Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Pocket Reference Books are in

Ordered 4 today. Looking forward to sitting down and learning what you know! Been waiting for a long time for you to write this!

Been writing it for a long time!! First mentioned it 3 years ago, then started gathering information.

I've probably worn out a couple pairs of Loggah's shoes with him going back and forth to the vault to check things, and I think Rick was getting PTSD from seeing PM's to me (our PM thread has 2,739 posts in it!), not to mention Fug putting up with me...

It's a campfire book. Well.. except you guys don't help much on the postmils! Poor Keith and I were both all over the internet researching those things.

Appreciate the purchase! Now you get to wait for the printers and the media mail to make it to your house. It will get there.. eventually.

Hey Rory---Received my signed hardcover today. Can't wait to sit down and really get into it. Taking the Mrs out to eat tonight, suppose I could think up some excuse not to so I can sit and read, think she'd see through that and probably cut or even terminate my gun funding. LOL!!!! Looked through it a bit, really nice layout and great info. Thank you for all of your work and time. Glad you went with the cover you did, looks 'Savagey'!!!!!!

Thank you. But always remember, "Happy Wife, Happy Life". Have fun at dinner!

Study hard this weekend. Quiz first thing Monday morning.

My paperback just arrived today, and I love it. It's already gotten the dates tacked down on my 1899A and one of my 99EGs. Wasn't sure if my 1899A SR was 1909 or 1910, it's 1909. I wasn't sure if the EG was a 1948 or 1949, and it's a 1948.

Can't wait to read through the rest. It'll be very helpful when I encounter 99s at LGS 😁

Those dates are general dates, any specific rifle might have been finished later. Just got in what should have been a summer 1924 rifle, but it actually got finished summer of 1925. But most should be close to those date ranges.

Glad you like the book!

Yeah, it's very handy for someone like me. I'm an enthusiast, but not a real collector, so my knowledge on a lot of the different models is fairly limited.

Books Finally Arrived. Very well done and a handy book to have
Thanks for taking the time to compile all the info
First thing I looked for was the 1895 (F) transition rifle but alas no mention
So limited and confusing I can well understand
Look forward to sitting down and immersing myself in the book
Cheers from down under

Yeah, limited room in a pocket reference so I kept it to the main variations. There are so many one-offs..

Glad you got it finally!

Kiwi, I covered our 1895F transition carbines in my new book which will be out someday. You and I have two of the three produced. I wonder what happened to the other one. Went to Africa and disappeared on a safari? For you newer guys Savage had three leftover 1895 SRC's when 1899 production started. They shortened the barrels to 20" and replaced the 1895 bolt with an 1899 bolt. They were exported. Mine went to Canada and Kiwi's to New Zealand.

David, how are you sure there's only 3?

And I'm not sure what's transition about them.. they are an 1895F that's been upgraded with 1899 parts as were probably all the 1895's they sold after they became Savage Arms, and there were a couple hundred of those at least. And the 20" barrel carbine was catalogued in the 1897 catalog, along with a 22" barrel carbine. They may very well have been made as 20" barreled carbines from the start... unless you have more info?

So, truthfully.. the book does mention the "transition" SRC's. On Page 12, you will see that it lists 22" barreled SRC's from 1895 to 1897. Then it lists 22" & 20" barreled SRC's for 1897-1898.

The 1895 catalog has no Carbine page or description, but does lists 20" and 15" carbine telegraph codes - no idea if any 15" carbines were ever made, if so they likely were destroyed in 1934 with the Nat'l Firearms Act.
15" 303 caliber SRC is telegraph code Fork
20" 303 caliber SRC is telegraph code Fig

But.. we never see any 20" carbines show up in 1896. Truthfully, I'm a bit off listing the SRC as even being available in 1895 - I don't think there's any evidence it was produced until several months after 1895's started being made in 1896. Anyway, early 1895 Carbines all seem to be 22". Which is fairly easily explained as the carbine seems to have been a very late addition to the 1895 catalog, which itself seems to have been assembled before they had any production rifles. So the production carbines don't match the 1895 catalog - nothing super unusual about that.

The 1897 catalog does have a Carbine page, and it describes the Carbine as having a 22" barrel. Which the majority have. But the order page lists Carbines with both 22" and 20" barrels.
20" 303 caliber SRC is telegraph code Fig
22" 303 caliber SRC is telegraph code Forge

Now, the 1897 catalog probably came out close to the time that Marlin stopped producing 1895's... so the 20" barrels might be considered an late option. But unless we get some info, I'm not sure it's right to say they were shortened to match the 20" 1899 carbines.

We had a post on here a number of years ago about this. There were other left over 1895's but I don't remember if they were modified as well. In that post someone said that there were only 3 leftover carbines and that all were exported. Mine letters as being sent to Canada June 1899.

Maybe Roe or Callahan went through the ledgers looking at Carbines. I believe Roe went through 1895 ledgers looking at military rifles and half-octagons, so it's possible. But I don't know that you could be sure of barrel lengths from ledger entries - they aren't always the most dependable records.

I would think Savage would have upgraded any standard 1895's left in inventory once they started selling 1899's. It'd be rather rude to sell an 1895 and simultaneously tell them they can have it improved for just another $5. Fancy display rifles they might not have upgraded.. or maybe they did.

Well that got interesting
Yes I saw the 20" reference on page 12
Mine was shipped to Fran Daniel & Co no address on 18 April 1899

I did see that one of John Wright's 1895's shipped in Dec. 1898, and at that time they weren't upgrading the bolts because it still had an 1895 bolt. But it was still 2 months later that 1899's started shipping en masse.

kiwi, did your letter note whether the 20" barrel was recorded in the ledger?

I have a note in my data that Ralph talked to Pizza Mike, Savage99358, about one that is in the same serial range as the other two. Mike has only been on line once since June 2020.