Back on Nov. 9 I started this thread about the Lyman 54 on a Model 20/26, ser. no. 12878, that I had purchased at auction:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...57160/re-lyman-no-54-styles#Post18957160

The rifle finally arrived today, and I am very, very pleased. It definitely has been well cared for and seen little use. The auction photos did not include one that showed the barrel address, so I did not know what to expect. (I have really no experience with the 1920 and 20/26 models.) David Royal's first book shows, on page126, a photo of the barrel address of a lightweight Model 1920 barrel that has patent dates pertaining to the Model 1920. My rifle has a barrel address that is identical to the Style 7 address used on Model 99s from 1928-1930 which has no patent dates. I'm guessing that Savage used the same barrels for Model 20/26s and Model 99s in those years. So, I guess my question is, what did the barrel address used on the Model 20/26 from 1926-1928 look like? (The Style 6 Model 99 address in this time frame has Model 99 patent dates on it.) Was it a continuation of the barrel address used on the lightweight barrels, a "Style 6" address with Model 1920 patent dates, or something else?

I can tell you that the real 12868 has no clip cut, a raised ramp front sight and Style 7 barrel address (Murray page3-83). If the address doesn't have a hyphen after SAVAGE, please advice.

Thanks Rick. Sorry about the serial number mix up. 12878 also has no clip cut. There is a hyphen after Savage in the barrel address.

Just for the heck of it I removed the butt plate and found that it and the stock are numbered 2447. I understand that it is common on these rifles for the stock numbers not to match the serial number.
Doing a little math, the serial number 12878 - 2447 = 10431 which gets one very close to the start of the switch from the 20 to the 20/26. Probably just a big coincidence, but could this be the 2447th 20/26 made?

Well, I may have answered my own question. It is only an example of one, but I have discovered that Model 20, ser. no. 12057, has a barrel address identical to the Style 6 Model 99 barrel address, including the 1909 Model 99 patent dates. (No rear sight dovetail cut in the barrel.)

I have serials 10504, 11104 (barreled receiver only), 12167, 12574, and another orphan barrel that I don't know the serial number it came off of. I also know that the wood has been changed from original on two of those, and repaired on the other one, so... who knows what else might have been changed on them...

I will try to dig them out this weekend and take pictures of the barrel addresses for you,

Thanks Jeff.

Seems that the Model 1920 barrels (including my example #10504) are distinctive to the early model 1920. David Royal mentions (pg126, fig A-6) that some light weight 99's were produced with leftover model 1920 barrels;


And the model 20/26 barrels are also distinctive, in that they have no barrel sight dovetails cut, but the barrel stamp appears the same as 99 barrels of the same vintage (again, ref; David Royal pg126 fig A-8)

Also, the later 250's are 24" while the pre-WWII 99's used 20&22".

except for LBK and my early 250-3000 99K's with 24 inch barrels.

Thanks Jeff. I've come to the same conclusion. The Model 1920 had a distinctive barrel with patent dates relative to the 1920. But, when they switched to the medium weight barrel for the 20/26, they simply used 24" Model 99 barrels but didn't cut the rear sight dovetail. Thus the early 20/26 rifles (~1926 - 1928) have a Style 6 (and maybe Style 5?) address with Model 99 patent dates while the later 20/26 rifles have a Style 7 address. Maybe Savage dropped the patent dates from the barrel address when they adopted the Style 7 address because the Model 99 1909 patents had expired by then?