Savage Cub

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 Cub Rifle Review

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

Some, if not many, are familiar with the Savage Rascal rifle that was introduced in 2012 and has since established itself as an excellent entry-level rimfire choice for younger rifle enthusiasts that are making their first steps into the world of sport shooting.

The Rascal, though, has its roots in a bit older model – the Savage Cub.

Savage Cub used to be a fairly popular junior youth model in the early 2000s. It was designed for the youngest shooters to help them practice their first shots, and it was essentially a scaled-down conventional single-shot bolt-action rifle with a peep sight.

It came with a 406.5 mm (16.125”) long carbon steel barrel with a fixed front iron sight, and a wooden laminated stock that added sort of a “classical” feel to it which was lost with the introduction of the synthetic Rascal.

Because you can never be too safe with the youth, Savage added their AccuTrigger to the Cub, even though this probably drove the final price of the rifle a bit up, which can be a bit of a hindrance for parents that are looking for a cheap “learning tool”.

The AccuTrigger is a safe and reliable trigger system that allows the shooter to adjust the pull weight easily and effortlessly without the help of a gunsmith, although, in the case of the Cub, it is definitely recommended to let the adults do the adjustments.

The safety of Savage Cub 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.

There can be some confusion when we talk about the receiver, though. Savage Cub can be either drilled and tapped for scope mounts, or it can feature a dovetail instead, and it is either an 11 mm or a 3/8" one, depending on the variant and when and where the rifle was bought. 11 mm dovetails are more common in Europe while 3/8” dovetails are mostly found in the USA. They are not the same, and scope mounts are often not interchangeable between the two, so before buying a scope mount we recommend you first confirm which dovetail you have.

If, however, you have a Savage Cub which is drilled and tapped, then we must warn you that Savage Rascal and Savage Cub do not have the same mounting surface. When Savage introduced the Rascal, it considerably shortened the spacing between the mounting holes compared to the Cub, which means that these two models don’t have scope mounts interchangeable with each other.

To our knowledge, Savage Cub has the same receiver as the Savage 93 and Mark II (also Mark I). If you, however, have a Savage Cub variant with different receiver dimensions, please let us know at info@optics-trade.eu. We will gladly update our database accordingly.

Savage Cub Calibers

Savage Cub can only be chambered for .22 LR.

Savage Cub Variants

There are a few additional Savage Cub variants that can be found out there “in the wild”, and these are:

• Savage Cub Pink

• Savage Cub T*

• Savage Cub Pink T*

* The letter “T” indicates a thumbhole stock.

As mentioned above, Savage Cub models can be either drilled and tapped for scope mounts or they can feature a dovetail instead.

Figure 2: The receiver of Savage Cub with an 11 Dovetail (Source: https://www.gunauction.com/buy/10874734)

D: 11 mm or 3/8” (one or the other, they are not the same)

Figure 3: The receiver of Savage Cub drilled and tapped for scope mounts (Source:https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=390874)

A: 12.83 mm
B: 84.96 mm
C: 12.83 mm
BHU: 0 mm
Fi: #6-48
R1: 12
R2: 12

Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Savage Cub

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

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

If your Savage Cub features an 11 mm or 3/8” dovetail, then any rifle with the same mounting surface will have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable with it.

On the other hand, if your Savage Cub is drilled for scope mounts, then these are the rifles that will have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable with it:

• Savage Mark II

• Savage 93

• Savage Mark I

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

For two-piece scope mounts to be interchangeable, the mounting surfaces of the rifles must match in every dimension except the action length which can vary. This is because the distance between the two pieces of the mount is not fixed.

Rifles that have two-piece scope mounts interchangeable with the drilled and tapped Savage Cub are following:

• Savage Mark II

• Savage 93

• Savage Mark I

Best Scope Mounts for Savage Cub

For scope mounts that will fit on the Savage Cub that has an 11 mm dovetail on top of the receiver, view our offer of Scope Mounts for an 11 mm Dovetail here:

Click here for 11 mm Dovetail Mounts

For a 3/8” dovetail we would recommend mounting this EGW HD Picatinny rail which was made for CZ models, but it will fit on the Cub just fine. From there on, you can pick any scope mount from our offer of Weaver and Picatinny Rings.

Order EGW Picatinny Rail

View Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Continue reading to view the best scope mounts for the Savage Cub with a drilled receiver.

Fixed Scope Mounts for Savage Cub

DNZ Products have been making scope mounts for Savage rifles for a long time, and even though they don’t sell scope mounts made specifically for the Savage Cub, you can instead choose this DNZ Game Reaper for Savage Mark II and 93R17. It should fit on the Cub, and it will be a great choice of a fixed scope mount.

Order DNZ Game Reaper Mount

Detachable Repeatable Scope Mounts for Savage Cub

This Henneberger one-piece mount earned our top recommendation for a detachable repeatable scope mount for the Cub. It is reliable and extremely versatile and is thus a great choice for any rifle. It is manufactured in Germany, is made of aluminum, and has a 30-year warranty attached to it.

It will, however, need to be coupled with a Picatinny rail. We recommend this EGW’s Picatinny rail.

Click for Henneberger HMS Swift Mount

Check Out EGW Picatinny Rail

Picatinny Rails for Savage Cub

This EGW Picatinny rail is perfect for the Savage Cub.  It is made of aluminum, and it comes with a 2-year warranty.

View EGW Picatinny Rail

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: info@optics-trade.eu