Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors interesting sight elevator

I seem to be starting this year out in a normal way. I bought a sight from the Bailey Brower collection at Tulsa and packed it away, I just found where I'd put it a couple days ago. I hadn't looked at it to closely when I got it and the elevator was held on by some old discolored tape that you couldn't really see through, I decided to clean all the off today and was in for a real surprise! Another Savage sight part I had never seen before. Yes, I got really excided over just a sight elevator......


At first I thought 'this can't be right?' but I now think it is. I already had one of these sights but it had a different elevator, one I always thought was probably wrong, but I never would have thought the correct elevator would look like this, but this one makes sense.

The other elevator has uneven spacing of the steps and heavy machining marks on the bottom.








You can see how that elevator is required for the odd slot & hole sighting on this sight, a standard elevator blocks the view through the hole.


I think this rear is a later version, all early literature shows a standard V notch in the rear sight, and a standard elevator.

I only have one front sight assembly, I think it also is a later version, the early pictures show an even rim, this one is wider on the sides and the top to better support the lens.



I've seen an old ad that say's these could only be furnished for the Model 1899's or Model 1903's, I think the rear with the screw elevation was probably for a Model 1903. Looking at the front I am not surprised that I've found more rears than fronts, I can see where they would have been easily broken. I could not get the front I have to fold down by applying what I thought was a lot of force, I can see where they may have been damaged just from trying to fold them down.

I do plan to put these on a rifle sometime and see if there is any advantage to that odd hole & slot sighting system, and see if the lens do anything, they had to be made specifically for the sight locations on the rifle, so they may not focus correctly unless I'm lucky.

Here are some old pictures of Fug's he said I could use, these look like the catalog pictures with the thin rim front and V notch rear.

Gene

The three i have are not all the same as the one you show

the one I have mounted has the screw it looks like it will

work fine.

I have a couple of ladders like that but have never seen a rear sight like those.

Norm

Very interesting. Thanks Gene.

Very neat! Good find, again!

Thanks Fug, so it appears the screw adjust one was not just for the Model 1903. Does your other one also have a V notch rear?

Norm, are the elevators you have made to fit in a slot like this one, or to fit outside like King, Marble's and the Savage No 15's? Those also keep the elevator from blocking a low sight setting, I'd never thought about that being the reason for that type before.

Rory, I showed that to you and Rick at Tulsa, but it still had the tape over the elevator.

I remember seeing it, yep.

Glad you ended with it. I know if there are questions you will find the answer and we will all learn from it.

those are pretty interesting sights.it amazes me what they had back then.