Savage 340: Does anyone still love them?

[FROGO207]

Up here in eastern Maine it seems that almost every pawn and gunshop has at least one priced at $150--$200 usually with a mag. I got mine in 30-30 a couple years ago for $110. The stock has a couple dozen or so hash marks. Last owner said 1 for each buck it has taken. Will have to use it this year and add my own to the collection.

 

[dans3kgt]

I know this is an old post that has been recently revived so I thought OI would add a few pics of my savage 340B in .222 . I have had it for 2 years and picked it up at a yardsale for 50.00 I had to add the scope and mounts.
I would like to find someone on here that reloads 222 and would be interested in selling me some hand loads. If you reload and are interested in doing some for me please PM me

Thanks

Dan Kleinman

 

[dans3kgt]

I forgot to add I love the site and this is my first time posting on this forum


Dan

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I gave my older daughter an 842 in 30-30. I had to shorten the butt stock by 2 inches so it would fit her.

 

[Joel Lehman]

I bought the Revelation version several years ago for $125. The bore was rough but the walnut stock is nice with what looks like pressed checkering. I bought a new barrel from Gunparts and had it installed with no sights. It is accurate with mild recoil. It should be good for grand kids.

The rifle is fun to shoot with the side mount Burris Fullfield 3X9 scope. I have 125 Sierra spitzers, 130 Speer flat points and 150 Sierra flat points to try. Right now I am working up loads using Berry's plated 150 grain bullet with 26 grains of 3031 as a turkey load.

 

[sdragon1963]

love the little rifle

had 1 as a kid lost it in a fire just got 1 at a yard sale for 40.00 back in june get 1 1/2 at 200 yards with ftx 160 grain an 32 grains of varget i love this site just need to find a front site for it put a sun optics mount on it and a weaver 3x9x 32 scope old steel tube that was in box of stuff from a sale

 

[Still Shooting]

Wow! Deja vu! My first centerfire rifle was a Savage 340 in 22 Hornet. I bought it from a friend in 1960 for $35, with an unfinished stock. Did the finish with boiled linseed, turps, and a little beeswax on the final 2 coats. I was 14. I saved my quarters and put a 6X Weaver on the gun. At 100 yds. it would put all 5 into the pip on an ace of spades! That summer at my family's camp in the NY Finger Lakes, I shot 97 'chucks. Dad bought me a Pacific press (still use it) and a set of dies when I was 16, and it got me into handloading. The gun was stolen from storage a week after I graduated college, and never recovered. I have often thought about buying another one if it turned up, but none has. I loved that gun.

 

[rickcressler]

I bought a 340 from my Grandpa's best friend in 1978 for $50.00. It has the side mounted scope base (which does NOT interfere with the bolt handle as long as you use a 1" tube fixed power scope with no oversize eyepiece) as well as the dockendorff wheel elevator rear sight.

I've killed quite a few deer with it and retired it after being consumed with having something heavier. The only problems I EVER had with it was the extractor went bad right after I first got it.

About 15 years ago, I dug it out of the gun safe and played around with some hand loads. Had some pretty interesting things happen! This thing shoots sub inch groups at 150 yards (Had a blast at the range popping two liter bottle caps off the target backers one right after the other) with the first load I worked up.

I did try using some spire pointed bullets since it doesn't have a tubular magazine, but one thing people need to keep in mind is overall length. it is safe to use pointed bullets, but they A...Don't fit in the magazine unless they are REALLY deep, and B... they have to be short enough to close the bolt. Not sure what it would do to pressure with the bullet jammed in the rifling to start.

All in all, it's been a great little gun. Light, easy to shoot, cheap to shoot, and holds a special place in my heart. This was my first firearm. Brings a tear to the eye just remembering.......

 

[Dr.Rob]

My uncle still hunts with one back east.. it's a sturdy no nonsense rifle.



We don't usually let old threads like these get dragged up for no good reason but the model just isn't very commonly seen in these parts.

 

[sixgunner455]

My dad had one of these in .30-30 as a kid. I showed him a couple of pictures from this thread this afternoon, and he was excited to see his old rifle, and people still appreciating it. He says it was very accurate, and a lot of fun to shoot.

 

[tango2echo]

My Brother's first rifle was a Savage 340 in .30WCF. He sold it in Red Bluff, CA in 1979 or 1980, and then found it in a Pawn Shop in Jacksonville, NC in 1998. EXACT SAME GUN. We had old pictures for insurance purposes and had recorded the serial numbers. He kept it for a few years, lost the magazine in the woods, and sold it to a friend. I would have never let that one go. Some things are never supposed to be sold. The friend took his first deer with it on the very first time ever in the woods after single loading the chamber and shooting sans magazine.

t2e

 

[airedaleman]

Still love my 340B in 222 (see my earlier post...)

Where have all the woodchucks gone? Long time passing...

 

[DM~]

There seems to be plenty of 340's around, i see them used fairly often, mostly in 30-30 and for around $300...

DM

 

[natman]

I am looking for the rifle that was made for CIL (Canadian Industries LTD) According to crossover tables it is the model 830. I do not know if CIL had any other trade name on the rifle such as "Westpoint", "Revelation", "Westernfield", or "Foremost" . Can anyone help me out with this? Hope there are many out there who have more info and/or can find me one.

I once had a CIL gun in 30-30. The stock was finished in a funky orange wash. It was marked as a CIL, model 830 IIRC, but it was a badge engineered 340 all the way. It was my first centerfire gun, bought because it was dirt cheap.

I try to get nostalgic for it now and again, but never succeed.

 

[rehorne]

Sure wish I could find a complete bolt and Mag for the one I have in the shop

 

[lonestardiver]

I had the Stevens variant model 325C. It had the blonde stock (light colored wood) and the butter knife bolt handle..... Short, light weight....stock needed some reshaping to be not so "ungainly". They were made in the early 50's for about 2 - 3 years...prior to being required to have serial numbers... when I sold it we looked for a number....never could find one...so the FFL dealer and my C&R book have it listed as none.

 

[chukhntr]

My latest 340

I recently picked up a 340 in .222. It is in good condition except for a small piece of the stock that is missing at the rear left side of the receiver. Apparently that piece does not matter since the gun shoots under 1" with a load of 24 gr. Varget with a Hornady 50 gr. V-Max when I do my part. I'll probably have the stock repaired or get a new one. The trigger is about 4-1/2 lb.

When I bought the gun it had a Weaver J2.5 scope on it which I will be selling. I replaced the scope with a Redfield 3-9x Widefield. I found out the hard way that the newer scopes don't work with the Weaver side mount because the larger diameter in the turret area interferes with the mount. I was going to mount a Nikon BDC scope on it, and It wouldn't fit. This prompted me to go to the nearest gun shop and trade some unwanted scopes for the Redfield.

Previous 340's were a .30-30 340A and a .222 in the last model they made. The extractor on the .222 was really useless, even after I replaced the brass claw.

 

[Taroman]

Interesting thread. Had a .22 Hornet 342 for years and loved it.
So, I just picked up 225 Winchester 340V at the LGS. Included 2 magazines, 400 rounds of ammo and new brass as well as an RCBS die set. $150 for it all. No love there. The included Weaver mount wouldn't fit my scope, so I just added a side-mount rail.
After looking at what load data is available, I settled on WW760 as the powder that appears to have the lowest pressures. Want to start low and work up a mild load that's easy on this action's limitations.

 

[HOOfan_1]

my dad loaded his 340 .225 with H380...and Sierra 52 grain Matchkings.

Too bad a gun smith ruined it, and another one is supposed to be looking for a new barrel for it.

 

[Taroman]

"Too bad a gun smith ruined it, and another one is supposed to be looking for a new barrel for it."

Must have been the same 'smith that hacked on the stock on mine. Fortunately, he left the barrel alone. I did, however, order a new bolt head from Numrich, as it appears that he had replaced the roll pin with a nail and then ground it off with a bench grinder.

 

[Jason280]

I'm not sure what it is about the rifles, but I am a big fan. I have three of them, a 340A .30-30 that was built before they started drilling/tapping the side of the receivers, a 325C Compact .30-30, and a 340E .222 with a steel tube Weaver 10x scope.

I'd like to find a rear peep for the 340A, but they have proved to be quite elusive!

 

[airedaleman]

Afraid I'm kind of taken with them, too. Just put a deposit on a Revelation 30-30 carbine.
Will have cost me $137.50 when I walk out the door with it next payday. Needs some cleaning up, but overall it's in excellent shape. I've had a Stevens 325 and a 340V (225 Winchester) in the past. The new carbine will go well with the 340B (222 remington)/Weaver K10 that I picked up a while ago. More later; just got over the earthquake and now prepping for the hurricane. Life is always interesting.

 

[Savage Hunter]

I inherited my grandfather's Savage 340A in .30-30, and I really like how short, light, and easy to carry it is.

With mine, the front sight (original) was never high enough for the original rear Marbles sight. Even when the rear sight is adjusted all the way down to the lowest setting, the front sight is still not high enough to allow me to zero the rifle at 50 or 100 meters. Even after removing the rear sight elevator altogether, it shoots consistently about 4" low at 50 meters. I've made the problem worse by adding a William's FP 340 receiver sight. Now the rear sight is even higher. I'd like to therefore replace the front sight with a much higher one, and I'm looking for suggestions on what brand/model of front sight will work. The original front sight is a one piece design secured by two screws about 0.89" - 0.9" apart, with no dovetail.

I was thinking about ordering a Marbles Front Sight Ramp w/ Dovetail Slot for the 0.625" barrel contour, and one of the high Front Sight inserts that fit into the dovetail slot in the ramp.

Has anyone else replaced their front sight with a Marbles sight, or some other brand? Do you think my choice will work? Is the barrel contour of a 340 in .30-30 about 0.625"?

Love this thread!

 

[Pitbull-man]

Wow, I never thought my first post on an Internet forum would be about the Savage 340! I shot my first Elk in Oregon in 1990 in the neck with one in 30-30 W.F.C. And my first Oregon Buck Muley with the same gun the year before! The Rifle was given to my Mother back in the 60's by a dear friend of the family, Johnny Nielson. Not fancy, but certianly functional. I still have it and will hand it down to one of my Grandchildren.

 

[MaineHunter]

When I was a youngster my dad saved up and bought one of these. I was telling my sons I never knew what happened to it after he quit hunting. Lo and behold the siblings bought me one exactly like my dad had, a 340A, for Christmas. I've just refinished the stock and I am having a ball with it. It's a 30/30 and I am considering having it drilled and tapped for a scope mount as my 75 year old eyes just "ain't what they used to be"! I think I have identified the year of manufacture as l954.