I recently took delivery on an 1899 Savage 303 in pretty nice shape. What I REALLY like is the Lyman Alaskan sitting proudly in Stith mounts on top. Anyway, I've got a question. The rifle's SN is 186952 and the forearm matches that. The buttstock and buttplate are both numbered 186987, a 35 number difference. The buttplate also has what appear to be inspector initials. Here's a pic.
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The perch-belly buttstock has a crescent butt and straight grip. Pic.
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It's got a 22" barrel that appears uncut. My question - Murray says the 1899 short rifle didn't come with a crescent butt and that the 1899A didn't come with a 22" barrel. I plan on sending pics and info to Mr. Callahan, but in the meantime I'm dying to know what you guys think. And is the difference in the buttplate/buttstock numbers from the gun SN significant? And just to gloat a bit, another pic.
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Thanks for your thoughts.
yooper