Wrong Caliber

Marv forwarded this article.

I was surprised that I owned two of the guns mentioned.

A Savage 99.

 

A Winchester Model 54.

 My 54 is in the wrong caliber, it's in .30-06.

Both guns still shoot just fine.

They exceed both my eyes and my skills.

Putting It Out There

Saturday, Shooter's World in Tampa had several boxes of .300 Savage.

I, manfully, resisted and did not buy any.

I got some 5.56 ammo instead.

Depth Of Field

Took a pic in response to being asked what are my favorite oddball or obsolete cartridges.

Two pics, actually, because I played with the aperture to see the effect on depth of field.

I always think that's neat.

Oh, and my favorites are 6.8 SPC, .300 Savage and .30-40 Krag.

Excellent rounds that have gotten rare and expensive after once being common and popular.

GURPS Stats

Comparing four common thirty caliber hunting guns in GURPS.

 

It might get bigger if you click on it...

Lever guns get a slight edge in rate of fire.

They all weigh about the same and have similar capacities.

.30-30 lags in damage, but it's sufficient to snuff the white tailed hoof-rat.  Or for social purposes.

We had a player who was a little slow and not making the transition from medieval fantasy to cliff-hangers pulp and only knew about one gun.

The AK-47.

We explained to him that the .30-30 was very similar in damage and range to the AK, just slower shooting and lower capacity.

He equipped every character from then on with a Winchester '94 if such was available.

It never failed him.

Of course, back then, I'd have never had made stats for a Savage 99 and .300 Savage.

Except for that one player, they'd have never taken a lever gun, or even a hunting rifle adventuring.

.30-06 was already done, as was 8mm Mauser.  All I had to make for them were 7.65x53mm and 7x57mm Mauser, for resupply purposes in South America.

I Need To Check On This

Someone on Arfcom says that .300 Savage is everywhere.

They speculate that its production was still following the schedule from before the panic.

To the gun shop!

Uh... tomorrow...

It's A Dessert Topping AND A Floor Wax

Thag lurn!

A while back I mentioned that 7.62x51mm NATO is a lengthened .300 Savage and got haughtily informed that it was really a shortened .30-06.

Well, it turns out both positions are correct.

When the "30-06 but shorter" thing got started they actually looked to using .300 Savage unmodified to replace it.  But .300 Savage didn't quite have the velocity they wanted and lacked the case capacity to do anything about it.

Never mind what this new "magnum" version of the round would do in extant Savage 99's.

So they lengthened the round just a smidge and got the velocity they were looking for.

Done!  Say hello to 7.62 NATO!

Not quite.

As with so many ammunition related things, tooling and fixtures come up.

Then some finer elements of case design start showing up in testing.

Fix that angle, address that diameter, change that radius.

Until the round is almost literally a shortened 30-06...

But the path didn't start with shortening the older round.

No Two Alike

The only thing they all have in common is being centerfire and lever action.

They don't all share magazine configuration.

They don't have a common cartridge.

They all three lock differently.

The oldest designed is the newest made.  Despite the nearly five decade span from the oldest gun to the newest gun, the designs aren't even 30 years apart.

The oldest design is the 1873, which dates from 1999.
Next oldest is the 30AS... sort of.  The 30 is derivative of the 336 which dates from 1936, but it is derived from the 1893.  Mine was made in 1985.
The "newest" design, dating from 1899, is the Savage 99EG, made in 1951.

The '73 locks with a toggle joint, the Marlin with a rising block the Savage with a tilting bolt.

Madness!

And variety.

Same Make And Model

Marv snagged a Lyman No. 2A SA sight for $50 after I told him he could flip it for $100 easy, maybe more.

What's interesting is that it's not the same as my No. 2A SA.

The knurled barrel is very different.

The elevation stems are very similar.  They even interchange.

It's marked differently from mine.

Marv's

Mine

Mine has 'SA' stamped underneath, Marv's has "1A SA" despite clearly being a 2A sight.  The aperture is the only difference between the 1A and 2A, so the bases might all be marked the same.  The elevation stem may have been swapped over the years too.

Judging from pictures I've been able to find on the internet, mine's the earlier variation and Marv's is the later.

Redfield 70LT

The LH has "hunter" knobs.  The LT has "target" knobs.

The difference is the target knobs have finer clicks and are finger adjustable.

Redfield 80L

Another in a continuing series of what sights were available for the Savage 99.

The 80L looks to be a simplified and more compact version of the 70LH with a quick adjust button that disengages the threads and lets you make gross adjustments to the elevation.  A feature found on many Lyman sights.

Period Aperture

Got a teeny-tiny aperture for the Lyman No. 1A SA on Laverne.

Yes, I know about the crack in the stock.  Apparently most 99EG do this and it's not a structural concern.

Yes, I know about the cat hair.  Apparently, if you own a cat (or two) they donate small hairs for every photo and it's not a structural concern.

Of real note is the correct aperture doesn't kiss the stock when folded like the Merit model 4SS did.

That's because it's MUCH smaller.

The aperture size is the same as I'd dialed into the 4SS, so the front sight is nicely in focus.  There is a more of a ghost ring effect with the smaller disk size.

Why Forward

I've been puzzling on why, since there's a lock, the Lyman sight folds forward as well as to the rear.

It seems to be horribly exposed up like that.

But then I noticed something.

The little tick marks for elevation are only on the rear of the sight's stem.

Lord knows how much each line is good for, I suspect 5 MOA each, but I haven't measured.  I've also not worked up any dope on this rife, sights or ammo.

I am kind of astonished that there isn't already a fan page for Lyman sights with scans of vintage manuals.

All Lyman All The Time

 Top to Bottom:

Winchester Model 54 (.30-06) with No. 48W and Merit #4SS.
Savage Model 99EG (.300 Savage) with No. 2A SA and Merit #4SS.
Marlin Model 30AS (.30-30) with No. 66LA and 1/2" disc, 0.091" aperture.

Lyman No. 2A SA

Willard came bearing gifts today!  It screwed right in like it was designed to.  Not only that, but it appeared to be sighted in exactly like the buckhorns when I was looking through both of them.  The aperture is from the Lyman No. 66LA I put on my Marlin 30AS (but not for long).

It can fold to the rear:

It can fold to the front:

But you use it raised.  There's a little spring loaded detent to let you know it's in the right spot:

On the left side is a latch to keep it erected: Forward is locked, rear is unlocked.

After taking pictures, I decided that to put the Merit aperture I had on the Marlin on the Savage:  It feels more period.

Elevation adjustment is generous!

I don't have a blank for the rear sight dovetail yet, but it's ordered and on the way.