My dad has a savage 219 20ga and it had a 30-30 barrel that was lost in a fire. I recently bought a 22 hornet barrel for it. It doesn't quite fit right. The lever wouldn't completely close but it was close. Upon opening the action again we could see a mark on the barrel lug from the receiver when it was closed. It appeared that there was a high spot there so nervously I agreed to run a flat file over it a few times checking for fitting. Each time we got the same mark on the lug and I finally chickened out and didn't want to bubba it up. I took pictures of the mark, the lever, and how the barrel doesn't quite fit parallel to the receiver like the 20ga shotgun barrel does. I decided to shoot the hornet the way it was and it shot fine. I think it hit the primer slightly low but fired nonetheless and we got it sighted in. seems to shoot well.

I am going to take it to one of the gunsmiths in town but thought I would check here to see if it is something that a run of the mill smith would know what to do, or if there is something I could do once I have the know how, or if I screwed up but taking a little metal off.
Thanks here is the pics,

Don't run a file across the metal. You risk removing metal where you don't want it removed. Figure out a way to find the high spots. Layout blue is great, but if you don't do machine work then you probably don't have any. Dry erase marker works surprisingly well also. Coat one of the pieces then close the action and see where it rubs off. You can even cold blue the end of the barrel, but that takes longer between coats and usually leaves a less distinct color.

Either use a VERY mild abrasive - like the Remington bore cleaner with the steel ball in the bottle, and open / close the action many times, OR take an old needle file and grind the end smooth. Then use the file to scrape the metal a bit at a time. When used as a scraper, it will literally take off ten thousandths of an inch at a time. Just make sure the teeth are gone on both sides and the end, at least a quarter inch back.

Look up 'scraping metal' or something similar in a search engine to get the idea. Frequently check your work with the marking compound. I've done both techniques to make barrels fit better, granted it was on screw-in barrels not break-open guns. The point, however, is to take off VERY little metal and then recheck.

Unless there is some deep dark secret to making these guns lock up properly, that is what the gunsmith will do anyway.

Good luck. Someone else chime in if they know a better way.

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MikeG

Good Idea. Take it to a Gunsmith for proper fitting, as a lot of these older rifle's parts require a little "hand fitting" to work well.

Do what Mike said, s you remove metal the locking bolt engauges the barrel lug deeper. As that happens the top lever will come to the center position.
Remember it's real easy to take off more than you want --real hard to put the metal back.
Work slowly and carefully and it will fit better than factory.

Do you still have the old barrel? A smith could make a monoblock and fit a small caliber barrel to it. There is a following for what is called bunny guns, usually made with a pistol cartridge (38 spec./32 long). Lowpower, low kick lots of fun to shoot.