Ever since an entrepreneur from Connecticut named Winchester turned his attention from manufacturing shirts to producing firearms, the lever-action rifle had been the darling of American sportsmen. The lever-action's popularity was such that during the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, if you wandered afield during big-game season, chances were that most of the hunters you encountered were armed with lever-action repeaters.

That began to change, albeit slowly, in the 1920s. Tens of thousands of Americans had been exposed to bolt-action rifles while serving in the armed forces during the Great War and were favorably impressed. With improvements in telescopic sights, it was realized that the bolt-action rifle provided far superior, long-range accuracy, and the more powerful cartridges were much more effective on large game. However, while scoped, bolt-action rifles became increasingly popular for hunting in the West and mountainous areas, most Americans were woods hunters, so the lever gun's popularity and dominant market position remained secure.

It wasn't until after World War II that the popularity of the bolt-action sporting rifle really took off, and rifles such as the Winchester Model 70 and Remington Model 720 were in great demand. With both Remington and Winchester just coming off war contracts and tooling up to produce civilian firearms again, supply was low while demand was high, and as anyone who has taken Economics 101 knows, small supply plus high demand equals high prices.

Savage Arms Co. of Utica, New York, was founded in 1884 by Arthur Savage and was best known for its Model 99 lever-action rifle, a favorite of American hunters for many decades. In fact, the Model 99 was one of the top three best-selling rifles along with the Winchester 94 and the Marlin 336. Between 1920 and 1928, Savage had produced the bolt-action Model 20 sporting rifle to compete with Winchester and Remington guns, but it did not prove popular, and production was limited.

Seeing the new demand for bolt-action rifles, Savage decided to enter the market again, but the company's marketing gurus made a shrewd decision. Instead of building a high-end rifle to compete with the Model 70 and Model 720, Savage introduced an economy-priced bolt gun in the hopes that it would appeal to a wider market.

Introduced in 1947 through Savage's subsidiary, the Stevens Arms Co., the Model 330 was a simple, rugged, and economical bolt-action. To say that this was a wise business decision would be an understatement being that the rifle remained in production for almost 20 years under various guises. In excess of 100,000 units left the factory in Massachusetts.

The Model 330's receiver was machined from seamless steel tubing and featured a split receiver bridge and an ejection port on the right side. It was threaded on the inside to accept the barrel shank. Dual gas-escape holes on either side of the receiver ring allowed safe venting of powder gases in the instance of a split cartridge case. Later production rifles were drilled and tapped for a Weaver side-mount scope base.

The barreled action was held in the one-piece stock by a bolt in front of the magazine well, which entered the recoil lug on the front of the receiver, and a barrel band that was retained by a bolt in the forearm. A simple, elevation-adjustable, U-notch rear sight was standard as was a brass-bead front sight.