Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Cody letters.. ( Poll added on page 2)

Well, isn't this interesting....



Oh, the "nice, unfooled with" rifle has had it's side panels totally sanded off. Goodman's has seen plenty of 1899's, no excuse for missing that.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...er-230xxx-made-1920.cfm?gun_id=101556136

PS: No idea what a P on the ledger would mean for 1920. Wonder if it's not actually an R, for (R)ound barrel? Seems a but superfluous in July, 1920 when they'd discontinued non-round barrels though.

Good to know the Savage records will be available soon if not already.
And Center of the West looks like it has a pretty good online process to follow including whether or not a serial number is even available.

Center of the West - Savage records

I looked just last week and they didn't have Savage up on their letter page. Brand new.

As a side note...

* Notice the rifle was accepted from the factory on July 2, 1920 when it was an 1899A.
* Shipped October 22, 1922 when somebody ordered a 99A.

Would it be right to call this an 1899A, or a 99A?

This is the example Cody posted.
Appears to be 1899/99, 303 & 30-30, round, ~1920's
The left column must be a description of some sort. Savage shorthand.
It contains that "P" in numbers of entries. Maybe just means "same as above". ??

Appears to be the same page for the Goodman gun on gunsinternational, you can see Oct. 17, 1922 to Sears at the bottom.

Can't be a "ditto", too many consecutive entries with P at the top for SR's (22SGB == 22" shotgun buttplate). They wouldn't have done P22SGB 4 times in a row if it meant "same as line above". Good thought tho.

Built as 1899A. Could ship whenever, still a 1899A.

Even if the box it came in said it was a 99A?

Is this a trick question? I would like to think it is both since the rifles didn't change with the name change. But then again it was an 1899 when it was manufactured. Another Savage enigma? I like it.

That's actually my take. Since 1899 to 99 was only a marketing name change, it doesn't matter which one it's called. One, or the other, or both.. they're all the same guns. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with 1899A since that can be guessed at by the serial number. We'd be wrong in this case, but we'd be consistent.

with Savage never say...

There are 6 on that page with two accepted dates. One from 1920, and then an overstamp of an accepted date in 1922. Including the two Sears Roebuck rifles, presumably one being the Goodman 1899A.

Wonder if they had to redo something.. and what it might be? Combination of 1899A's and 1899A SR's in 303/30-30 have the double accepted stamps. Interesting...

What about barrel length? 99A is 24".

Was still 26" in 1922. The 24" barrel didn't happen until the ramp front sight happened.

Maybe... "P" for rifles that were proof fired? Would there have been any rifles that didn't get the "SP" stamp in 1920?

Well that's confusing. So an 1899A from 1922 is 26" with dovetailed front sight, but it could be a 99A, which is also the designation for the later integrated ramp 24"?

True for all the 99 models in the early 20's. Except for what cartridges were available for them, nothing really changed until SN 300,000'ish besides the name.

Works for me!
1899A & 1899B 2nd variation = 26"
99A & 99B = 24"
Seems logical, new model introduction and helps draw a line between models via a difference in features/barrel length.
The only way to make it happen is to write my own book.

And all you have to do is ignore years of 1920's catalogs, price lists and ads that call it a 99A before it switched to a 24" barrel.

Do you mean like ignoring the fact that my 1899B (1920) was advertised, built and letters as a 1899B? Got it.