[font:Hello, it's been a long time since I visited but am back with a new question for my old 1899. Serial number is 18.xxx which dates it to about 1900/1901. Believe the gun to be all original except for the barrel. According to what I have read (it is a 30-30 and octagon barrel) it should have a 26" barrel but it measures only 22". Everything looks right about it and as rough as it was when I inherited it I can't imagine it ever made it to a gunsmith to have 4" chopped off. This thing had only ever seen pliers, hammer and poor fitting screwdrivers but the muzzle crown looks excellent. Without being able to inspect the gun, what would any of you think I might have? Thanks for any replies!!

There were short barreled octagon rifles made, but there's also rifles that were cut down by owners.

It's my experience that most that exist were cut down rather than factory, especially if it's rough/well used. But the only way to be SURE is to pay $75 to the Center of the West museum for a factory letter. If it's a family heirloom that might be of interest, because if nothing else it will tell you where it originally shipped to in 1899.

Thanks for the response. Normally I would agree with you but the muzzle crown is really factory looking. Not at all consistent with the other treatment it got during it's life. I know nothing has been done on it since 1952 or so, all the other bad stuff occurred before then. It has no value because it has since been refurbished but at least looks pretty good. The bore is poor but took a deer with it and it shoots fair. Just something to tinker with but wondered about the correct barrel length. thanks again!

Letter it.

Only way to get an answer on the barrel.

The muzzle on an octagon barrel is flat. So I'm not sure how it would be factory looking just because it's flat..

Can measure the distance from the muzzle to the middle of the front sight dovetail. They had specs for that.

Can’t you get a “Search” with all the same details, just not the fancy embossed letter a lot cheaper? Cody was at the Baltimore show last year and were doing it for five bucks. They emailed the info to me. When I printed it, it looks almost like a letter.

The front sight and barrel address wouldn’t reveal anything?

I worked on a music video with a guy named Uncle Cracker once.

Pictures wouldn't be a bad idea.

Who here owns a short octagon barrel on a 99 that lettered? Not saying no one does, I'd just love to see pictures of one. I can't believe they weren't a standard offering.

They weren't standard, they were special order. Ordering longer than standard barrels cost money ($1/inch), there was never a price listed for ordering short barrels.

I have a 24" half-octagon that lettered as 24". Fug has short barreled octagons, think Loggah does also? Seen multiple ledger entries for O and HO rifles with short barrels, but they are rare.

from what I've seen real 22" barrel don't measure the same as cut off 22" barrels . a savage 26"oct barrel has .010 taper per inch
if you measure your barrel @ 22" with a mic or caliper that will tell if its been cut off .

plab

An close examination the front sight won’t indicate if the barrel has been cut?
Post a picture and end the speculation.

I wonder if that applies to 1895's? I have an octagon 1895 with a 22" barrel. Will trot out in the 0 temp and measure it against one of the 26" 1895 octagons in a few minutes.

I would assume it would David .. If your 22" oct measures smaller then a 26" barrel @ 22" then I guess you'd know .. I've seen a couple of 1899 22" oct rifles .one that had lettered as such .. and they measure the same as a 26" barrel does @ the muzzle .

Plab

Letter it. Could get more than just bbl confirmation. Didn't someone called "Uncle Kracker " play with Kid Rock Rock ?

I worked on Kid Rock's music video "American Badass". They wanted Uncle Cracker (or is it Kracker?) to drive the side car rig with Joe C in the sidecar. I showed Uncle Cracker how to ride it but he wasn't doing very well so I wound up hauling Joe C in the sidecar. I'm recognizable at one point in the video. I was too clean cut to fit in with the crowd in the video and I'm surprised they showed me. Kid Rock was sitting on my 1962 Harley panhead chopper. It was strapped to the camera truck. It was tricky to ride also and thank God they didn't have me try to teach him how to ride it.

I have an 1899B that is shortened by 1/2" but it was shortened on the receiver end. I'm assuming it had some headspace issues at some point so someone rebuilt it. The thing that makes it obvious is the ".303 SAV" barrel address only says ".303".

What years did they put "303 SAV" on the barrels?

When the 30-30 (SAV 30) option was added the stamping was added to the top of the brl in front of the receiver. We have collected data on the SAV 30 marking but not the earliest 303 SAV (correction: SAV 303) marking. The markings show up in the 13000 to 15000 range in 1900.

Ah. The one I have made in 1899 has the 303 as part of the barrel address and the other early 303s I have say "SAV 303" on the top of the barrel near the receiver. I don't own any that have "303 SAV". Thanks for the info.

Ya, that's my mistake. They have SAV .303 not the other way around.

For the record I have the following with SAV .303 on the barrel ahead of receiver...

181XX 1899C
218XX 1899B
488XX 1899B
802XX 1899B
990XX 1899B
1188XX 1899B

I have 133XX in 1899B without a barrel address ahead of the receiver.