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.

Better theory is if I just look on the next page!

The ad doesn't mention the Model 99E which was offered at that time. Probably not enough space on the page for the E and the 24" barrel. I had never seen an ad that said it included a cleaning rod. Anyone know what it looked like? My very early cased set came with a cleaning rod and some other things that I thought someone had added later. David

Not really any proper space for it in the case. Wonder if that was something that store included with every sale? Need to see a Savage catalog for same time to be sure, or other ads from other retailers.

Good question. I've seen a cased set for sale online that mentioned cleaning kit as well. Showed a brownish pouch with a flap, snap and a 3 piece rod. No idea of origin.
Hopefully someone with some hands on with cased sets chimes in. Factory added? Retailer added? Theory?

Drifted some there with the .410 & cleaning kit.

Back to 25-35 combos. Found a few more ads. Looks like quite a push back in the day promoting both a large game rifle and small game rifle combo. I guess not unlike the .410 barrel scenario.
And some worry about using a .358 or .375.

Rick, those are neat ads. David

I wonder what year that ad was from?

The prices seem very high to have been from the Great Depression.

A 99H carbine in 30-30 is priced at $62.20, which is probably twice or three times as much as Winchester was charging for a comparable 94.

The 99C and 99D were last cataloged before 1929. The 1920 was $90 that is unbelievably high priced.

Well, we know that the 1920 morphed into the 20/26 in July 1926 and was superseded by the 40/45 Super Sporters in 1928, so this ad must have been printed with an 18 to 24 month period. 1920s were always priced a little higher than the 99G, but at $90 they seem to be priced right out of the market, so it isn't any wonder that they didn't sell particularly well.

Notice that the illustration appears to be a 1920, open rear sight and no Lyman #54, but the description reads that it has a capped pistol grip and a Lyman #54. The 20/26 was never cataloged with a capped pistol grip or an open rear sight, but it was always cataloged with a Lyman #54. Confusion reins, situation normal.

The 99H was introduced in 1922. The C and D were dropped with the introduction of the medium weight barrel in all models. The ad was probably between 1922 and 1926 for this reason. The only difference between the C and D and the E and F before the changeover was that the C and D had the rifle weight barrel and the E and F had the lightweight barrel. When all models went to the medium weight barrel there would have been no difference between a C and E and no difference between the D and F. Savage must have dropped the C and D designations for that reason. David

Since the illustration appears to be a 1920 and the text in the description is an inaccurate mix of the attributes of both the 1920 and the 20/26, it must have been written after Savage announced or made the transition from 1920 to 20/26 style. We know that the production transition from 1920 to 20/26 style happened in July 1926, but I don't know when the change was announce.

The prices seem much higher than I would have expected to have seen during the mid-1920s.

The C and D models didn't sell very well and there could have been leftovers for some time after the model was discontinued.
My reproduction 1925 Catalog shows the following prices:
Models A and C $37.50
Models B and D 42.00
Model 99 Carbine 34.00
99E 39.50
99F 43.75
99G 48.00
Shotgun barrel $10
300 Savage Combination Kit 70.50
Model 20 50.00
The Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlet & Co. ad is way out of line compared to the 1925 Savage catalog. I wonder if the catalog could be Canadian, Australian or New Zealand where the exchange rate was unfavorable? David

Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.

This leading hardware dealership was the descendant of a Chicago store called Tuttle, Hibbard & Co., which took that name in 1855 when William G. Hibbard became a partner. In 1865, Hibbard was joined by Franklin F. Spencer, and the enterprise was renamed Hibbard & Spencer. By 1867, the company's annual sales of hardware had reached $1 million. When longtime company employee A. C. Bartlett became a partner in 1882, the company's name became Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett & Co. When Spencer died in 1890, the company was already among the leading wholesalers of hardware in the United States. In 1903, the year Hibbard died, the company opened a 10-story warehouse next to State Street Bridge in downtown Chicago. In 1932, the company introduced a new line of hand tools under the brand name “True Value.” By 1948, Hibbard's annual sales reached nearly $30 million. Business slowed and profits were shrunk, however, as new hardware cooperatives began to bypass traditional wholesalers. In 1962, the company's owners, who wanted to move into the real-estate business, sold the hardware operations and the “True Value” brand to John Cotter for $2.5 million. See also True Value Hardware.

That shoots that theory down. Pun intended. David

Looks like Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. had ~75% margin over Savage Arms MSRP.
Overall, HS&B appears quite successful in history. Still need buyers though.

I wonder if Chicago or Illinois had prohibitions against buying guns out the city or of state at that time? Otherwise I don't see how they could get away with that. David