Help. My aunt wanted me to have all the reloading supplies left from her husband who has passed. While going through it all she brought out a .22 rifle that I didn’t know she had and asked if I was interested in it. She said she did a little search online and I agreed with her price.

Now, what do I have? What do I need to look for? What do I need to photograph to answer any questions?

I know it has a longer stock and a scope that looks like a Lyman 438’ish style. I will check on that tomorrow.

Thanks in advance. Now I might have an excuse to head up to Sauk to ask the Guru.

who the maker was...and pictures

A couple generic observations. M1919 Savages were neat guns, interesting to play with, worthy of addition to a collection or for general shooting. Built initially to capitalize on the burgeoning sport of military-style smallbore match shooting that was all the rage at the time. Most serious shooters and gun writers at the time relegated it to 2nd-tier status behind the likes of the Winchester 52, Martini, etc. Reasons usually given: too light in overall weight for serious target work, slow lock time, indifferent triggers, too light barrels easily effected by the unnecessary full length wood stock, poor factory sights. Said traits confirmed by my own experience with one long ago, and why I've pretty much ignored them since. Later iterations of the M19 fixed most of those concerns and are generally a much better target arm.

Be very careful when cleaning it. If the chamber/throat is damaged/worn by sloppy cleaning rod application there's no hope of re-barreling it. The receivers/barrels were one piece construction. (Why Savage did that with the M19 and others is something I've never been able to figure out. Not one of their better ideas, IMO.)

If it's indeed a Lyman 438, treat it with kid gloves. They weren't the world's most rugged scope. For sure do not over-tighten the clamps screws - the threads in the pot metal which the mounts are made of will strip out quite easily.

The serial number is stamped on the very back edge of the receiver. You can see it looking from the butt end of the rifle. I can give you a ruff production date from that.

I found an early 1919 at a farm auction. The first time I shot it at 25 yards I cold cover the 5 shot hole with the tip of my index finger. They were made before hi velocity ammo, so I only shoot CCI standard velocity in my 3 NRA’s. 1919, 1923, 19-33. I think they are great to start new shooters with. Just plain fun to shoot.

Here are my 3 NRA's. If you look at the sights you can see the progression from the 1919 0n top and the 19-33 on the bottom.

Sorry, i didn't notice the sling was hiding the sight on the 1923.

The serial number is 38,276. It has a Weaver K 8 on it right now. I’ll try and get a pic of the other scope.

Gene and other guys probably know the numbers better than I do. I think the first 12,000 are 1919's, then the 1923, and the 19-33 start at 45,000.

That is a later one. Around 1930 production.

Having come from a family that didn’t have extra money to spend on things like guns I look at my 19 as the 22 I would have drooled over when I was a kid. It’s a fun field gun, just get used to the flimsy rear peep sight that the originals came with.

PS - I think your scope may be an early Weaver K10