I think most who have looked for 425's would agree that less than 1000 made is not realistic, if that were true you would expect to see 5 times as many 1895's Savage's show up than 425's... and maybe substantially more because they were a high end gun and have had collector interest for a lot longer, suggesting a possibly higher survival rate.
My estimate several years ago, before the collection of serial numbers, was less than 10,000 based on other guns with known production numbers I had looked for, I certainly did not believe the 24,000 or so that some sources listed - less than 5000 based on the serial numbers that have been collected works for me from the numbers I have seen, under 1000 does not... but of course if I were selling one I wouldn't argue to hard if the buyer insisted there were less than 1000 made...
