Are there any fans of the 219 Savage here? Just bought one and know what I'm going to do, but thought some here might have a custom or nice one.

Adam

This is about the most"custom" 219 I have seen.
Custom 219

I have 3, a 22 Hornet, 219 Imp Zipper (rechambered Hornet) and 30-30. They are all stock or close to it.

"When questioned by consignor why he had expended so much effort, energy & expense on such an inexpensive firearm, his reply was “what was the piece of canvas worth before the Mona Lisa was painted on it?” "

The late John Madole was one of the most talented and competent custom gunmakers in America with much influence directly from Lynton McKenzie on engraving. He did the metalwork on my side lever Ruger conversion and for a very few Sharps M-77s, one that I stocked.
Several of his fantastic custom metal jobs are pictured in my book Custom Rifles in Black & White.
He was also a very close friend of mine...

I have a 219 in 30/30; it is dead stock, pretty far from the one Thaine links to. That is a sweet rifle.
I like how it handles, like a stalking rifle. I have used it for hogs on a brushy property in central Texas and for a coyote or two in Arizona.
The trigger is heavy, like the shotgun it was derived from, but I have learned to live with it. It ejects really positive, throws the brass about 30 feet!!

Mark

My Dad bought one in 30-30 in the late 1940's,because that was all he could afford. With the long 26 in barrel and the open sights being much further apart than the 30-30 carbine he and one of my uncles had shared,he found it to be very accurate.In fact he had the rifle paid for before Christmas the first year with coyote and fox pelts he shot with it. He used it for years on deer.

I saw that Madole, wow.

I'm going build mine more towards a stalking rifle, slim and petite, has anyone ever re-barreled one? Do you think it would be any different than a TC?

Where I work ( http://www.dvhcustomguns.com/ ) we rebarreled one. For the barrel lug we used one machined off a shotgun that used the same action, it was machined off and welded to the new barrel.
IIRC it was chambered in 30/40 Krag.
We make TC Contender and Encore barrels so the technique was the same.

Mark

When the .22 Hornet barrel on my dad's old 219 got very pitted, I got a 12-ga barrel for it, turned down a .224 barrel to insert in it, press fitted it in place and had it chambered for .22 Hornet. The original barrel was good for 1.0 MOA. the new barrel was good for 1.0 MOA at summertime temperatures but very inaccurate at cold temperatures. Why did the old barrel continue pitting even after it had been cleaned?

quote:

Originally posted by ab_bentley:
I saw that Madole, wow.

I'm going build mine more towards a stalking rifle, slim and petite, has anyone ever re-barreled one? Do you think it would be any different than a TC?

I've owned (and still own) a bunch of TCs. I also had the good fortune to own a Savage 219 which came in its original O.D. canvas carrying case with pockets for the stocked action, and three different barrels.

The three barrels it came with were in .22 Hornet, .30-30 Winchester, and .410-3".

I loved that gun...it had good lines, fitted me very well, and was absolutely reliable as well as quite accurate. I had installed the little Redfield 4-X 3/4"-tubed scopes in QD mounts on both the Hornet and .30 barrels and did not remove the iron sights from either. I used it more than 10 years in northern Alberta as my "always present" truck gun.

I cannot recall why I sold or traded it off or to whom. I must have had a lapse of sanity. If I had it back, I wouldn't trade it for a gross of any TC Contenders or Encores ever made.

I think it compares very well with the TCR-'83s, but with a more comfortable butt-stock on the 219s. (I do still have one of those TCRs with 6 different barrels, all individually scoped.)