been hashed out to a fare-thee-well and boils down to making them all index and ending up with acceptable headspace- no small endeavor. Just about anything will feed through any rotor but usually only in one's and two's. To achieve a full five round magazine-full that will feed reliably one would have best luck with a dedicated rotor IME. The cartridge guide is every bit as important as the rotor but a lot of people overlook that.

Pretty much sums it up.

Cartridge guide is critical, won't work w/o the right one.

Sounds like the odds of coming up with a TD barrel that will fit any given receiver are the same as they are in Las Vegas - and as the old saying goes, "Vegas wasn't built on winners."

So I wonder if the set up from the original advert included 2 barrels guaranteed to work on that receiver and with that rotor and cartridge guide. would take a fair amount of checking to make that happen.

I understand other posters saying "you can't just mix and match with used parts" but it seems improbable that Savage would advertise a set that wouldn't work.

I think that just means Savage Arms was able to "tune" a rifle with limited barrel/caliber combinations.
They (designers) would have in depth knowledge, specs, etc. of the parts in question and understood the relationships between barrel/caliber and head space. Also the relationship between rotor and cartridge guide. Things we can only speculate on. Speculating is what I am doing now, I guess....

I think one could believe that Savage would special order a multi-barrel set if the combo were, say, .22HP and .25-35 or .30-30 and .303. I doubt they would have sold you a .300 and .22HP set without cautioning you about the rotor and guide issue. I wonder too if they ever did special order a differing multi-barrel set and also included the proper "guts" for each cartridge? Has anyone seen such a set from the factory? Also, how frequently did Savage actually kow-tow to such requests I wonder, if ever?

Man, that seems like a stretch to include the guts with a set for a rotor and cartridge guide swap, but what do I know?

Others have posted this letter previously. I have seen at least one older revision, content was basically the same.
#8 catches my eye.



Savage would sell/ship a .410 barrel, but I suspect that's about it.

My .410 barrel bought separately indexes properly on my 99D. It kills hole-digging varmints just fine. I've posted this pic before.

I've tried .410 barrels on some other rifles that didn't index properly so I don't know about that claim. The catalogs I've looked at say send the rifle back for fitting. David

I once read an old rifle ad that boasted certain small calibers as good for clearing vermin from around the camp site. Today we have varmint rifles for shooting prairie dogs at great distances. Seems to me in the past they should have called guns like David's "vermin rifles." I'm good for clearing vermin of all sorts at short distances.

Yea, I've read print both ways, install yourself or factory. I don't know, just digging around.
Seems indexing is important, but, maybe not as important on a .410 compared to a rifle. And maybe head space isn't as important on a .410 compared to a rifle. I don't know.
I've got a lone 24" .410 barrel that's never been mounted. I have a couple candidates to play with tomorrow.
Here is another that says "do it yourself".

That's weird, that ad doesn't mention the 24" .410 barrel. It came with the cased set and seems to be the most common .410 barrel around today. That ad would be about 1922 to 1925, maybe the 24" barrel was only offered with the cased set at that time. David

Store ads don't necessarily list everything Savage was selling.

Rory is correct.
The ad looks early/mid '20's and other than special order, weren't 24" barrels a standard offering ~'26? May explain it also.
Regardless, the vintage ads are both interesting and useful.