Published in "The Gun Report" in March, 1968. Just ordered it off of ebay for $8.69, I'll let you know what's in it when it gets here.
I'd run across that pdf while researching the trials, but hadn't thought to go find Gilbert's article for some reason (maybe because it was 2am?). Appreciate the prod.
David's measurements of the Pratt & Whitney, "$20,000, 3 year production time", transition musket sure sounds like a rifle that would have been submitted to the NY Trials. If this is the one then the bolt was changed after the trials to correct one of the problems. This might account for why the bolt was changed when the Model 1899 rifle went into production.
Appears the people at Savage don't/didn't have the history on the transition rifle, either.
I'm wondering if Bethel Burton wasn't referring to the entire time that the Savage rifle had been under development and all of the expenses put into the 1892/1893/1895 research and development, rather than just the expense of the trial rifle? I can see Arthur W. Savage talking up how much time and effort and revisions and cost he'd put into developing this gun while including the entire 3+ years.
