Please pardon my frustration. But as yet, no one has addressed the question posed in the original post. Maybe I have camouflaged the question I asked with enthusiasm for the purchase.
So, most directly: What did you get if you ordered and paid for "Nickel plated trimmings" on your order for Savage M 1899 in 1917 or thereabouts. Murray's reproduction of Savage materials of the period clearly say you can get "Nickel plated trimmings," WTF are they?
I'm pretty sure they a shiny version of stuff you set on the table at Christmas with the Turkey.
Maybe I am naive. But this seems exactly the kind of direct FACTUAL question that anyone claiming to be a Savage expert would be able to answer. If there is one here, I would be ever so grateful for a direct answer.
I appreciate all the opinions, informed and less so and have tried to provide pictures and my observations to indulge both my own enthusiasm and the natural voyeurism of forum participants. But the scope and swivels from the beginning have made it face obvious this is no longer a "factory original" piece of otherwise high collector's value. That, and the possibility that this piece is "cosmetically enhanced," however, are pretty much irrelevant to my question of "trimmings" and their originality. If "trimmings" do not include the shiny parts on this rifle, then opinions about refinishing (or not) are even more irrelevant.
In closing, usually I view "shiny parts" and the like as gaudy decoration. The combination here is in my mind a tasteful enhancement to the appearance of your "ordinary" 1899. Mechanically, this rifle is both unworn and a cut above the norm in action tightness and smoothness with the best trigger I have seen on one, including the three others I currently own. If it proves to shoot anywhere near as well as my TD in 219 Zipper does (NOT FACTORY ORIGINAL!) .......
