I pulled the blade from this front sight for another reason but it does fit in with this thread, I don't know the exact date of the barrel but if the rear sight is original it has a 1914 patent date.

This show the early adjustable height sight insert, the left side of the blade has fine grooves as does the inside left sight slot. The hole for the attaching screw is open at the bottom so the sight can be insert at different heights. I do not know how long this was used.
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The name on the patent for adjustable blade is Francis C Chadwick and not assigned to any company, when I found this I did not associate it with Savage, I was not aware of them using this type insert and did not pay much attention to the inventor. This is from 1905, he may not have been working with Savage in 1905, the first Chadwick patent I found assigned to Savage is from 1907, the patent for the 1899 take-down, he also had a couple more.
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Gene