What? No internet back then? How the hell did anyone survive?
If you look at 100 year old advertising perhaps you'll observe that over-hyping of products was the norm. I think ad copy writers had a universal philosophy that dictated outlandish barely believable claims for their products in the hope that such would generate more sales among the generally poorly informed public. I doubt Savage truly expected hunters to go up against big dangerous animals with their .22 HP's, but it sure made for exciting ad copy and attracted a lot more dollars from rubes who believed it and guys who wanted to believe it.
The HP probably also appealed to the rapid fire crowd. Light recoil aided the emptying of the magazine to mow 'em down. "What the hay, the thing holds five shots and I'm gonna use 'em."
