Savage model 20 bolt gun

[getitdone1]

Thanks to a member here who said the model 20 Savage bolt gun was of Mauser design and a very good gun. That got me to looking on the internet and I found they bring from 500-2000 dollars, depending on condition. (I noticed also Savage made a model 20 single shot rifle.)

Just read an article about this gun. The story is (not sure if true but sounds possible) that Savage made this model in hopes the government would chose it for use in WW1. So a few years later, in 1920, they offered it as a sporting rifle to the public. They say it's a combination of the Mauser and Springfield action.

I really like the slim for end and schnable tip of fore end. It does have the trusty Mauser extractor. It looks to be a light gun and would be just right for the great 250 Savage cartridge. Love the efficiency of this small cartridge. The tang safety is a plus but expect the trigger would need some work.

They say the earlier, pre 1926 guns had a lighter stock while those made in 1926-31 had heavier stocks. The sights differed between these two versions. Also believe the later version had a longer barrel.

Thought about adding this info to my Savage 340 post but thought this discovery merited a place of it's own. May have to start looking for this gun rather than a good model 340.

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/12517110/ ... -mag-steel

Believe this picture is an example of the later model 20 in part due to it "swept back" bolt. Stock also looks a little heavier. If I had know about that gun and auction I might have out bid the winning bidder !

Interesting find !

Don

[QCI Winchesters]

what was the name of the famous adventurer... Roy Chapman Andrews? Does that sound right? He was a big fan of the model 20. They are a dandy little rifle, way ahead of their time. I have never heard the story before that it started as a military rifle, does not make much sense as the 03 was pretty well entrenched by WW1. I have always admired the Model 20, I think it was too far ahead of its time.

[bcp]

Good discussion here:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread ... _questions

And a description of the 2 main variations.

Model20lightHeavy.jpg

[Mike Armstrong]

Roy Chapman Andrews, one of my boyhood (and later) heroes and Beloit College's most eminent alumnus, had an arrangement with Savage by which he carried, used, and endorsed Savage rifles on his later Gobi Desert and North China expeditions. Previously he had used the M1903 Mannlicher Schoenauer 6.5x54 carbine, a favorite of explorers since its introduction.

I think he was attracted to Savage by the successful use of Savage M99s by several prominent China explorers and hunters, and attracted to the .250-3000 by its resemblance in performance to the 6.5x54MS. And the Model 20 WAS a very handy little package.

The main similarity to the US 1903 Springfield (besides the fact that it too is a Mauser) is the separate cocking piece on the bolt, a non-Mauser feature that the US military was in love with.

When I was a little kid waiting for my mother to finish her Masters degree at UC Berkeley in the summers, I used to run wild in the halls of the Life Sciences Building. Mainly to shut me up, I think, the curators of the Zoology museum would let me open and look at the huge rooms full of drawers of preserved specimens from Asia that they kept there. Among them were MANY collected by Andrews. I remember especially the many poisonous snakes he got from the Gobi Desert which were preserved in jars of alcohol.

Unfortunately my only further experience of this was my Marine son telling me of the many "wonderful" desert snakes of Afghanistan, including some of these same critters.....always wanted to go there a kid. (Now, NOT so much!).

[QCI Winchesters]

Just reading in Townsend Whelan's book, written in 1918, about the new "Savage High-Power Rifle". Shows what appears to be a Model 20, and says it was only available in .250-3000. He predicted that it would become the most popular hunting rifle in America.

[FWiedner]

Just reading in Townsend Whelan's book, written in 1918, about the new "Savage High-Power Rifle". Shows what appears to be a Model 20, and says it was only available in .250-3000. He predicted that it would become the most popular hunting rifle in America.

Funny, I read that very same section of his book earlier this evening.