Savage Single Shot Firearms > Savage 219 Single Shot Rifles

M219 American Rifleman Review

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Garnett:
I just read a short review of the Model 219 rifle in the August 1959 edition of the American Rifleman.  It was a good review and said with factory 150 grain ammunition it was "very accurate despite its heavy, but creep free 9-lb. trigger pull." It was suggested that a rear sight with windage adjustment would be an improvement. 

Mike Armstrong:
I sometimes find old gun magazines and will keep my eyes open for that issue.  Pretty sure I haven't read the article you refer to.  Did the .30-30 they reviewed have scope grooves, and, if it did, did they say anything about whether they would hold a scope against the recoil? 

"SOMEDAY" I'm going to find a 219 .30-30 with those grooves so I can experiment and see if they work.  None of the ones I've owned has had grooves.

I suspect they might work if the scope was light enough and the clamp/mounts were "reinforced" with Loctite.  A big heavy steel scope like the sports seem to prefer nowadays would seem to me to make slippage more likely and more pronounced.

Garnett:
Mike, I have talked with a reader of my book who says he has had no problem with the scope coming loose with the .30-30.  While the author of the article did not name the model letter, it was at least a "B" series with grooves cut in the top of the barrel for scope mounting, because he does mention mounting a scope.  He had to modify the scope claw type bases.  Garnett

Mike Armstrong:
Interesting.  I always wondered about that since, to me, the 219 .30-30 does "back up" a little!  My Idaho friend's rechambered .30-40 backed up a lot! The other calibers have minimal recoil, at least the .25-20 and .22 Hornet. 

I've never fired a .32-20 Model 219, but my two Model 23s in that caliber had very little recoil, even with the old WHV 80 gr. hollowpoints.  Just enough to let you know you weren't shooting a .22.

Mike Armstrong

Garnett:
Mike, as I have discussed before, the two weak points in the M219/220 guns are the firing pin and the stock, where it fits next to the action.  This is a weak point in the wood and it is not unusual at all to find a crack for two at this point where the metal meets the wood.  It must be really weak, as I have examined many .22 Hornet chambered guns with the cracks.  Of course, it is possible that the Hornet chambered guns were shot at some point in time with a .30 caliber or 12 gauge barrel attached, but that just does not seem likely for some many examples I have seen.  As a precaution against this cracking, when ever I take a stock off a newly acquired gun, I glass bed the inside of the stock.  Your article is in the mail.  Garnett

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