I recently watched a TV show that featured the explorer Roy Chapman Andrews. Some say he was one of the inspirations for Indiana Jones. One picture of Chapman Andrews in the 1930ish time period show him with his rifle while on expidition. I did a little research and discovered he used a Model 99 and a Model 1920, but couldn't find which caliber he used. Do any of you Savage guys have more info on his Model 1920 usage? or even just pictures of the Model 1920. It appears to be a sweet attractive little gun.
Found a pic of him holding a 1920 and from the looks of the length of the barrel I'd have to say it was in 250-3000 Savage. The 300 Sav barrels had another two inches on top of the 250's 22" bbl.
Found a pic of him holding a 1920 and from the looks of the length of the barrel I'd have to say it was in 250-3000 Savage. The 300 Sav barrels had another two inches on top of the 250's 22" bbl.
thank you, Mad Dog. The picture hides the rear sight which is how I, a definate non-expert, could tell if it was the early or late model 1920. I didn't know the significance of barrel length vis-a-vis caliber. I thank you.
It doesn't matter either way but I have this hunger for knowledge so that 10 years down the road someone might bring up Chapman Andrews and I could casually say something like, "Oh, yeah, he fought off the Mongol bandits with his Savage Late Model 1920 bolt action in 250-3000 caliber using diopter iron sights".
yeah, I know in the TV show it suggests he scared them off with his pistol, but you get the idea. Gee, I wonder what pistol he used... hmmmm.
To bad he has his hand over the rear sight. If there was a sight there then we'd know it was made before 1926 and if there was no sight we'd know it was a 20/26.
hey mad dog.... i just noticed your 1920 doesn't appear to have a front sight cut in it...... mine is the one bobvonb posted.... it has both the front sight cut and the bolt mounted sight..... a transition rifle?
i got this rifle with no sling or swivels, and the stock had been cut down....
these are sweet rifles....
i did, you're right.....
it has a front sight, a dovetail for a rear sight (with a blank installed) and a lyman 57 bolt mounted sight.... was the lyman sight on mine added is what i'm wondering.....
They were sold without the #54 before 1926 but you could add one on with your order from the factory. The bolts were already D&T'd for the peep sight and just had to be screwed on. The 1920 and the 99G's used the same barrels. My guess is that it came from the factory like that as a special order sight.
you know, pajaro, with the discrepancies and all I really think you should just send me that gun and let me worry about it. No need for you to fret. I'll pay shipping. I'm that kinda guy. Heck, I'll drive up there and pick it up.
nice collection Mad Dog. Unfortunately my Model 99 experience wasn't all that great. It was my first gun and after pouring over ballistics charts and seeing my new father-in-laws Win 94, I wanted a lever gun but better ballistics than his 30-30. I had almost given up finding same when the salesman at Sears said, "Oh, wait, we have one gun, but it's missing the rear sight" and showed me a 99F in 308. It was pretty, with a gold trigger as I remember. Unfortunately I could never get it to group well* and I had more than one extraction problem with factory ammo. I also thought the barrel was too thin for my taste. I traded it for a Rem 700 30-06 the next year. Despite that I do have a good opinion of Savage firearms, especially their latest bolt guns.
* no, it wasn't because it didn't have a rear sight. I scoped it.
To bad he has his hand over the rear sight. If there was a sight there then we'd know it was made before 1926 and if there was no sight we'd know it was a 20/26.
I went to Amazon and bought a couple of books about Chapman Andrews. Besides being a very interesting read there were some more pictures and I can see the sight mounted at the rear of the action. It also noted that he carried a .38 cal Colt revolver, model unknown.
Further reading revealed that these expeditions were between 1921 and 1925. Also that the expeditions had an exclusive deal with Savage Arms to provide rifles. Judging by the size of the group I'm thinking this was between 30 and 50 rifles, probably all the same caliber. They were well used collecting hundreds, if not thousands, of animals and birds for their museum, as well as fighting off the assorted bandits in the Gobi desert.
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