Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Tale of Two EGs

I would pay serious money to Mr. Peabody for a trip in the Wayback Machine to spend a couple days in Savage's stockmaking department. (And Harry Pope's barrel shop, and Niedner's shop, and Dr.Franklin Mann's rifle range, and in a scout plane circling over the Normandy beaches, and that certain college student who made some dumb career choices 43 years ago...)

This is sometimes where I learn the most. Look, listen & then handle. The details rise to the surface.
Handle frequently is my advice. 😀

I have noticed on several occasions the wood on pre war EG's being slimmer and trimmer.

I much prefer them to post war EG's

I have a pre war EG in 30-30. I also have two Salesman Samples in 300 and 303. They are basically EGs with a little extra stuff.

I also have a post war EGs in 358 and 250.

I have to give all of them a little cleaning soon. I will check them out.

But I basically agree with the above. The pre war guns were slimmer. I prefer them as well. That is why my favorite Savages, by far, are from the 1914-40 era.

I too don't think Savage gave much consideration to matching the butt stock and forearm. And frankly it doesn't make much sense thinking that they would have.

Speaking of factory mismatches there is my matching numbers EG in 358 with the F buttstock, serial # 9673xx. It's the bottom rifle in the pic.

David

So your .358 EG came with the fluted comb stock?

You know, over the years I could swear I've seen a few EG's with fluted buttstocks from the 50's but I never took any notes on them. Is the buttstock drilled out on that one like an F, David?

I like the flutes and suspect that Savage may have used the stocks on customer request, or if they were running short on EG stocks that day, or...

It's drilled out. The serial number indicates it was real near the end of EG production so maybe they were out of EG stocks and didn't want to make any more because they weren't going to make any more EG's. Maybe it was the last EG produced! And the next to the last EG got the last EG stock so they put it together with an F stock. I like the way it looks but it is a little muzzle heavy. The full serial # is 967357, anyone have an EG with a higher serial number?

And that's about as good of a theory as anything else.

I have been collecting Savage's for over 20 years. I love the rifles, shotguns, pump 22's. I feel great that Savage firearms have finally gotten the attention they deserve. For so many years it was just Winchester Rifles and Colt pistols. I have shot for targets, killed deer, and hand loaded for these great Savage 99's and 1899s and have so many great memories. I would be happy to share stories or hand load receipes.

Posting decent pictures of your Savages is always a good way to garner fame and admiration here.

Or notoriety depending on what you post!

I just looked at my two EG's. I have a 1948 EG, 516,4XX, 250-3000 with the thinner forend (it looks just like the picture of RAS's pre-war EG) and the circular cartridge counter. My 1951 EG, LBC-C, 617,6XX, 300 Savage has the thicker forend and oval cartridge counter. Both manufactured in Chicopee Falls.

The 1951 cartridge counter looks like it is steel. I think I read somewhere that some if them were steel and not brass. Is this correct? The 1948 cartridge counter is definitely brass.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge. I continue to learn a lot.

Good data, Golden28. Any chance you could post a pic or two? Maybe pushes back the change to 1950?

And, yeah, they did some steel cased color rotors in the very early 50's.

In reference to the steel cartridge rotors, I have a 1953 99R and a 1952 99EG with one. Someone on here mentioned that this was during or around the Korean War, which caused a shortage of brass. That certainly seems feasible to me, but who knows. I have seen people sell 99s with this feature and say it adds to the value of it. Not sure about that. Though, in the collecting world, anything odd and original from the factory, usually adds value.

RAS

Given that anything odd is, in fact, original from the factory. I think everyone needs to be careful in assuming that they know everything about their rifle from the day it left the factory and that it, for sure, had never been tampered with by any owner. There is a fair amount of disassembling and altering chronicled within this forum and I see no reason for things being any different in the past, at least for any 99 I've ever owned. I'm not passing judgement on this sort of activity (hell I like tinkering too) but only offering a cautionary comment on assuming that everything encountered is always factory original - and a little critical perspective is never a bad thing when encountering the "odds and ends" of 99s and in all things in life.

Yes, they used steel for a brief period. Some of them are case colored as well.

Mike, were some of the steel rotors not case colored, say blued or otherwise? The one's I've seen are so subdued I'd have a hard time telling exactly how they are finished.
Thanks.