The tang safety looks like the one in patent US2465699 by Wilfred Smith and assigned to Savage Arms - applied for Dec 1946... so the date is close. (the patent is on the patents CD from the Savage Fest). The safety is shown separate from the tang and the exposed part that catches the lever is shaped the same as yours. Looking at the patent, one screw should allow the safety button to lift up so the so the stock can be removed. You might have the prototype, it logical they would have used a safety button they already had so it might be exactly the same as the shotgun's.
Thought I'd replied to this, but I don't see my reply.
Gene, I agree. The first patent application looks exactly like my safety, from the separation from the tang, to the one screw behind the safety, to the hook on the side the slides forward into the lever safety area. And I don't see any spring-loaded gotcha's in that drawing or in the patent description, so I might attempt to remove the buttstock after all. Tomorrow.
My copy of the CD with all the patents has gone AWOL, probably buried under assorted stuff on my messy desk. Time to clean the desk, I suppose... <shudder>
Fug's prototype EG with a tang safety looks extremely similar to mine. The only difference is where mine has one screw behind the tang safety and an S in front of it, his has a screw both behind and in front of the safety and no S. Same loop on the side that engages where the lever safety did as mine, as well as the same button for the safety. I'd guess his might be the initial prototype for patent 2465699, and mine a final one?
Okay How about picts of the D&T? Most all of that collection went out that way. I think Kittery pedaled a bunch of it.
The d&t is just standard holes through the top, right through the SAVAGE MODEL 99 stamp. Had Weaver #14/#19 bases on it, so that's the ONE thing I'm fairly confident doesn't date to 1945.
