Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Fruit wood?

What is fruit wood?

It's a name we've given to non-walnut stocks that appear on some 99H's from 1924 to 1927. Nobody is sure what it is, the catalogs don't mention it.

Folks have guessed at some type of fruitwood, or red gum, or sweet gum, or ??

I've been able to narrow it down to not being fruit cake. So I haven't a clue.

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I feel pretty confident about this.

https://growitbuildit.com/sweet-gum-tree-uses-liquidambar-styraciflua/

Notice the picture of the wood. It's straight grained, light, cheap and readily available compared to walnut. Not the strongest wood though.

And it's cetainly prettier than birch.

Me too.

Seems like gum would be a lot easier for Savage to source than true fruit wood.

If you live south of the Potomac River and East of the Mississippi River you are very familiar with this tree as it is very very common. For many years in terms of board footage was the number one hardwood harvested and sawn in the United States and it may still be that way, not certain, because I am in a different line of business now.

I don't have a price list from that time period but if you think about it the H was kind of the economy model then and they certainly were looking for ways to keep costs down so they could keep the retail price affordable.

One of the problems I am certain that was discussed in the marketing department was "How are we going to market this without walnut stocks"? And I am also certain that marketing it as "The affordable 99 with the gum wood stocks" was shot down as soon as it came out of somebody's mouth.

Some marketing genius in that meeting suggested calling it "fruit wood" and no doubt got a big fat raise.

Rest is history....

Besides, how many apple and pear trees have you seen two feet+ on the stump, big enough to saw stock blanks out of?

Yep. Well stated my friend.

It's never actually listed in any of the catalogs or price lists that I've seen as fruit wood. No reference to what it is at all. I think that's just a collector's term for "whatever the bleep this stock is made of" because some other guns like Winchester did use fruitwood at some point.

Unlike the post-1960 99E, which is usually referred to as something like "a walnut like finish", the early 99H just merrily skips over any comment on the stock.

Somebody else outside of Savage could have very well given that name. It could have been a marketing genius at Winchester that coined the term and then it somehow migrated unofficially to the Savage H.

Thanks everyone for their replies. Happy hunting

Visited one of my states biggest gun shows held at least once a month Sept-May in Des Moines last Saturday. One seller that always has alot of older firearms had three 99's. Real shock to see that many at a Iowa show. One of the three was a late E 250 Savage. Not real good shape appearance wise. Picked it up just to look at it and was shocked. I think my old Red Ryder Daisy BB gun from the 50's had more heft. Pretty light feeling. Could tell it wasn't a good walnut stock. Didn't look down bore, zip tied. The 2nd one I looked at was a pretty beat up 300 Savage that looked like someone left it outside for a while and a beaver gnawed on the left side of the stock. Didn't look long at that one. The third one was a 99 prewar R in 300 Savage. The metal and stock were really nice. Asked one of the guys working the table if he could cut the tie so I could look down the barrel. The zip tie holding the lever was cut, opened up the action, everything looked pretty good until I took my bore light and checked the barrel. About cried----the last half of the barrel looked as if someone cleaned it with salt water and left some in it for 6 months. Not only pitted, but rust crystals protruding. The guy wanted to know if I wanted to make a offer. Advised him with a barrel like that he should pay me to take it. All three had a $749 price tag on them. Disappointing. Those late 99E's are pretty disappointing IMO.

Doesn't surprise me though. Around three years ago the same seller had a nice looking 99G in 250/3000. $745 price tag. Looked down the bore and there was all kinds of fuzz and crud. Mentioned to the seller and he advised it just was dirty from sitting around. He grabbed a old steel cleaning rod, a jag, and a patch that appeared to be a old t-shirt. Horror of horrors, he tried to force it down the bore, even tapping the end with a mallet trying to force the jag into the bore. I advised him his jag was to big as it appeared more to the size for a 30 caliber bore. He dug around found a smaller jag and even with it, had to pound it into the bore. Pushed it through, took the patch off at the breech, pulled the rod out, and gave the 99 to me and said it'd be clean now. Still in shock how the guy slammed the jag/rod into the bore, I looked into it using my light and shivered. Looked like half the Russian Army marched through it and left all their aftermath. Fuzz was gone but dark spots abounded and areas of old corrosion were throughout. Advised him the bore was crap and also told him after he violated the bore slamming the rod into it, I'd be hesitate to buy anyway as he probably half ruined the muzzle. Gave it back to him and as I walked away he chirped I could have it for $690 cash and he'd toss in a box of ammo. Just kept walking. This guy is at alot of Iowa shows, has some good stuff at times, but alot of what he does sell is pretty well worn and seen better days. He takes about as good care of what he sells as his girth. Would like to go to a show where alot of 99's abound, pretty rare in Iowa.

Wait....

What?

Any H's there with fruitwood?

My 99H has walnut stocks. Any guesses to what percentage of them have fruit wood stocks?

I have a fruitwood Savage 1899H solid frame in 303 Savage serial number 1734xx. I bought it at a gun show in eastern Ontario about 10 years ago. I have never seen any other fruitwood stocked 1899 since, I’m sure there are more in Canada but they aren’t common.

Nick1899

There shouldn't have been any non-walnut stocks that low, Nick. Any chance you can show a picture or three?

Rory, my three 99H's with fruitwood stocks are in the 261,000-270,000 range, had to go check,rainy day !! Don

Thanks, that's a smaller range than I thought.