Working the Savage Model 1899: Gunsmithing, Brought to You By Midway
In 1893, Savage patented the first truly hammerless lever-action rifle. This streamlined rifle differed from the Winchester and Marlin lever-action rifles of the same era in that it used a rotary magazine that allowed the use of ballistically superior pointed-nose bullets. All of the other lever-actions of this period used a tubular magazine. The tubular magazine meant that cartridges were fed into the tube with bullet nose to primer, necessitating the use of blunt-nosed bullets to avoid a chain-fire situation.By 1895, Savage's rifle was in full production as the Model 95. Around 1899, a few small design improvements were made and, since then, the design has remained relatively the same—one of the "bread and butter" firearms of this company.
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