Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors New York Military Trials misc

I know I entered those correctly. Why aren't they showing? Is there some kind of limit? David

Very intersting rifle

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Per post, you can add the others to that next post and they'll display.

This




I learn something new every day if I pay attention. David

Riding the coattails of success at NY.
Interestingly, the sketch of the rifle looks like a 1895 although there is no mention of model, 1895, 1899,...

The ad is from 1897, I think. Since there was only one Savage lever rifle in production maybe Savage didn't feel they needed a model number? Same for the minimal .303 Sav. caliber marking till the .30-30 chambering was added.

I noticed in the listing (above) of rifles submitted for the trials that the Winchester was listed as the Model `95 while the Savage was listed as the Military Magazine Rifle. At first I thought that might clarify that it was not a Model 1895 but from the above ad it appears that the Model 1895 designation was not always used at that time.

One thing that still has me puzzled are the three modified 1895 muskets that have turned up. They have holes in front of the trigger guard for a sling loop (like a trap door Springfield) that have been plugged. None of the other Savage muskets have that. Also a wedge cut on top of the barrel where a rear sight would have been located. If not Trial muskets then were they for someone else?

Rick,The marlin muskets of that era had a extra boss in front of the lever pivot for the sling swivel,could have been a marlin thing on the 1895's. Don

Yes, it is a raised area on the receiver. I looked at that. Maybe these Savage holes were just an early idea that was later dropped?

Fug's 1895 musket doesn't have a sling swivel on front of lever.
Cody 1895 musket does have the sling swivel on the front of the lever.
Fug's 1899 musket does have the sling swivel on the front of the lever.
The 1895 catalog doesn't show it, shows the sling swivel on buttstock.
The 1897 catalog doesn't show it, shows the sling swivel on buttstock.
The 1900 catalog shows sling swivel on the front of the lever twice.

Given those.. I'd lean towards it being a later idea.

I can't tell that the Cody' musket has a sling loop from the photos I have (not high enough res). Since Fug's musket and the Cody musket are less than 10 serial difference I would think they would have been made the same. I would like to see a good photo showing the loop.

I did find a good photo of Doug's 1899 musket and you are correct. It has a loop.

I think I got fooled. Think the sling swivel I saw on it is actually a brace turned sideways. which means it has only the front sling swivel. Look at the 1895B above it, same brace in same position, tho it doesn't look as much like a swivel. Cody musket:

Rory, what looks like a sling swivel in your photo is the bracket holding the musket up. In my pics of the musket on page 24 of my book it doesn't have a sling swivel on the lever boss. The only sling swivel is the front barrel band. It also has a rifle buttstock. I'm beginning to think someone faked this one. David

Corrected list.

Since the Cody musket has a rifle buttstock with a crescent buttplate that may explain the lack of a rear sling swivel.

Yeah, there's obviously questions about the Cody gun, but not enough information to give any kind of answer. Was it made that way for some reason? Was it sporterized with the rifle buttstock by the factory but forearm left alone? Did somebody find a matching buttstock to put on an 1895 musket? Is it a factory repair?

Can't begin to guess. Would love to see what's stamped under the buttplate.

Here is a link to a later posting, June 2019

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...nts-prototypes-predecessors#Post13896755

There was some question on the transition gun about when the 1899 bolt with the top tab cocking indicator was created.

Here is the patent - applied for on April 21, 1897. So it was created before the 1895's were even stopped being produced by Marlin.

But this patent is over a year after the New York Militia trials were held. That's a strike against the transition musket being the actual musket used in the trials.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US634034.pdf

Patents are probably, at least often, applied for after the item has been developed. You often seem a new item marked "patent pending". Maybe Savage had already developed the cocking indicator and used it on that rifle but then again maybe not. Gene talks about the delay between production and getting the item patented in the Friday quiz post.