Savage Rascal

The History of Savage Arms

Savage Arms was founded in 1894 by Arthur Savage in Utica, New York. Arthur Savage held two important patents at the time: a patent for a repeating rifle with a single-column magazine lever-action rifle, which he acquired in 1891, and a patent for a hammerless lever-action design. That paved the way for Savage’s quick rise to success.

The company’s first breakthrough came in 1895 when it introduced Model 1895 – the first hammerless lever-action rifle on the market. It was modeled after Model 1892, an earlier design that never saw production due to losing a bid for a US Army contract. Model 1895, however, won the contract for New York National Guard, but it was soon canceled due to getting caught in a contemporary political climate.

Savage continued investing efforts into the production of military-grade weapons. It was named one of the two finalists in the US Army trials for a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and it lost only to the now-famous Colt M1911. Savage used the gained experience to produce high-quality pocket pistols, though, which resulted in the introduction of Model 1907, 1915, and 1917.

During World War I, Savage was merged with the Driggs-Seabury Ordnance company. The joint company focused all its efforts on the production of Lewis machine guns and heavy equipment for war purposes.

Between the two wars, Savage decided to expand its business inside the USA. In 1920 it bought Stevens Arms of Chicopee, followed by A.H. Fox Gun Co. of Philadelphia and Davis-Warner Arms and CrescentArms Co. of Norwich in 1930. Success followed and in 1939 Savage introduced the Model 24 combination gun which sold over a million copies.

When World War II commenced, though, Savage was once again ready to answer the call of duty. It focused all its resources on war efforts, producing a staggering number of weapons. It already signed a contract with Auto Ordinance Co. in 1938 to manufacture the famous .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun, and most of these submachine guns that were used in WWII were produced by none other than Savage. The company was also contracted by the US government in 1940 to produce .30 and .50 caliber Browning machine guns. On top of that, Savage manufactured one of the most mass-produced bolt-action rifles of WWII, the British No. 4 Lee–Enfield. A record of 1.2 million Lee-Enfield rifles was produced by Savage during the time of war.

Production dialed down after the war, though. In 1946, Savage closed its facilities in Utica and moved all its operations to the Stevens manufacturing premises. Even though the Model 110 was introduced in 1958, which remains one of the company’s most successful rifles to this date, Savage started to experience some issues. In 1960 all production was moved to the current location of Westfield, Massachusetts, and what followed was a series of different ownerships over the company. Savage gradually ran into serious financial problems and in 1988 the company declared bankruptcy.

The company had to cut back on its manufacturing costs to the point where it even stopped producing short-action configurations of its most successful model, the aforementioned Model 110. It wasn’t until 1995 when Savage returned to private ownership led by Ronald Coburn who sort of rejuvenated the whole company.

In 2002 Savage introduced and patented AccuTrigger – a safe and user-adjustable trigger that soon became a success. The following year, in 2003, the company was named Manufacturer of the Year by the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence, further reaffirming Savage’s distinction. Four years later, on May 15, 2007, Savage 93R17 BTVS has been named the best rifle in the Best of the Best presentation by Shooting Times, Sporting Gun, and Shooting Gazette magazines.

In 2013 Savage once again changed ownership. It was acquired by Orbital ATK for 315 million dollars, and it was later handed over to Vista Outdoor which later sold it for $170 million in 2019 to a group of private investors led by Savage’s management.

The company also had its logo changed in the middle of the 2010s when it decided to retire its old logo that presumably featured Chief Lame Deer, a native-American tribesman leader. The latter supposedly approached Arthur Savage in 1919 to purchase rifles for his tribe. In exchange for a discount, Lame Deer agreed to a deal. According to the deal, Savage was allowed to use Lame Deer’s face for promotional purposes. Many doubt the authenticity of this story, however, and Savage itself removed it from its official website as well.

Savage Rascal Rifle Review

Savage Rascal in .22 LR (Source: Savage Arms)

Figure 1: Savage Rascal in .22 LR (Source: Savage Arms)

Savage Rascal is a single-shot rimfire rifle that aims to be a safe micro-rimfire learning tool intended for youth. Savage’s main goal with it is to give the youth a safe and reliable kid-sized weapon with full-size essential features to allow them to get fully adjusted and prepared for “the real deal”.

Savage Rascal comes with a 409.5 mm (16.125”) carbon steel barrel which is, in some cases, threaded for barrel attachments. The rifle also features fully adjustable peep sights that allow the user to perfect his/her accuracy before potentially moving on to using riflescopes.

Rascal also features Savage’s patented AccuTrigger^TM, a safe and reliable trigger system that allows the shooter to easily and effortlessly adjust the pull-weight without the help of a gunsmith.

The stock is synthetic and comes in many colors and camos, appealing to almost any taste. If a synthetic stock is not your preferred go-to, however, you can opt for a Hardwood variant instead. All variants end in a thin and slick buttstock that could (if we are being perfectly honest) benefit from a cheek rest to make the peek sights a little bit more accessible.

The safety of Savage Rascal is manual and is of the 2-position style. The safety lever is found behind the bolt handle. When pushed forward (away from the shooter) the rifle is in firing mode, which is also indicated by a red dot that should be visible at that stage. When the safety lever is in the rearwards position (towards the shooter), the rifle is in safe mode.

The receiver is made of carbon steel and it is drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Some of the variants come with a pre-installed Weaver base or Picatinny rail, though. If you are looking for a scope mount for one of those, we recommend you check our offer of Weaver and Picatinny Rings.

Savage Rascal Calibers

Savage Rascal can be chambered for:

.22 LR

Savage Rascal Variants

There are quite a few Savage Rascal variants available on the market today. Since this model is intended to appease the youth, there are a lot of variants that come in bright colors.

Savage Rascal variants are:

Savage Rascal Black
Savage Rascal Target
Savage Rascal Target XP
Savage Rascal SV-SR Black
Savage Rascal FV-SR Left Hand Black
Savage Rascal Left Hand Black
Savage Rascal Pink
Savage Rascal Left Hand Pink
Savage Rascal Purple
Savage Rascal Blue
Savage Rascal Green
Savage Rascal Red
Savage Rascal Yellow
Savage Rascal Orange
Savage Rascal Gator Camo
Savage Rascal Hardwood
Savage Rascal Left Hand Hardwood
Savage Rascal Target XP Left Hand
Savage Rascal FV-SR Pink
Savage Rascal FV-SR Left Hand Pink
Savage Rascal Red, White, & Blue
Savage Rascal Minimalist Pink/Purple
Savage Rascal Minimalist Teal/Gray
Savage Rascal Black Web
Savage Rascal Blue Web

The receiver of Savage Rascal is drilled and tapped for scope mounts. You can also view our offer of Weaver & Picatinny Rings if your Rascal came with scope mounts pre-installed.

The receiver of Savage Rascal with a visible mounting surface

Figure 2: The receiver of Savage Rascal with a visible mounting surface (Source: http://www.austriaarms.com/new_weapons/6/2/1/5398/savage_rascal%2C_.22_lr/weapon.php?request_id_1=4263&limit_01=6&group_id_1=2&subgroup_id_1=37&stay=1)

dimensions of Savage receiver

A: 12.75 mm
B: 47.85 mm
C: 12.75 mm
BHU: 0 mm
Fi: #6-48
R1: 10.3
R2: 10.3

Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Savage Rascal

Rifles That Have One-Piece Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Savage Rascal

The necessary condition for rifles to have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable is that the mounting surfaces of these rifles match in every dimension.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any rifles that would have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable with Savage Rascal.

Rifles That Have Two-Piece Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Savage rascal

For rifles to have two-piece scope mounts interchangeable, they need to match in every dimension except the middle distance between the front and rear mounting holes (Distance B on the image above).

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any rifles that would have two-piece scope mounts interchangeable with Savage Rascal.

If you happen to know of any rifle that would fall into this category, we kindly ask you to contact us at [email protected]. We will gladly expand our database.

Best Scope Mounts for Savage Rascal

If your Savage Rascal came pre-equipped with a Picatinny rail or Weaver bases, we recommend you to take a look at our offer of Weaver & Picatinny Rings.

Picatinny Rails for Savage Rascal

Finding a suitable scope mount for Savage Rascal can be a bit of a challenge. This is why we recommend you first mount a Picatinny rail, which would greatly increase the scope-mounting possibilities.

We think this EGW Picatinny rail for Savage Rascal would be a great pick. It is made of aluminum, it is very light and it comes with a 2-year warranty.

Fixed Scope Mounts for Savage Rascal

These Aimpoint 30 mm Picatinny Rings are made of aluminum and would fit perfectly on the above-mentioned aluminum Picatinny rail.

They are light and reliable, and they come with a 2-year warranty as well.

Aimpoint 30 mm Picatinny Rings are our top recommendation for fixed scope mount for Savage Rascal.

Detachable Repeatable Scope Mounts for Savage Rascal

If you are considering purchasing a detachable repeatable scope mount for your Savage Rascal, then we think this Henneberger HMS Swift Mount for Picatinny is just about the best possible mount you can go for.

It is made in Germany, is of aluminum, and comes with a 30-year warranty.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: [email protected]

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VIDEO

Introduction

In recent years we can observe that a trend of Picatinny rail has become widespread and global. It is driven by the NATO standardized rails, more commonly known as the Picatinny rail standard. Picatinny rail being the New Jersey Arsenal that developed it in 1995.

These mounting options are revolutionary. The biggest and best advantage being that the Picatinny rail can be used its entire length and not bordered to a few pre-designed slots like for example the Weaver rail standard was before.

The other main advantage is the ease of use and interchangeability. If a product is meant for a Picatinny rail design it will fit all Picatinny-rails, no matter the manufacturer or date of production.

Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Picatinny Rail and Weaver rail profile

Design

The Picatinny rail is almost exclusively crafted from a single piece of metal (in some cases aluminum). In this manner, the axis of the Picatinny rail is perfectly straight and aligned with the axis of the firearm. Therefore the rifle scope which is mounted onto this kind of configuration is certainly aligned with the rifle / gun and the trajectory of the ammunition.

Weaver rail design on the other hand is usually manufactured in two separate pieces, greatly increasing the possibilities for the axis to be crooked, overlapping, and out of line.

It is always harder to align two separate pieces to a third line than it is to align one piece to another. In this way, the lapping of two mounting rings on a single-piece Picatinny rail is no longer required.

The single-piece rail will assure that both rings are perfectly aligned to each other and that no unwished stress is transferred to the riflescope.

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

The Picatinny rail itself is an evolutionary step forward from the older Weaver rail. The main difference between Picatinny rail and Weaver rail is the spacing of the slots. Picatinny rail design has them evenly placed exactly 5.23 mm from one slot to the other, 3 mm deep. For this reason, the mounting options are repeatable and the same as other firearms using the Picatinny rail standard.

Interchangeability was a major driving force in the development of the new standard as different NATO armies need to be compatible with each other.

Weaver rail has 3.8mm wide slots and these slots can be placed anywhere on the Weaver rail and in any number that the producer wished.

Advantages of Picatinny design

A big advantage for using the Picatinny rail design is the ever-present recoil stop. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the rail is not very technically demanding and can be done without the use of state-of-the-art machines which greatly reduces the cost of the finished product, making it very affordable.

The Picatinny rail is easy to mount and usually, this type of configuration does not transfer negative stresses and forces from the fired weapon to the rifle scope.

In addition, the Picatinny rail with its very long useable surface works well for mounting longer rifle scopes or to achieve optimum eye relief.

The durability and toughness are other big pluses for this solution.

Manufacturers of Popular Models

A majority of the Picatinny rings are fixed, but a number of best rated European manufacturers (EAW, MAK,..) have, in recent years, put a lot of effort into the development of detachable ring with100% repeatability, with which it becomes easy to remove the scope from the weapon without the use of tools.

No re-zeroing is needed with such mount options, but these models tend to be expensive.

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Picatinny rail and weaver rail share one more thing. It is possible to use the Weaver ring and the Picatinny ring on the Picatinny-rails, but it is usually impossible to use the Picatinny ring on the Weaver base. The reason being the above-mentioned positioning and spacing of the slots.

Picatinny mounts have a 5mm recoil stop that goes into the rail slot and since
Weaver rail only has 3.8mm wide slots such rings do not fit on Weaver rails.

Due to this reason, the Picatinny-rails are popular and prevailing on the market in recent years and eventually, these options will completely oust the Weaver rail from the market.

Savage Rascal

The History of Savage Arms