Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 1912 .22 rimfire

I just bought a Savage 1912 .22 rimfire at an auction today. The auction was in Georgia but I bid online. I paid $225 and it appears complete including the tang sight. Did I do OK? I just couldn't resist a rifle with its looks.

The same auction had a 1920 in .300 Savage that went for $650. I have a 1920 in .250 Savage so I was interested but not THAT interested. I picked mine up for much less than that.

I will post pictures when it arrives.

John

PS: I've added pictures from the auction catalog.

Sight unseen, it sounds reasonable, could be very good buy.

From the pictures that 1912 looked nice and the tang sight is worth a bit. It also has the correct magazine marked "22 AUTOMATIC LR ONLY". The rear sight has been taken off and those are somewhat hard to find if you were ever interested putting one back on. Did the $225 include the buyers premium?

These guns are not all that easy to find. Even though I haven't seen it, I would say that given it has a tang sight and original clip, you did real well at that price.

What tang sight did it have on it? An S2 or a Lyman SM?

The mags are real hard to find, I'm still waiting to find one for my 1912. I tried a 1909 mag in it and it won't load right. To top it off I switched the S2 tang off the 1912 and put it on the 1909 to find out my firing pin spring is weak and only sets off about half the rounds I load into it, luckily Numrichs is selling the springs for $8 a pop.

If you get it delivered for under $300 you did great.

What does the original rear sight (non-tang) look like? I have a late Savage 1903 that has an unusual rear sight (the dovetail is a separate part that the sight screws into). I might be willing to part with it.

(this is from my Second 1903, I may have posted photos here).

UPDATE: Could not see the pictures before, can now.

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! Get a factory letter!

I don't see lettering on the base of the tang sight like my Marble's S2, so I will go out on a limb and say its a Lyman tang sight. Looks like the original rear sight might have been swapped out for some kind of express sight to keep out of the way of the tang sight pictures.

I have never heard of the autoloading 1912 until now, those must be exceedlingly rare.

Are you sure it's a weak spring in the 1909? Look at the surface area of the end of the firing pin. A lot of early 22's had big flat ends that had a lot more surface area than newer 22's do. It may have been to give more reliable ignition or to keep from piercing the old copper cased ammo. I don't think it was a problem with the softer cases. You may want to try different brands, Red Stevens had told me he found that Federal standard velocity worked better in the older guns as they seemed to have softer cases. A friend worked on an early Remington model 12 that miss fired - the firing pin was making a mark at least 4 times larger than a newer 22 we compared it to, we filed it down to about half the original size and that seemed to fix the problem.

As for original magazines a very nice 1912 mag just sold on GunBroker a few weeks ago - right around $90 with the shipping. They are out there but they are not cheap.

Gene, I am shooting Federals, just bought a new brick last weekend. I think it's the spring cause I'm finding hardly no marks at all on the casings that are not firing. Even had one fizzle in the chamber about 5 seconds after I pulled the trigger.

No, it didn't include the buyers premium. Still, I feel good about it.

John

I just looked at the pictures - looks VERY nice.

I'd say you got a good buy.

Here's a picture of the sight, it was used on the 1909 and 1911 also. The one on the 1912 is stamped "PAT. FEB 27. 1912." They have a tendency to crack at the bend, they are punched out and are bend with the already stressed burr side out. Both of the sights pictured have very small cracks starting. The 1909 has a replacement sight that you can tell is in much better condition than the gun.

Gene, those repro's look like the real deal, someone really did their homework when they made them, very nice.

Where did you find them? If they were stamped you'd never know the difference!

Sorry!! Now that I look back at what I wrote I see I didn't state that very well ---- the sight is just not original to the gun, it's still an original Savage sight. These sights first came out in 1909 so none were stamped until the patent was granted in 1912. The one on my 1911 isn't stamped either. I have to pay more attention to what I write! I am looking for a sight that will match the gun better so I may have a nice one available some time.