Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Problems with 1899C

Hello all, I have unique problem that I'm hoping someone could help me out with. A couple of weeks ago I had posted some pics of an 1899c in 30-30 I picked up at a local gun show. I brought it home and went through it and discovered that the pin holding the sear into place was buggered up, and when properly tightened, prevented the trigger from moving freely. So I luckily had a parts 1899 that I could steal a screw from and the problem was solved. One other issue that was present was that the lever was rather difficult to initially move when in the completely closed position. That seemed to be greatly lessened when I replaced the screw so I didn't think much of it. But today I took the gun to the range to shoot for the first time and the lever issue became significantly worse. To the point where after shooting 11 shots, I didn't think I was going to be able to get the lever to open and get the empty case out. It's not an extraction issue because I'm using factory ammo, and the lever is sticking in the completely shut position. Once I'm able to get the lever to move the case comes out of the chamber just fine, and without a set back primer as I have seen on my other Savage 30-30's. I brought the gun home and removed the butt stock and put a few drops of oil on the rear of bolt as well as the bolt/lever interface. It seems to be working better with the extra lubrication, but I was curious as to wether or not anyone else with early M1899's have experienced this issue? My SN:31,xxx so it's a pretty early gun, and this is the first one that old I've shot. I have several other M99's with the rounded rear bolt and never had any troubles with them. Thanks for any help you can offer.

That is the old style bolt with the external hammer retractor. The hammer retractor engages the sear screw. They tend to break. Check out the hammer retractor to see if one side of it has broken off.

Hmm, interesting.
My thought was just "tuning" the lever as you have successfully instructed me previously with the old girls.
One step at a time....

[quote=Lightfoot]That is the old style bolt with the external hammer retractor. The hammer retractor engages the sear screw. They tend to break. Check out the hammer retractor to see if one side of it has broken off.[/quote

there is also a small screw in the side of the bolt that holds the firing pin in , I have found that they can be bent or broken,,buggers to get out when they are.

norm

posted below is a pic of the bolt area. Is the half circle bit the one you are talking about?
http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/morgan4542002/20180128_220256_zpsndlvgdhx.jpg

On the other side the screws are tight and flush.
http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/morgan4542002/20180128_222131_zpsnsosc0rh.jpg

I can dry fire it and and cycle the action just fine. Maybe I'll just have to head back to the range next weekend to see if the oil did the trick.

seeing as its apart toggle the horse shoe there is a spring behind it .
things look ok

if you reload try 4-5 less grains of powder.

take pics of action now ,after you fire it and its jammed ,take stock off and see if the sear screw or trigger is getting in the way.

norm

ps do not dry fire that will bend that screw i was talking about, even a spent cartridge is better than nothing.

Its possible that the lever got sprung and the lever bite got tightened ,it would act the same way.

Proper adjustment of the sear screw is another problem with the old style bolt models. Below 90K SN there is no lock nut on the sear screw. The sear screw is not meant to be torqued down. From the pics of you gun it looks like the sear screw protrudes from the right side of the receiver. As built, it would have been flush with the receiver surface. Try backing off the sear screw and see what happens. I've also seen guns above 90K with the sear screw over tightened despite the lock nut being added to accommodate the correct adjustment.