savage 340 in 30-30

[Soundguy]

just picked up a savage 340 rifle in 30-30. it's a bolt gun.. looks like 4 in the removable mag and one inthe pipe for a total of 5. adjustable iron sites.. etc ( I think I got a good deal on it at 165$ out the door?? ). It's in 90%-95% condition.

Anyone also own this model of gun? I own a marlin 30-30 lever action and enjoy shooting that gun.. use it for hog hunting... I plan on going with a buddy, and picked this gun so we could hunt with the same caliber.

I plan on taking it out to the range to see how it shoots.

any peculiarities I need to wath out for? beint a bolt gun I suspect it will hav similar kick as a lever action or single shot as there is no recoil/autoloading going on... etc.

thanks

any other comments appreciated.

soundguy

 

[RobertN]

I have a freind who has one; saw it for the first time a week ago. He got it when he was a kid, 30+ years ago. I thought it was interesting to make a bolt gun for 30-30.

 

[ToadHill]

Nothing in that size but I bought a savage 270 and it is the most accurate gun I've ever owned.

 

[studor]

I have one in .22 hornet. Took a little fiddling with the bedding and lots of handloading experiments to get it to shoot but part of that is the caliber. The action is not noted as being particularly strong so full steam handloads would not be recommended. On mine it finally started to shoot well when I glass bedded the barrel and fooled around with the barral band screw. Pretty good price -- most people do not view them as particularly attractive or collectable but in 30- 30 at reasonable ranges it will be great I bought mine about 35 years ago second hand and have gone back to it lately after being enamoured with heavy barrelled 22-250s for a while. It is a nice walking weight gun and I don't get too concerned with the "experience" marks that are on it

 

[Soundguy]

I've hear that savage made it a bolt gun so that you could actually shoot pointy 30-30 ammo.. vs the flat stuff same for tube feeds. guess you'd have to be into handloading to take advantage of that though.

soundguy

 

[dirt ditch]

My granddad bought a second hand Savage 340/30-30 back when I was a kid. Good shooter, It spent a lot of time riding in the rear window gun rack of his pickup along with a Remington shotgun and .22 rifle (those were the days). It was not his favorite deer rifle tough, that was a Savage model 99 lever action in .250 savage.

 

[studor]

I've hear that savage made it a bolt gun so that you could actually shoot pointy 30-30 ammo..

The bolt gun was cheaper to make than the levers and the 30 -30 was always a popular cartridge. I think they chambered it in the calibers they did to make sure the chamber pressure never got too high -- I think the "hottest" round you could buy it in was .222. Yes you can shoot pointy bullets in it but you can in a Savage 99 lever gun too. Because of the split receiver the scope mounts available are side mounts -- only a drawback if you plan to scope it

 

[Soundguy]

How did the savage lever gun handle the pointy bullets... did it not use a conventional tube mag?

soundguy

 

[RobertN]

Awesome! I have a Savage 99 in 300 Savage. The rotary magazine is built in to the receiver instead of a tubular magazine. So, the rounds were not one in front of another. I think the Ruger 10-22 uses a rotary magazine too. Later in production, they converted to a removable box magazine.

The older Savage 99's had a rounded receiver to go with the rotary magazine. It is a very comfortable rifle to carry.

The only limiting factor to the Savage 99, is the fixed magazine length. A 300Savage or 308 Winchester(turns out, the 7.62/308 was based on the 300 Savage) with a moderate sized bullet(180gr) is the longest that will fit in the magazine. It is definitely a "short action" rifle.

The 300 Savage was leagues ahead of the 30-30. When it came out in the 20's, it was equivalent to the 30-06 as far as military ball ammo goes. It has always been a ballistics better cartridge than the 30-30.

The other thing about a Mdl-99, is it's guts don't hang out when you work the lever. If you work the lever on a Winchester 94, there are all kinds of things dangling out.

The 22-250 is a classic cartridge. It is a Savage 25-3000 necked down to .224 caliber. It is a standardized, previously wildcat round.

How did the savage lever gun handle the pointy bullets... did it not use a conventional tube mag?

soundguy

 

[Egon]

That savage 99 was a sweet handling gun.