Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors The 99 RT: What do we know for sure?

Seeing this week's thread on that nice .250 RT got me thinking about this interesting sub-variety again. Rory's comments do a good job of outlining the various theories that have come up over the years:


Somebody was keeping track of these a couple years ago (serial #s, calibers, etc). I'd like to see us discuss this variety based on what we know--rather than on speculation and debate over whether or not they are "parts guns" or "lunchbox specials" (a dead issue in my mind, for the reasons Rory mentions).

So what can we say for sure? How many RTs have turned up? What is the Serial # range? What calibers are they? Barrel length? Receiver markings? Barrel address? Are the dimensions of an RT forearm really the same as a T forearm, with different checkering?

Here's mine: the rifle on the bottom, a 30-30 with a 22" barrel, serial # 432XXX. The front of the receiver is unmarked.


Here's another shot from Savage Fest a couple years ago. My 30-30 RT at the top, Steve's .300 RT on the bottom.



Closeup of the RT forend:



Rod

Older thread, serial number ranges seem to be from 430,xxx to 432,xxx.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/6056123/1

Seen them in 30-30, 303 Savage, 300 Savage and 250 Savage.

Ralph had a pristine example of an "RT", 30-30 IIRC, that has not been mentioned in any previous threads that I've seen.

Few from the 2012 Fest:

Rear one, listed as an R in 300:




I think this one (2nd from bottom) was Ralph's:



Another one from Ralph (2nd from top), this with a Stith:

Drew has pretty extensive data on R's, Rs' and RT's in the form of a speadsheet.

JMO, but beside the checkering, I think the RT stocks have a little different forearm specs than the T's or the R's. I think the forearm is wider and flatter on the bottom than any T I have ever owned.

Never broke out the tape and calipers, so I can't prove it.

There are too many of them and they are too different than anything else, so I think they are their own deal, even though they were never cataloged.

Just my humble opinion.

'Bout time we got back to a discussion about what makes these rifles collectable and their variations. Been too much "how much," "when," "how do you fix," etc. Not that those aren't valid questions but this whole deal was started to be able to discuss and explain and identify collectable rifles. JMOOMV. And no, I have nothing to add as to what we know for sure about the RT. Most of it has been said before and hopefully something new will add to our collective knowledge.

We have collected enough data to have a good idea of the when, the calibers and brl lengths produced. Past that it is all speculation. Even Row and JTC weren't sure of the what or why of this variation.

Ten years ago it would have been another lunch box special but we know better now.

yeah i have records but they are on my other computer... i'll post later.

Well I had a lot of jobs to do around the house this weekend, so I decided to ignore them and make some measurements on the T and RT forearms from the rifles I've got.

Granted, I've only got one example of each, so this isn't very scientific, but here's what I came up with:

Overall length: T 10.375" RT 10.5"

Width, measured at widest point:

1" from receiver T 1.755" RT 1.781"
2" from receiver T 1.763" RT 1.786"
3" T 1.748" RT 1.786"
4" T 1.690" RT 1.753"
5" T 1.655" RT 1.730"
6" T 1.635" RT 1.725"
7" T 1.605" RT 1.705"
8" T 1.580" RT 1.670"
9" T 1.565" RT 1.655"
10" T 1.495" RT 1.535"

The RT forearm is much flatter on the bottom, and more triangular in its contour compared to the T.

To me, this difference in dimensions between these two parts suggests pretty strongly that the RT is not a "parts gun" or a cobbled together "lunchbox special." It looks to me like the RT forearm is clearly not just a T forearm with a different checkering pattern, but an entirely different part.

Rod

That is great work Rod.

I suspected the same, but data always trumps suspicion.

Good job, Rod. Now to gather more data.

Okay guys, get out the calipers and do some measuring on which ever model you have.

Here's mine.
99T #4001xx
forearm length 10.5
1" from receiver 1.753"
2" - - 1.728"
3" - - 1.692"
4" - - 1.674"
5" - - 1.655"
6" - - 1.638"
7" - - 1.616"
8" - - 1.590"
9" - - 1.596"
10" - - 1.566"

Lee

I have some records but they are nothing special.

I have 26 records.
Serial range is from 422xxx-437xxx but the vast majority are from 429,2xx to 432,6xx.

Calibers are 303, 30-30, 300, and 250. 250 and 303 are the least common in my records by a fair margin, the majority are 300 but there are quite a few 30-30s.

The majority are all 22" barrels though I have one record of a 30-30 with a 20" barrel and two records of 24" barrels (300 and a 303)

Hope that is helpful information.