Traded this from a friend in Nevada. It is a later Utica 219 .30-30 with original blued finish. the frame marking "-219-" on the left side of the receiver, and Utica markings on the barrel. Has the long ramp front sight with gold bead ("Yay!") but is missing the rear sight (filled with aftermarket dovetail blank--"Boo"). Good, but not perfect bore; I'm sure it will shoot fine. Alloy trigger guard with the slim trigger. Steel safety button. No serial number.
Stock is VERY nicely figured walnut with the fluted comb and conventional early type slim forend ("Yay!"). But it has been refinished professionally with a shiny urethane finish like a Rem 700 ("Boo"). I'm going to leave that alone since it seals the wood well against rain and is VERY hard to remove without re-sanding and losing even more of that nice walnut. It ain't really broke, so I'm NOT going to fix it, although my eyes remain sorely offended.
Reason there's no rear sight is that it has been fitted a Savage-marked, Japanese-manufactured scope, rings and mounts. The scope is shown in the book "Old Rifle Sights and Scopes" as the Savage model #2520, an aluminum-tubed 2.5X fixed power scope that is dead ringer for a Weaver K2.5 except for the aluminum. It is marked "Wuwa-Savage" and "Made in Japan." Reticle is a bold post-and-crosshair, which I have never before seen on ANY Japanese-manufactured scope.
I think--but do not know for sure--that this is the Japanese company that (much later) took over manufacture of Weaver scopes and makes them today under the Weaver brand name.
Ring are "dead ringers" too (indulge me), this time for the old "B-Square" rings. They are made of aluminum and marked with the "SAVAGE" logo typescript. Mounts appear to be Weaver steel mounts that were professionally tapped and drilled onto the barrel but can't be factory work (unless the rifle was sent back to the factory long after purchase) because this scope and rings were only made from about 1962-72 according to Nick Stobel's book, and the rifle must date from at least the 1940s, maybe earlier.
Sorry I can't do pics but I can't. I'll send Garnett the date sheet soon, and shoot the rifle ASAP.
Mike Armstrong
