I'm lost. [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img]

gnoahhh has stamps?

OK, I'll bite. Are we examining the difference between the deep blued receiver and the the completely grey forearm ring?

I'd say the receiver has been reblued, and the forearm ring was left undone...because they were lazy, or it was a forgotten half-finished project and the gunsmith passed away?? who knows.

We've seen plenty of takedowns where the forearm ring has gone grey before the receiver, but that receiver looks a bit too blue and the ring looks too grey for them to go together.

Or are we talking about the rocky mt sights on a takedown rifle?

That stamp didn't come out until the mid-1920's and it wasn't applied to the side of the receiver ring until the late 1940's. Bubba did a fine job of stamping that one. Wonder where he got the stamp? Maybe he was ingenious enough to make his own stamp?
The collar on the takedown forearm was probably made of milder steel than the receiver and didn't hold the blue as well. I've seen a lot of unmolested TD's with the blue faded more on the collar than on the receiver.
Whoever reblued the rifle probably didn't bother to take the collar off and get it reblued along with the barrel and receiver. David

As far as I'm concerned it has a prewar or immediate postwar receiver. I say that because the back of the scallop underneath the Savage name terminates in a radius and not in a v-shape like every other postwar receiver I've seen. The blue looks pretty spot on to me too. For the forearm ring, I'm fine with the blue aging differently than it would on the steel used for the receiver. But, the front sight and receiver do not coincide with the offset Savage marking. Is it a bastard of parts??? Is it something that was sent back to the factory for a major overhaul??? ???...

It's one to think about. If it's a pre or early post war receiver, how did it get a pre 1920 serial number? Unless you mean pre WWI, but then where did the offset stamping come from? Joe.

Four 300sav's came into a friends shop.Two 50's EG's not worth looking at(sling stud's etc.),an honest G and this "thing".I saw the serial number and Savage99 stamp and said.... what!

Another surprise...it's a 303.Stock doesn't look right either. [img:center][/img]

I have a gun like this one, meaning a head scratcher, and it letters out as having been redone at the factory, twice, with the final customer being a named Savage employee. It started out as a 22 hp 1899h and ended up being a 99g in 30-30. The rifle is gorgeous.

I cast my vote for a 99 that had been sent back to the factory once, maybe more. What the heck, the odds of finding something like that can't be all that bad.

Sqweeler:
1) are all the parts Serialed to the receiver?
2) what butt plate does it have?
3) 26" or 22" brl?
4) what caliber?
5) is the rifle still a TD?

The part that does not make since is the logo on the side of the receiver. It was not located there till the R came out in 1950. When it was added to the top of the receiver of early rifles it's believed to be because the receiver needed heat treating. It appears to have the original brl so no heat treat needed.

The only TD brl with a dovetailed front sight in that serial range was the "A TD" or "Short Rifle-TD".

If I had sent it to the fcatory for rework in the 50's and it came back looking like that I would be pissed...unless it was bad shape to start with.

Looks redone to me. The forearm ring didn't hold blue well but this one seems to have more difference than usual.

PS...just caught up on the above postings. The serial number is pre-.300 Savage. So if it is a .300 now it might have been returned to the factory after 1949 for heat treat so that the owner could re-chamber the original brl (factory stated in print that they would not re-chamber a brl. only replace).

Just noticed the butt stock. I think it was replaced with a modified pistol grip stock. Is the butt plate a later style?

I'll get more specific's tomorrow(bbl length,buttplate).An interesting Frankenstein.

I love these puzzles. Thanks for posting.

My guess is it's a Lunchbox Special. An employee during the 40's-50's scrounged a bunch of old parts in the warehouse/attic/cellar and created a work of art, reminiscent of the stuff the factory was turning out when he started working there. Number not in keeping with the receiver ring stamp and configuration of the receiver? Pick a number out of thin air and get your buddy in final inspection to stamp it on for you.

Without solid provenance, that wild guess is as good as any other.

At the factories I worked in back in the 70's-80's, we called them "Government Jobs"- when guys threw stuff together for themselves, or completed hobby jobs on the company's time. I would be really surprised to learn none of that ever happened at Savage.

At K-D Tools when I supervised the torque wrench assembly department, my guys dog-robbed the parts bins and made wrenches for themselves. You would see Snap-On heads attached to Craftsman barrels with Blue Point handles. (We made torque wrenches for a bunch of different companies.) Buddies of mine who worked at the Harley-Davidson plant (the engines were built there in York, PA) showed up with all kinds of bastard parts on their bikes. It's what guys did when no one was watching- for money, devilry, or sheer boredom.

I'm with Rick, I think the receiver went back to the factory in the 50's (60's maybe?). That explains the stamp. Rest of it I think is explained by swapped stock.

Looks great and its fun doing the puzzle. Are you going to buy it mate?

Johno

Yup, I'm thinking like you on this one. Parts gun. Only my thought is parts found after they left the factory.

Makes sense, too. But what became of the original "1899" stamp on top of the receiver in that event? (Is it still there perchance, or evidence of its removal?)

Both the SN and receiver ring stamp look factory to me.

Gotta think it was done at the factory in any case. Maybe a lunchbox gun or a gun returned for rework and Savage scrapped the receiver and replaced it as part of a caliber change?

Or...

I think that serial number is too early for the 1899 stamp.. ??

Correct. There would not have been a stamping on the receiver ring at that serial.

Letting this one go,6" crack in the forarm.Consignment asking $1000.I offered $250.It has a 26"bbl and is a 303. [img:center][/img]

Just found an old email thread with Mad Dog from '07 about a takedown 22HP with serial number 215,xxx with a 24" barrel and side stamped "Savage Model 99".

That one had been sent back to Chicopee Falls and gotten a new barrel, and they'd stamped it at the same time.

Bingo.

Recently I purchased an 1899 H in 22 HP, s/n 122,xxx. It letters as a 22 HP and as being accepted in the warehouse and shipped March 21, 1912. It was also returned to the factory for unspecified work on factory job #18088. No date given for the work.

This rifle has the following differences from an original rifle:

- The receiver has been reblued
- The top of the receiver is stamped "SAVAGE" over "Model 99" just like the post 1920 factory stamps
- The bottom of the barrel is stamped in the smallest font I've seen on a Model 99 with the s/n followed by an R
- The web (if that's the correct term) of the lever is stamped with the s/n followed by an R. The case on the lever is virtually 100%.
- The amount of blue on the automatic cutoff leads me to believe it has been replaced or reblued.
- The blue on the forearm collar does not match the blue on the receiver, but the difference is not as noticeable as on squeelers rifle.
- The forearm collar has been modified. The original transverse screw is still there, but the wood on the end where the s/n originally would have been has been cut off, and the metal plate that is found on the later forearms has been screwed on. But the original collar is modified to accept the plate so that the plate is screwed on with the screws aligned vertically. Removing the plate shows where two horizontally aligned holes have been filled.

I would like to think that all this work was done at the factory, but obviously there's no way to prove it without knowing what was done on factory job #18088.

Before someone asks, the s/n on the buttstock matches. No s/n on the hard rubber buttplate.

For what it's worth my vote is that the work on squeeler's rifle was done at the factory. Obviously, a letter on this rifle would be interesting.

I'm not buying.Maybe JTC could chime in.

I think the metal work was done at the factory. That buttstock.. no, that I can't see.

Yes, I agree. I forgot about the misshapen buttstock.

Barrel serial matches receiver,forarm does not. [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img]

We have seen that butt stock style(?) before. It was on a reworked rifle done by Savage Services. No old straight grip stocks available so they had cut the pistol grip off of an EG stock and used it. That is why I wanted to know what butt plate was on it.

I don't know the history of this rifle butt but that stock sure reminds me of that Savage Services stock modification.

I defer to you, but boy that's a horrible job of cutting the bottom straight. It looks like something I'd end up with.

And the buttplate....Wow,what a piece of chit this turned out to be! [img:center][/img]

Youser, bouncing the seller from 1K down to 250 is a guaranteed turn down, regardless of the rifle's real world value. Unless you wanted a novelty, I'd walked away from it too. I could be a hard sell and that too is something I'd want nothing of.

I sure admire your fellas accumulated knowledge, and that you can pull it back up when it's needed !

I recinded the offer and offered $100.I have no room for junk.

Squeeler, you do have an impeccable selection of guns. I think it's interesting. Maybe a rack set aside for oddities, one-offs, lunch box guns, RS's!

Thanks Fireball.If the forarm matched I might have gave it a second look.

I ran into that problem years ago. Some (maybe not all?) of the pistol grip stocks don't lend themselves well to being turned into straight grip stocks. The geometry of the PG stock is such that that "dip" just can't be avoided....unless you whittled it down to a much shorter heel to toe measurement. That would look even worse.

Mike

Reminiscent of the "scant wrist" stocks found on some '03 Springfields that were arsenal re-worked during WWII. The Armory switched to a pistol grip stock (03A1) and laid in a boat load of appropriate stock blanks. When production was ramped up for the war effort (03A3) it was decreed that only straight-wristed stocks would be produced/issued. OK, no big deal, but when they went to turn said stocks from the pistol grip blanks they got a weird looking abomination. They shrugged their shoulders, said "there's a war on", and made a boat load of scant-wrist stocked 03's which was without a doubt the ugliest service rifle ever built in America.

Jaack i would like to see pictures of the back of the forarm with and without the hardware , i have a forearm with both seta of screws which i believe is factory ,, quite a bit higher ser no,,


norm

Norm,

I haven't taken the time to figure out Photobucket. PM me your email address and I'll take some photos and email them to you when I get a chance.

Jack