90 Year Old Savage 22 RF is a Shooter

Here is a pic of my M1919 Target rifle, made in 1919. The Scope is a Wallensek 4X made in the 30's.

I took the gun out, 22 degrees and a 15 MPH wind and shot it off a shooting table with snow to the bottom of the table. I had to dig out the snow for a place for me to sit on the seat.
It was so cold, the Wolf MT ammo's lube was getting so hard, I had to pry the cases out of the chamber.

Anyway, I don't think the shooting conditions could have been a lot worse.
I fired 5 shot @ 50 YDs on the target posted. I fired 3 other targets to season the barrel. they were in the .4'"s and one in the .5" range.

I was so darn pleased with the group this old rifle shot and the scope was darn good for being so old. I was too cold to keep shooting, with the wind chill factor, it was more like zero degrees.
I can't wait for a nice warm day with little wind. I'm pretty sure I can get this girl into the .2"'s if I do my part. The measurement on the target is even a little generous, I hate it when people post targets that were measured just at the edge of the holes, this one was measured outside of the grease marks.

You have to admit, for an old rifle, she sure is a shooter. The finsh on the stock is original as is the bluing. The rifle has 2 FP's, one a 6 and one at 12 O'clock. It has a 25" heavy barrel. The rifle was made prior to the more common 25" NRA models and had a springfield looking stock as Savage was trying for a government contract at the time. It's a first generation M-19, there were 3 generations

My Best, John K

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Great shooter and it was all done without a CNC machine, go figure.

Yes, the old tmers were real master machinests. One more interesting fact, the rifle, action and barrel are made from one piece of steel.
They had to machine the extractor cuts and bore, rifle and chamber through the action, approx 6" long, friggin amazing. No removable barrel. Everything was done on one round piece of steel with no seperation between the barral and action.
The rifle has a very low 4 didgit serial number. Made in the first ear of production.
It will be one rifle I never sell and will take care of as if it worth a million bucks, because to me, it is.
There will never be another rifle made like this one was and it outshoots many new rifles. I have no doubt I will get it into the .2" range on a good day.

John K

I have a mate to yours. Can't remember at the moment whose scope is on mine but it sure will shoot. Love the old ones!

Really cool find John, the double firing pin is a cool touch, one that I kinda wish the newer rifles had (it sure would help with some of the cheaper ammo)


I wonder what effect the double rim strike has on accuracy ???

I hear the double FP does not help accuracy on the new ammo, but with the old rimfire ammo, I'm sure it helped it fire far more often than a single FP model.

Slumlord 44, Do you know any history about these target rifles? They seem more rare than the other m-19 rifles. I'd love to learn more about her.

Thanks, John K

I've got something similar.

Third up from the bottom is my Savage model 19-33 which Savage came out with after the 1919. It's got a heavier target barrel on it and wears a Savage #10 peep instead of the 1919's #5 peep. This thing can shoot one big hole all day long. Those are all Savage rimfires in the picture except for the Stevens Visible Loader on the botton which was made by Savage anyways.

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Fantastic collection of rifles.
I can only hope to have so many nice one's someday. It seems that the 22's are really going up in price, they are really the last of the collectables.

My Best, John K

That's a really nice setup. ;D

I just received a twin to the one you show except mine has the Mossberg RF1 range finder scope. I haven’t been able to find any markings but I was told it is a model 19I. I haven’t found any reference to an I model, think it is a M. Were can I get some info on disassembling this for a deep cleaning. It is in great shape but could use a sprucing up. Thanks, Al

It's a Model 19, made from 1919 til I think 1933, that is when the second gen came out.
It had a heavier barrel, different rear sight, about the same stock and a single FP.
The original was a cock on close, the second gen cocked half on open, half on close. The M-19 NRA, 3rd gen had the speed lock FP and was a cock on open. It had a different stock, really a totally different rifle.

My best, John K