Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Huge disappointment with 1920/26

I'd like to borrow the 32-40. I promise not to put more than four or five thousand rounds through it.

Speaking of mules.."...

My wife likes whipped cream flavored vodka......

So when I make a Moscow Mule out of the " whipped" vodka 4 her I call it a rented mule!

Again, all’s well that ends well. And to that I’ll add it’s good hearing a story about honest people making honest mistakes. That’s a nice collection you got going there!

Got the letter from Savage Historical Services and the 1920 was sent to B.H. Dyas in Los Angeles March 11, 1920. Nothing about it being worked on by the factory.

Doesn't mean it wasn't worked on at the factory, they just may not have that work order or be able to find it. So it's up in the air - maybe reworked at factory, maybe rebuilt by a gunsmith.

Thanks Calhoun. Does Savage Historical Services let private citizens research the records?

No. I understand the ledgers are very fragile. But.. That would be nice.

Still a very cool rifle. You should take it to Savage as a prototype for new production. Just kidding, but still...

Really amazes me that someone at Savage hasn't had the forethought to digitize the old ledgers. There's plenty of companies out there they could farm the job out to that would be happy to put all that information into a searchable database so whomever is looking it up to do the letters would just have to search by model and serial number on the computer. Just need to make sure they pick one that has experience in working with old documents to ensure the originals aren't damaged.

Definitely seems like it’d be possible.
The Scranton Times-Tribune just this week has made their entire 158 years of digitized archives available online.

Therein lies the problem.

Digitizing or copying the records essentially makes them worthless to whoever the owners are, ever have been or ever will be. Whomever has them has to essentially be willing kill the golden goose before they will be preserved in perpetuity.

sooo true......

What am I missing? If they copy them they don't have to stick them on the web? Just keep them for their own use.

I'm not so sure Savage is really making much money off a data base they don't seem to respect enough to preserve. That goose is likely not a golden one for Savage. And besides, they could digitize and charge a fee to access the digital library. In that way Savage would be going self serve in a way that seems to be plaguing many service related industries across the land these days. But don't get me going on self serve.

Yes, a fire, broken water pipe or some other unfortunate accident and the records are gone forever.

I gotta agree with those points.

Perhaps it would cost more to digitize them (and still keep them under wraps) than what they make off of "letters"?

Instead of storming Area 51 maybe we should storm Savage Arms to rescue the ledgers. (Insert the scene in Animal House of Bluto exhorting the Delta House misfits to calamitous deeds after they got kicked out of school. https://youtu.be/q7vtWB4owdE )

About 20-years ago I did a lot of field-survey on the Nellis Bombing Range. We worked the first two playas and slopes east of Indian Springs and had we gone over the next saddle we would have descended into Groom Lake, AKA Area-51. Good lord that's some of the most God forsaken desert I've ever seen. I'd rather storm Savage with a cold beer in hand than Area 51 any day of the week.

And the "Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" scene from Animal House has always been on my top five favorite movie scenes list!

Digitizing could easily be done... but the ledgers are probably so fragile that it'd have to be done by hand. One page at a time.

Lots and lots of pages, lots and lots of man hours, lots of cost.

Not for or against, just throwing this out.

Vista has sold Savage to Long Range Acquisition LLC, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing—is a “group of investors headed by Savage President and CEO Al Kasper.” Who knows what they will do with the historical records (which includes the Fox files that are on index cards). I'm sure that the money made from letters is very minimal.

Maybe donate or sell the records for a nominal fee to The Cody Firearms Museum Records Office? Winchester, Marlin and L.C. Smith records are already housed there.