Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Savage 1919?

Put a bid on one recently, don’t know much about them beyond the “they’ll put them where you want them”. What are peoples thoughts on them? History? What’s a good scope for them that looks right (thinking the old school, long thin steel ones) on a budget?

My grandfather taught me to shoot with a 1919 and left it to me in his will. It has about a million rounds through it, and will still shoot.

The 1919 was built to be a target rifle. They were all test fired by Savage gunsmiths, and they would either shoot or they didn't leave the factory until they did. That, and the fact that the action and barrel were milled from a single billet of steel, is why they were all accurate.

The 1919 isn't target competitive now and hasn't been for a long time. It was the best .22 target rifle in the world in its day, though, and proved it in the 1920 Olympics in the hands of the U.S. smallbore team, by winning the gold medal.

I wouldn't scope that rifle. It isn't drilled/tapped for mounts, and those long, skinny scopes aren't cheap. It doesn't need a scope anyway because a receiver sight and a 30" sighting radius is all you need at .22 LR ranges.

Welcome to the board.

Thanks for the welcome. I was thinking a lower power optic of some sort (2.5? 4?) wouldn’t hurt mostly because I struggle to get a good eye on where the bullseye is at 100 yards at the range I go to, and from my understanding that shouldn’t be a horrible distance to be shooting a 22lr rifle, but obviously I’d shoot it first with the current set up (some sort of towering Lyman deal) before opening the wallet. Good to know it’s a decent vintage rifle though and shouldn’t be as hit or miss like some I’ve looked at in the past

They all came with the receiver sight that is tall enough to have a lot of adjustment in it. You can shoot 200-300 yard prairie dogs with a .22 LR. It's so quiet at that range that the PDs don't know they're being shot at, so you watch the dust puffs and walk it in like artillery.

Do you know about Rimfire Central? Lots of guys on that board who know a great deal about rimfires.

I am on RFC, but I hadn’t gotten any responses whatsoever about the Model 1919 there and I’d seen more threads here and on the Savage forum

Back in the late 1980s I was in an indoor 50' league and would occasionally win a match with my 1919 NRA shooting against guys with much more refined Anschutz, Remington, and Winchester rifles. Mine had Lyman sights front and rear, a significant upgrade (IMO) over the factory sights. As with almost any rimfire rifle, it would shoot its best groups with some brands/styles of higher grade ammo. IIRC, that rifle shot its best groups with RWS Target Pistol.

During the development of the Winchester 52...Winchester acquired a 1919 and looked it over.

I have a couple 1919 rifles ....fun to shoot the old iron.

The 19-33 might have been more competitive with the comparable Remington 37s and Winchester 52s if it had had a better trigger and a factory option to upgrade the sights. Having a Lyman 17 up front really improves the scoring potential, even with the original Savage peep sight.

Mine loves the CCI SGB, of all things. Makes a great squirrel sniper with the flat-nosed bullets.

I've tried to warm up to them a couple times but always sent them down the road for various reasons, chief among them were the sights and triggers. Such backlash in the sight adjustment screws you'll ever see, especially in a rifle that claims to be a target rifle. Light weight and stock shape count a few points against it too, IMO. There's a bunch of good reasons why the Model 52 Winchester eclipsed it right from the start.

The Savage Model 19-33 NRA, the final iteration of the M1919, made a pretty fair stab at correcting the deficiencies, but still it retained the one piece receiver/barrel system. That arrangement always struck me as odd - what happens if you need to rebarrel your rifle in the event of bore wear, corrosion, etc., or Cousin Herkimer drives his pickup over it and bends the barrel, or you simply want to try out a new custom target barrel?

IMO, worth about as much as a warm bucket of spit, the M1919 is a nifty plinker/bunny/squirrel rifle, but didn't cut the mustard for competition use back then nor does it now. The first thing I would do if another one fell into my lap would be to upgrade the sights to Lymans, or better yet install a period Gallery/Small Game scope on it.

I have a 1919-NRA. I cut it down, reshaped the stock and mounted a scope for Silhouette shooting. It is a very accurate rifle.

Just an FYI: Over the years Savage changed different components. I worked on my trigger and purchased some trigger components to have for spares to modify without modifying the original. I ended up with 3 different trigger systems. I eventually decided to keep the original trigger intact.

In 2017 I bought one at a pawn shop that was on consignment.
The pawn shop owner complained the seller seemed to know what it was worth.

https://www.rifleman.org.uk/Savage_NRA_Models_19_and_1933_rifles.htm

Mine has the NRA buttplate, round port, and serial number below 2500 on the rear of the receiver ring, so probably 1923 or earlier.

Honestly, a scope is high on my list if I win this one. Triggers always get polished or resprung here anyways (some people are scared to shoot one of my high standards, very touchy trigger), so that will hopefully help.

Go for it. Charles Waterman's favorite squirrel rifle was a Winchester 52 with a scope and a shortened barrel. Collectors will wring their hands, but that's on them.

Currently I’m leaning towards either a Mossberg M4D or a Weaver 29S, is there one I should pick over the other? Recommendations for mounts to make use of the screws already tapped into the top of the receiver?