Or, just maybe the gun was Townsend Whelen's personal rifle, given to him by the president of Savage at an NRA banquet, customized by Virgil Howe (it does look kinda like his work), and eventually gifted to General MacArthur who buried it in a vault in Manila to avoid capture by the Japanese. Post-war it was acquired by Phil Sharpe who used it to work up loads he published in his "Handloader's Guide", and finally campaigned by a certain Oregonian in his run-up to the Shot Heard 'Round the World".
Or not.
