More proofmark questions

[dale]

Having just finished a Savage 24 bender (now the proud owner of 4, and a kissing cousin 242), I also managed to pick up a '48 Woodsmaster, chambered in .300 Sav. I'd never seen or shot an 8/81 before, just loved the curvy lines at first sight and decided to find one in either .35 or .300 since I don't reload. Yet.

I have been spending lots of time over at http://savage24.com/ learning about all the finer points of those o/u's and inevitably adding to the wish list for new acquisitions, and now find myself here to see what kind of Pandora's box I may have opened with this rig. It's damn cold around here right now (coastal Maine), so I've only been to the pit once to give the rifle a chance to cycle through battery. That she did, and kneeling at 50m and not trying too hard I was pleasantly surprised to group about 2.5" and just down and left of POA. I may get out this weekend to put more effort into it.

Other than an add-on butt pad (I'm a little suspicious the stock may have been modified) and some screw slot damage, she's in nice condition. My questions are about the stamps on the trigger guard and underside of the receiver. I'm thinking the "3" indicates the rifle was serviced by Remington, but info I found here suggests that the stamp is usually next to the serial number? The other glyphs in front of the mag are all mystery to me.

Please accept some pics as payment/bribes for any light you might shed on this rifle's travels.
Thanks.
Dale

[Sarge756]

Dale, Welcome from coastal N.E. Florida. It has been a bit chilly down here too. Had sleet this morning when I walked out to get the paper. Hoping this mess gets out of here tomorrow and we can warm up. Great photos of what looks to be an unmolested 81. You will quickly find that the 8/81`s are like eating peanuts so prepare some room for new additions. I too have a fondness for 24 Savages and am sure sorry Savage abandoned a classic in favor of that abomination they reintroduced in place of it. . 24DL 22LR over 20ga in the collection and wish now I had bought one of the 30-30 over 12ga when they were available at a decent price. I`m sure one of our resident experts will advise you about the proof marks soon. Welcome again and thanks for sharing the photos and shooting report of your 81.
Joe

[Roger]

Sir,
Welcome aboard and thanks for the pics of your m-81. It looks good from here in iowa.We've had weeks of roller coaster weather. 30-40 degrees then to 10-20 below zero,all within 24 hrs. It's very hard to adjust to those wild temperature swings.
We actually had to skip 2 of our hi power deer season days a few days ago, because of mud.
I don't believe that your 3 on the trigger guard is anything more than an approval stamp. The 3 for factory service is usually on the barrel jacket,left side near the breach.Your manf. date codes are also there. You can find some info on that,here on this website.
You didn't say or post a picture of your buttplate that you think is altered. What does it look like?
Thanks for your time,
Roger

[dale]

Aye, Sarge, the Savage 42, while MAYBE a reasonable utilitarian option for survival or skwirrel bagging, to me has none of the beauty, heft, and solidity (is that a word?) of the 24s. Had we met a couple months ago, I would have offered you a .30-30/12 that I bought and fairly quickly resold as the shotty kick was ... um, unpleasant. I did, however, wait until I found a .30-30/20 to replace it. My only gripe is they both are synthetic stocks; apparently a wood model is a rare prize - I'm willing to keep an eye out.

And funny we all have seen some pretty brutal cold this winter, not just in the usual places. A lot of folks around here have used up much of their fuel budget pretty quickly and are hoping for an early spring, mud season by damned.

Thanks for eyeballing my 81. Without taking her down yet, and I'm by no means a gun guy so my impression is worth little, her lines look true so I'm inclined to think she's, as you say, 'unmolested'. There is some nick and scratch wear on the left side of the stock and foreend where you'd expect from a righty shooter, but that appears to be it.

LOP measures 14.75", pad says White Line out of CA. There is a little fading and flaking of the finish at the butt where it meets the pad, which made me think it may have been shortened (sad if true), but the LOP might suggest just an add-on vs. a more permanent mod. Maybe you guys can tell - I'll eventually pull the pad off and look, but my first impression at the pit made me happy to have it. Recoil was very polite for the caliber, I thought.





Thanks.
Dale

edit: thanks, Roger!

[Roger]

Sir,
I'm not there with the rifle ,but the picture suggests to me that it wasn't cut. It looks like to me that they installd the pad over the curve on the butt of the stock. I'm not in a position to check one of my m-81 s to see how long it should be, but they wouldn't have cut it in a curved fashion. The checkered aluminum and or checkered steel m-81 buttplates do show up sometimes online and at gunshows, i'd start looking out for one if I were you. You can always leave your pad on for shooting and hunting,then change it out should you decide to sell this rifle. Generally pads will deduct 75-100 bucks from the value of most guns. These are just the ramblings and opinions of an old school gun guy from Iowa. Take it for what it's worth.
Thanks for your time,
Roger

[dale]

Nice weather today had me back at the pit briefly, where I got to run through another 3 mags.
For those keeping score (and going through the same process), 150gr Federal softpoint, 110yd (that's where my 'bench' rock sits), seated and rolled jacket rest, groups of 4. First = horrible (8" spread, 4" height), next 2 = 6" and only 1.5-2" height variation. All centered around POA, though, which speaks to whomever had this rig before me.

While it would be nice to suggest the barrel needed to warm up, I'm quite sure I was not giving the rifle and sights the attention they deserved initially. I'd be happy with today's results, given my mid-aged eyes and standard sights, but I've got a couple other types of ammo with which to play as well. Looking forward to seeing if we can do better!

Oh, and the aftermarket pad is staying ON for now! I've been spoiled by 7-08, .222 and rimfire play, apparently.
Dale