What can you tell me about this rifle - Savage Sporter 25-20Win Serial #97xxx?
25-20Win is one of the calibres I reload for. My other 25-20 rifle is a Marlin 'Safety' 1894 25-20Win Take-Down made in 1900. I've built up a decent stash of components.

About all I know is what I've read, these were made between 1922???-23 & 1942. Some referred to them as a Model 23B, but I can't find 23B anywhere on this rifle.
Looking up the RCMP 'Canadian Firearm Reference Table' info at armalytics.ca:
-FRT#2190-1 lists a Savage 23B 25-20Win with a 635mm/25" barrel, manufactured from 1923 to 1942, 4 rounds (2 rifles under the FRT#2190).
-FRT#101855-14 lists a Savage 25-20Win with a 620mm/24.4" barrel, no dates provided, 5 rounds (15 rifles under FRT#101855).
Eyeballing mine with a tape measure I get 24.5", not 25". I put 5 in the mag yesterday.


Rifle had a minor issue, who ever reassembled it last did it wrong. They bent the floor plate, leaving the Mag loose & sloppy in the mag well. Assembled properly the mag sits snug in the well and rounds feed into the chamber with no problems.
-IMO this is the reason it was listed in 'Fair Condition' at $300Can c/w a full box of 86gr Winchester ammo.

My initial light cleaning with Ballistol & 0000 steel wool removed the odd speckle of white paint and the black gunk on top of the barrel and receiver. I'm guessing at one time there was a rail installed in the rear dove tail. Under the black gunk there's a line top dead centre where the rail wore off some bluing.
Before shooting, I quickly ran a bore snake thru rifle, rifling is clean and bright.
Wood looks good, no major dings, cracks or scratches. Renaissance Wax brought life back into the wood finish.
There was a lot of old lube on the outside of the bolt. Wonder how much is on the inside, are there any How-To's on taking this bolt apart?
Now I'd rate rifles condition as in 'Good+ working condition'.

Rifle is drilled & tapped for a side scope mount, missing rear sight and has an old Lyman receiver peep.
-I'm going to get some set screws to plug the scope mount holes and maybe touch up the bluing around the holes and line on top of barrel.
-Numrichs lists a Buck Horn rear sight for the 23B rifles. Was that the style they originally wore?
-I like receiver peep sights, but I've never seen this style before. The stock required a cut out for the receiver peep sight. Stock does not look Bubba'ed, could this have been Factory installed?

I'll try to follow up with a couple pictures later on to-day. Thanks