Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Interesting Model 6 semi-auto

I was bidding on this one, I was going to be out of town the day of the auction so I couldn't live bid (maybe a good thing), so I left what I thought was a decent bid through Proxibid on the day of the auction. I thought I had a chance to to win it with that bid but when I got home & checked I had been out bid - not real surprised about that, there had been a lot of activity with the pre-bidding. I really wanted to see this one up close and was hoping I could win it.

proxibid/Savage-22/Catalog=3968#

I would like to hear a few comments on this before giving mine so I don't influence any ones opinion. The one thing I will say now though is be kind commenting on the size of the winning bid if you think it's ridiculous for a 22... with 20% buyers premium too, like I said I wasn't real surprised I got outbid, but it was only by $25.00 (don't know how that happened when they say the bid increments at that range were to be $100.00).

I am not 100% sure of this guns origins but I think I had better information than other bidder's, I asked for, and got, several more pictures of details not clearly shown in the auction pictures that I will share later.

That was cheap[
But then I know the story
That's a shame Gene, it would have been in good Hands had you scored it

I suspect a neat story is in the offing, along with a tutorial offering further insights into the world of .22's. Chapter 57 in Gene's ongoing magnum opus?

I'll state what my untrained eye sees, and speculate (guess) as to the rest: Chambered/bored for .22 shot cartridges obviously. No barrel address, merely a simple patent number. No rear sight ( a no-brainer for a "shotgun"). As for what looks like a serial number 2, was Savage serial numbering .22's back then? All in all, I'll guess that it was a tool room sample made to explore the possibility of a .22 birdshot semi-auto repeater. That or a one-off made for a Savage executive for use in shooting sparrows off the porch of the summer estate.

Any way you cut it, it would have been a really neat acquisition.

I've been wanting to get a Model 6 for some time. I figured one would make a good little plinking gun that would be more interesting than the ubiquitous 10/22s. But going for 1225-bucks is more than a bit perplexing!

While we're waiting for the other shoe to drop, I will say that the iterations of the Model 6 are among my favorites in the world of semiauto .22's too. Mine is fun to shoot, but I wouldn't put it up against other "modern" designs for accuracy. But then again, I view .22 semi's as mere tin can plinkers- a means to vent frustrations with $4/box ammo, Ruger 10/22 cultists notwithstanding.

A friend of mine calls that "blowing off a-hole calories." Plinking (be it rim or center fire) definitely has its purpose in life!

C'mon, Gene! My "click-clack" .22 isn't getting any younger!

I wonder if the bolt thrust of a .22 rat shot cartridge is equal to that of a .22LR? If not, I wonder too if the guy who dreamed up this rifle had to re-calibrate the mainspring?

I had a young buddy who discharged a load of rat shot directly down into the top of his sneaker via a Ruger revolver, one night we were hunting rats with flashlights in his father's barn. I can still hear him wailing as I sat in the emergency room waiting area while a doctor dug those tiny BB's out of his foot.

I am not 100% sure but I think this gun is from the R&D collection, the simple stamp of a single number, in this case the '2', is like some documented R&D guns I have seen - possibly a rack number or something. The auction house told me the only stamping on the barrel was the patent info and the chambering, no manufacturer's markings. The patent stamped was originally for the Model 5 bolt action, issued Oct 5, 1937, and part of it covers the magazine & lifter design which is also used on the model 6, after it was issued the patent was stamped on all Model 6's and later ones had a many as four more patent numbers on them.

If this were a production gun I do not think they would have had a rear sight dovetail in the barrel or had a receiver drilled & tapped for a side mount scope, these were probably what they had in stock.

Same stamp as used on the Model 220 in 22-SHOT -

The top contour of the lower legs on the two's also are identical.

It uses lightened bolt parts to be able to cycle with the lighter recoil of 22-SHOT -


Here are the lighter bolt parts from a Model 602 in 22-SHORT for comparison, it also has a lightened hammer, not sure if that would be required for 22-SHOT -


Front sight is odd, but looks like it's been on there a long time, and it doesn't look like it's covering a dovetail (but I didn't think to ask about the length of the barrel) -


I did a lot of searches trying to find this front sight on other guns, was hoping on something related to Savage, a house brand or something, no luck, but I did find one very similar for a larger diameter barrel available from NUMRICH, but they do not give a manufacturer.
gunpartscorp/products/541950



Added - here is a link to the patent stamped on the gun that was issued Oct 5, 1937 - uspto.gov/02094577
Here's a link to the first patent specifically for the Model 6 semi-auto - issued Nov 24, 1940 with application filed over a year earlier - uspto.gov/02223093

Thanks for the education, Gene.

Don't remember ever seeing a front sight like that.

Thank you, interesting.

When I told a local dealer/gunsmith about this Model 6 smooth bore he said he had an unused 22-SHOT barrel for a Model 6 -- he was not sure what he actually had, but I had my fingers crossed. He runs a series of middle week one evening gun shows - here's pictures of my new barrel I just got tonight, still not sure of the history of these. He got the barrel from an estate he purchased years ago and there was no information with it. Never drilled for barrel pins so it was never mounted.


The barrel has an integral feed ramp below the chamber, this only seems to have been used on the semi-autos which is how I know the barrel was not intended for a Model 5 bolt action... but it doesn't have a cut above the chamber needed for a spring loaded top cartridge guide that is used on Model 6's, at least the later ones. If the ramp were removed it would work on the bolt actions.

Like I mentioned I did not ask about the barrel length on the gun that sold, I now think it may have been cut to remove the counter-bore (definitely if it was originally the same as this barrel), it's only an inch deep, the hole for the front bead is drilled through & tapped. The 22 bore is slightly under the cartridge diameter of .224 which means it was not a rifled barrel that was drilled smooth.

Patent 2094577 is for the Model 5 bolt action and covers the lifter design which the same as used on the tube fed semi-auto's, Model 6's have that patent on them. It was issued Oct 5, 1937.
The second patent on the Model 6A pictured, 2223093, is for 'click clack' version of the Model 6 and was granted Nov 26, 1940. The only thing I can be sure of is that this barrel was made after Oct 5, 1937, I cannot be sure that it wasn't made after the other patent date and just didn't have it added. UPDATE, the other barrel has a note under the patent "others pending", my barrel might be earlier.





There is another patent covering the trigger mechanism for the earliest Model 6 (top), 2224758, it was probably never stamped on any gun because the design was obsolete by the time it was granted, it had been applied for before patent 2223093 but not granted until after. An interesting detail of this patent is that it does not show the upper cartridge guide so no cut in the barrel.


ADDED - after looking at the auction pictures again I see that the barrel on that one not only has the patent date, but also has a line under it "others pending" which my barrel doesn't have, is mine earlier???? Maybe why it doesn't have the slot for the upper cartridge guide and maybe it dates before the other patents were filled for.

I also used proportions to get an idea of the barrel length on the auctioned gun, it appears it might be longer than the standard barrels, I am now almost sure it wasn't cut.

Glad you got that barrel, great pick up even if it doesn't answer everything.

Wonder how many of these 22 shot barrels are just wandering around out there?

Very interesting Thanks Gene

Yeah, very interesting. Do you think the barrel as you got was done at the factory or modified by a gunsmith? I wasn't exactly sure on this point. And again, thanks for another installment in your text book of Savage 22s!

I think both have to be factory barrels - The 22-SHOT stamp is identical to the stamp used on the Model 220 22-SHOT barrel, it has all the small details & imperfections, I don't see that being duplicated in such detail. There is no evidence of any other markings being removed. The bore on mine is under .224 so it cannot have originally been rifled and bored out smooth - since the bore is recessed at both ends I do not have anything to measure it, I do see a slight reduction in diameter in front of the chamber and this can be felt when running a patch through it.

They're both stamped with a patent number that appears identical to the one used on production rifled barrels, the one at auction also had a second line under the patent stamp "OTHERS PENDING" - that double line stamping is also found on production rifles, however, those are the only marking on either barrel, there is no manufacturer's information, but that is typical of barrels used on house brand's so it's possible this was something they tried to develop for a large customer, or just an R&D project.

The barrel on my one documented R&D pump is not marked at all, not even for the caliber, the only markings on the gun is a hand stamped '004' on the receiver about the same location as the single number '2' stamped on the auctioned rifle.

There is a large data base on this family of rifles on 'RIMFIRECENTRAL' The very first post has pictures of patent stamps found on production guns. It's 38 pages and over 560 posts - rimfirecentral/thread=344753 In all that data there is no mention of one in 22-SHOT.