Savage 340 rifles were sturdy little firearms that would be manufactured by Savage Arms,starting around 1950. This is one of those Savage firearms that I would have the pleasure of selling, repairing and installing scopes on. The early model Savage 340s in the 30-30 cartridge were not drilled and tapped in the early years.
I would as a gunsmith in the 1980s and 90s, drill and tap many of these bolt action rifles for scope mounts. I would pretty much exclusively use the Weaver side mounts and enjoy installing them on those Savage firearms.
This is one model that you would have to remove wood on the left hand side of the receiver in order to get the scope and rings to line up center on the receiver. This did make a good looking rifle and worked very well.
The smaller cartridges of the Savage 340 rifles in the222 Remington and the 22 hornet were drilled and tapped from the beginning. I believe the 30-30 cartridges in the 340 model were considered more of a short range brush gun so were not drilled and tapped in the early days. By the mid-1950s the Savage firearms in the 340 model would be drilled and tapped in all calibers.
I really liked the little Savage 340 rifles in that they were fairly compact and lightweight yet were extremely accurate and were a nice addition to the commercial made rifles of the early 1950s. I especially liked the use of a magazine and the 340 was an early rifle that would use the detachable magazine concept.
This is one rifle that will become a good addition to any Savage gun collection if you can find one that has not been drilled and tapped. The next issue is finding one not drilled and tapped but in great condition. This was one rifle that got well used and handed down to kids and grand kids.
As it was a relatively cheap rifle at the time and it was meant to be used. Future collector value was not part of what the Savage 340 model was bought for. Use it and use it often. A great brush gun in the 30-30 Winchester and that is where it was used. Do not pass one up if in great condition.
340 SAVAGE
While doing gunsmith work on these firearms I would probably deal with issues of poor maintenance and neglect in most cases. They were not expensive guns and people tended to let maintenance go until the gun malfunctioned. I would have to sometimes clean the chamber so that the shells could be extracted.
The extractors on these guns were not the most reliable but they did work well and if the chamber was cleaned and the gun maintained they did work well. Issues with the ejectors and misfires were also common on these firearms. Because of the neglect on these guns I would also reblue many of theseSavage firearms.
These Savage 340 rifles were really popular in the 22 hornet and 222 Remington cartridges.
These Savage 340 rifles were fun to shoot and very accurate and was a nice firearm for the young shooter or lady shooter in the family. The 22 hornet and the 222 Remington cartridges were great little additions to the 340 line. The little 340 model in these cartridges would account for many woodchucks in my area of Pennsylvania. I am sure the rest of the nation would use these great rifles on all sorts of varmints across the fruited plain.
It is one gun that is now a little collectible, if in original condition and it still maintains very good condition overall. Some of the old 30-30s that were not drilled and tapped are becoming hard to find. Although it is not a great gun for the collector it is still a great little gun to own and can be bought at pretty reasonable prices today.
I would give these a good rating in my rating system. Visit my gunratings page for rating the firearm for firearms collectors
I would like to add an update to this article on the Savage 340 model firearms. I have worked on many of these rifles over the years and do like them as stated above. If someone is interested in the gunsmithing end of this rifle and some expert advice on it. I would recommend you visit Go To Leeroysramblings.com There are many other good articles there.
