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Thread: 1924 Manufactured Savage 24B in 25-20

  1. #1
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    1924 Manufactured Savage 24B in 25-20

    I was gifted a pristine 1924 manufactured (factory letter confirmed it) Savage Sporter in 25-20. My eyes are not all that great and I would like to scope it.
    I am thinking like bold handle needs to be bent, etc.
    Has anyone scoped a Sporter 24 series before? There are already two factory holes drilled and tapped for a receiver sight.
    Any thoughts?
    Thanks,
    Donald
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master pietro's Avatar
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    .

    AFAIK, the only Savage Model 24 was a .22LR/.410 (and other chamberings later) over/under combination gun, adapted from the 1939 Stevens Model 22-410 after WWII.

    A few pics should readily determine exactly what you have.


    IMHO, you most likely have a Savage Model 23B, which was made from 1923 to 1942.



    The Model 23's date from before scopes came into common use, ergo the receiver sight prep.


    If you haven't tried a receiver sight, you might want to - as they are useful even for older folks (I'm 76, and still use them) or folks with vision issues.



    If you're bound & determined to scope it, there's two ways to do that, w/o resorting to bending the bolt handle.

    * The best way is to have a Weaver side mount (google) installed on the LH side of the receiver - which should carry the scope (unless it has an outrageously large objective lens) high enough to clear the bolt handle.

    * The other way would to install scope mount base(s) atop the rear of the barrel and mount an intermediate eye relief (ak: Scout) scope ahead of the action.



    .
    Last edited by pietro; 10-14-2018 at 01:22 PM.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master Char-Gar's Avatar
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    Get a receiver sight and/or some glasses that enable you to use the sights. Don't descrate that fine old rifle! If you drill and tap it for a scope, I am not certain that even Jesus can get you into heaven. I am 76 and with proper glasses can shoot open or receiver sights quite well. Talk to your eye doctor.
    Last edited by Char-Gar; 09-20-2018 at 06:07 PM.
    Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    I think he has the 23B bolt action similar to this one, except mine is a .32-20.

    Agree with Char-Gar, today these have collector value and drilling holes in it to mount a scope will turn a $500 rifle into a $125 one. Try some cheap reader glasses about -0.75 from your reading prescription.

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  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master pietro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Outpost75 View Post

    I think he has the 23B bolt action similar to this one, except mine is a .32-20.
    FYI: The various Savage 23's had a single chambering for each model.

    Model 23A & 23AA = .22LR
    Model 23B = .25-20
    Model 23C = .32-20
    Model 23D = .22 Hornet


    .
    Now I lay me down to sleep
    A gun beside me is what I keep
    If I awake, and you're inside
    The coroner's van is your next ride

  6. #6
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    You are correct. 23B, not 24. Hit the wrong key more than once.
    Pristine gun. I hate to mess it up. The side mount seems to be a good option but I hate to drill and tap it. I actually got a factory letter stating 1924 manufacture.
    Last edited by FISH4BUGS; 09-20-2018 at 07:34 PM.
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    If it's tapped for a receiver sight, you should be able to mount a small red dot, like a Bushnell TRS-80 to a rear mount. Worked like a charm with SMLE a while back.

    They're very accurate and no having to D&T more holes in the barrel,,,,,
    More "This is what happened when I,,,,," and less "What would happen if I,,,,"

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  8. #8
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    factory letter attached to earlier post.
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master Drm50's Avatar
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    I had a 23 in 25/20 that had a old Weaver N mount & little Weaver 22 scope. The scope was foggy
    and I replaced it with another old Weaver in good shape. Rifle shot like a champ. I would hesitate to
    D&T any older gun. I have several old 25/20 & 32/20 rifles and I wouldn't think of drilling holes in
    them.

  10. #10
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    There's a Redfield #102 peep sight on S&S that might fit?

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Mine are tapped with 3 holes , perhaps you could get some scope base blank stock from Brownells to fit. An original savage sight off a M-19 NRA would fit, but are not common. Not sure if any other company made a reciever sight for them.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Mine has the 3 holes 2 8x48 and 1 10x36. I bought a length of the brownells tall scope base blank and drilled it for the 3 existing holes. machined the base to fit the receivers radius cleaned up the ends and annodizd them. its held zero very well but mine is the D in 22 hornet. Mine wears a redfield 1" 2-7 currently. Great old rifle and they shoot very good

    Not sure if you could get the spacing but I had thought of making a set of unertal blocks up rear would screw down to the 8x48 holes in back receiver and a front block fit to the rear sights dovetail and a 8-10 power unertal on it,.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    If you have machining skills, a base can be fabricated for a 3/4” Weaver scope using the plugged sightholes on top of the receiver. Even the recoil of the 23C, in .32-20, hasn’t jarred my lash-up mounting loose. Alternately, you can haunt the auction sites for one of the original Savage target rear sights used on the 1919 NRA rifles.

    The bolt doesn’t need to be bent to accommodate a top-mounted scope, if it’s properly sized to the gun. That’s one of the reasons why the 23D took off in sales when it came out in .22 Hornet. Even if a side mount like the Weaver T types were used, the scope itself was over the barrel. You put a scope on it and went shooting.

    The 23 series were no-frills, working-class rifles, but they were good ones. I have a 23C that I mounted a scope on as above, and most of a 23B that I lucked out and found a Savage peep sight for. They both shoot very well.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    Here’s my Savage 23B in 25/20:



    I bought it wearing the weaver 3/4” diameter 2X scope.

    I sent it to JP grips in Minnesota to have the barrel threaded for the silencer And he did an excellent job.

    With a 60 grain soft lead hollow point on top of 1.8 grains of Red Dot @ 1000 fps it’s whispering death on jack rabbits inside 100 yards.

    More pics:





    The suppressor is a Thompson Machine Zephyr 22lr can I had them modify to support using 257 diameter bullets (special order type scenario, it cost me 25 bucks extra for them to modify).

    Bore diameter on the suppressor is exactly .300” and it’s still just as quiet as my other 22 cans on a 22 rifle/handgun.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    Very nice. I am a fan of suppressed guns. You give me ideas.............
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master northmn's Avatar
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    You rarely see one now but the original scope mount for a Savage was kind of a heavy sheet metal thing that fit to the receiver and was bent around to hold the scope over the center. The screws holding the scope fit the top and bottom. Mossberg had a similar scope mount. If you could find an original mount of that nature (good luck) it might work best.


    I used to shoot muzzle loader competition and there were some common tricks for older eyes. The best would be to use a receiver sight. But a receiver sight is just half the system. I use green fiber optics on my 32-20 Marlin 94 and 38-55. Not so good on black bullseyes but great out in the field. The green gives one a little more daylight time and really stands out against game.


    DEP

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a 23B 25-20 Win. It came with two full boxes of Winchester silver box ammo. I researched and discovered that at the prices of 25-20 ammo, what I actually had purchased was the AMMO, with a free rifle thrown in! By the way, mine is quite accurate with the Winchester ammo. It came with an N mount but at least it was properly d&t'd by someone that knew what they were doing!
    A friend supplied me with a nice set of RCBS dies so I may get around to seeing how accurate it can be.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master northmn's Avatar
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    The 25-20 has the advantage of a standard bore size where my 32-20 is at 312. Factory 32-20's don't shoot for sour owl droppings out of my Marlin 94. 25-20 would be a nice caliber to play with but seems to lack in components. My brother in law had a Savage like that in 32-20 and I wish I had traded him out of it. He gave two boxes of Remington ammo after he sold it. As I carry mine on the 4 wheeler or tractor a clip fed bolt would have some advantages over the tube feed. These are interesting rifles. Too big for rabbits and too small for deer but a lot of fun. I use the 32-20 more than one would think. Mostly with lighter loads on small game. No need to use it on deer.


    DEP

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master


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    My M23B 25-20 was already D&T'd when I got it (it was well done) so I found some Weaver bases that allows a 2.5 Weaver scope in low Weaver rings to fit perfectly. I use 2 cast bullets in mine; the Lyman 257420 GC'd cast of COWWs +2% tin and WQ'd. I load them over 10 gr H4227 and they run 1800 fps with 1 1/2 moa accuracy. I also cast a 257283HP very, very soft, usually 30-1 or 20-1 alloy, just TL with LLA and load over 2.5 gr Bullseye for 1050 fps. That is a very deadly close range vermin load.

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  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    I bought a universal 22lr scope base and drilled it to match two of the rear sight screws and used a set of high ring 22 slide on rings so no drilling on the rifle. Mine shoots about 1 1/4" at 85yds using the lyman 65gr cast (73grs lubed and checked) with 9.5grs of 2400 for 1930fps. Fun rifle.

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