Savage 1912 22 LR

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12-09-2017, 07:26 PM
badcrc

Savage 1912 22 LR - Help identifying and locating parts

I've obtained a Savage 1912 22 LR when I was a kid that's a family gun and I always knew a part was missing. About 10 years ago I started trying to find the couple missing parts it needs. So far I've only found the rear sight, but there's at least one more piece missing in the breech, which I think is just the bolt, and since I've never seen it I don't know what it looks like or if I need more than one part. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what I'm missing and maybe where to find it. The gun won't feed a shell because the bolt is missing, but it cocks and fires and everything else seems to function.

Here is a picture of my gun:
https://imgur.com/a/pgOf9

Here is a picture I found years ago of what I think the bolt looks like:
https://imgur.com/a/2aoMQ

Here is another picture I found recently but the bolt looks different with a loop piece which I think is for a different model:
https://imgur.com/a/2kaMq

If anyone has any info on this I would really appreciate it. This has a been a real pain and I'd like to get this gun functioning once and for all.
12-09-2017, 11:09 PM
Big Al1

There's a bolt on e bay:https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-Mode...EAAOSwWCZaKZc5

It's the same picture you have. I think there was two versions, one was .22 long rifle only, and one was .22 short-long-long rifle. The one on e bay is for a s,l,lr.

Good luck bidding, if it's the right one for you.
12-09-2017, 11:40 PM
badcrc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Al1

There's a bolt on e bay:https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-Mode...EAAOSwWCZaKZc5

It's the same picture you have. I think there was two versions, one was .22 long rifle only, and one was .22 short-long-long rifle. The one on e bay is for a s,l,lr.

Good luck bidding, if it's the right one for you.

Thanks, but that's exactly the problem. I don't know which one is the right one. My gun says LR on it, does the short-long rifle say short on the barrel? I found the one on ebay which is what prompted my post. I've had alerts sets for the parts on several different sites for 5+ years and they rarely come up now and when they do these guys want an insane amount of money, making it a better deal to buy an entire gun.
12-10-2017, 12:32 AM
Big Al1

It would say s,l,lr on the barrel if was for all three.
12-10-2017, 12:37 AM
badcrc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Al1

It would say s,l,lr on the barrel if was for all three.

So do you know if the first bolt pic I posted is the right one (the one without the circular piece on the bottom) for the LR model 1912?
12-10-2017, 10:48 AM
Sav22

The first bolt pictured is the correct one for a your 1912, the second one is listed wrong and is for a 1903 or 1909 and will not work in your gun.

Your gun is an early version and takes a bolt with a slanted step on the top rear, later guns had a 90° step and the inside rear of the receiver had a 90° surface for it to contact to positively stop the bolt without putting stress on the other parts. I do not know is a later bolt would clear in your receiver and if not it might contact the angled rear of the receiver and put downward stresses on the parts. I have found four different variations of bolt for these, two different with the angled step, either should work in your gun (but both would not work in a later gun). If you find a bolt make sure it has the correct extractor, they are very hard to find and were very thin and often broke.

There are several variations of 1912's, your gun is early and has the early top cartridge guide which is just a formed sheetmetal piece that is spring tempered and moves down when the bolt is retracted to guide the bullet into the chamber, these are sometimes found broken off, on later guns it was replaced by a thicker hinged piece with a small coil spring.

As far as S, L & LR or just 22 Long Rifle the bolt would be the same - your gun would feed shorts just as well as a Model 1903 chambered in 22 short only (maybe even better with the top cartridge guide) but with a semi-auto a 22 short would not have enough power to cycle the action - your gun is set-up for 22 Long Rifle standard velocity - using modern Hi-Speed loads will damage it. The correct magazine for these will be marked as being for an "22 AUTOMATIC L. R. ONLY" - this is not because that's all that will fit & feed from the magazine, it's because that's the only cartridge the gun was designed to cycle with, a magazine for a Model 1903 marked for 22 S, L & LR will work.
12-10-2017, 01:32 PM
badcrc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sav22

The first bolt pictured is the correct one for a your 1912, the second one is listed wrong and is for a 1903 or 1909 and will not work in your gun.

Your gun is an early version and takes a bolt with a slanted step on the top rear, later guns had a 90° step and the inside rear of the receiver had a 90° surface for it to contact to positively stop the bolt without putting stress on the other parts. I do not know is a later bolt would clear in your receiver and if not it might contact the angled rear of the receiver and put downward stresses on the parts. I have found four different variations of bolt for these, two different with the angled step, either should work in your gun (but both would not work in a later gun). If you find a bolt make sure it has the correct extractor, they are very hard to find and were very thin and often broke.

There are several variations of 1912's, your gun is early and has the early top cartridge guide which is just a formed sheetmetal piece that is spring tempered and moves down when the bolt is retracted to guide the bullet into the chamber, these are sometimes found broken off, on later guns it was replaced by a thicker hinged piece with a small coil spring.

As far as S, L & LR or just 22 Long Rifle the bolt would be the same - your gun would feed shorts just as well as a Model 1903 chambered in 22 short only (maybe even better with the top cartridge guide) but with a semi-auto a 22 short would not have enough power to cycle the action - your gun is set-up for 22 Long Rifle standard velocity - using modern Hi-Speed loads will damage it. The correct magazine for these will be marked as being for an "22 AUTOMATIC L. R. ONLY" - this is not because that's all that will fit & feed from the magazine, it's because that's the only cartridge the gun was designed to cycle with, a magazine for a Model 1903 marked for 22 S, L & LR will work.

This is great info thanks a lot. I think the cartridge guide is intact, and what I think is the ejector (1 in piece with a tiny spring next to where bolt would go) looks intact. I always wondered how the bolt went missing in this gun, but I guess I'll never find out.
12-10-2017, 02:11 PM
Sav22

Yes, your cartridge guide is intact and your ejector is also correct - I had to copy you picture and zoom in to see that because it is so dark. The pumps had a 'hook' on the slide arm that helped hold the bolt in place when the gun was taken down, not so with the 1912's, so the bolts could fall out easier on these, or someone took it out to make the gun safe and then they got separated. I have acquired two that were missing the bolts and have heard of a couple more.

One of the changes made to the bolts was done by putting a round pin in the receiver below the chamber and then milling a round relief in the bottom front of the bolt to slide under this - I do not know if this was to secure the bolt better when taken down or for some other reason. This was not done in early guns and was dropped again in very late guns. I have a late gun with out that feature that has the last three digits of the serial number on the bolt, that may have been done during the change over to keep parts from getting mixed. A bolt with the relief will work in a gun with out the pin, but a bolt without a pin relief will not close in a gun with the pin. Your gun does not have that pin.
12-12-2017, 11:32 PM
badcrc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sav22

Yes, your cartridge guide is intact and your ejector is also correct - I had to copy you picture and zoom in to see that because it is so dark. The pumps had a 'hook' on the slide arm that helped hold the bolt in place when the gun was taken down, not so with the 1912's, so the bolts could fall out easier on these, or someone took it out to make the gun safe and then they got separated. I have acquired two that were missing the bolts and have heard of a couple more.

One of the changes made to the bolts was done by putting a round pin in the receiver below the chamber and then milling a round relief in the bottom front of the bolt to slide under this - I do not know if this was to secure the bolt better when taken down or for some other reason. This was not done in early guns and was dropped again in very late guns. I have a late gun with out that feature that has the last three digits of the serial number on the bolt, that may have been done during the change over to keep parts from getting mixed. A bolt with the relief will work in a gun with out the pin, but a bolt without a pin relief will not close in a gun with the pin. Your gun does not have that pin.

Really appreciate all the info, it's hard to piece all this stuff together without people with working knowledge. Maybe one day I'll be able to get someone to do a 3D scan of a bolt and be able to print one out on a 3D printer. So far my hunt isn't looking too promising after all these years. I've almost broke down and bought an entire gun just so I could shoot one. I always hope on gunbroker I might find a parts gun with a good bolt but usually when the gun is for parts the bolt is missing or it's in worse shape than the gun. Then I always think if I'm buying a working gun there's no logic to removing the bolt to make mine work when usually those guns are in better shape than mine. I'm pretty disappointed because from what I gather from my brother this gun was on my dad's side of the family, which means it's been in the family for at least 52+ years, maybe since it was new, and my dad didn't hunt or fish or anything, so I'm guessing he had it since he was a kid.