Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Parts help 1895 Savage

Gents
LT, FT, been trolling here for some time, finally decided to man up and join.
I have an 1895 Savage that has had a bit of a tough life, I'm trying to restore the old girl to her prior beauty and need some help. S/N is 46xx. Yup 4 digits.
At some point she must have taken a hard fall, the finger lever is broken in two places and was brazed to repair, seems like a nice repair as the lever is straight and actions the bolt just fine. Additionally along the way she was re-barreled to 30-30 with a 22 inch Savage barrel. Front sight is an ivory tipped rifle site, rear is a Lyman or Marbles adjustable receiver mounted peep.
I would like to replace the lever with an undamaged original as the brazed repair is difficult to cover up.
I would also like to replace the barrel with an original in 303 Savage.

If any of you can help out with a parts source, parts on hand, or a parts rifle, please let me know.
Thanks
WillysGuy

A photo of the lever would help if you can post it.

Have you lettered the gun ?

How sure are you that the barrel has been changed did you confirmed the barrel address??

I'm not sure I understand when you say "Lettered the Gun". I have tried a couple of times to get the historical information on another 99 that I have, It has a Q letter date on the boss, but I was unsuccessful there. Before you say, there were no Qs or Os, I have heard that and will try to post a picture as it is a clear Q. I digress.

I bought the 1895 gun at an auction, the description from the seller said the gun had been re-barreled by "the factory" to 30-30. That is all I have to go on. The barrel says:
Savage Arms Corporation
Utica NY- Made in USA

My 1899 says : Savage Arms Co, Utica NY USA
Pat. Date Pat. Date, Pat. Date
This one is S/N 30. xxx in 303 Savage

So based on the barrel roll marks I'm assuming that the 30-30 barrel was a latter addition. I may be wrong.

I'll try to post a picture of the lever, haven't done that in some time so I may need some learning.

There were no "O" or "Q" date stamps from 1949 to 1970 on the front of the lever boss. But the letters O and Q could very easily have been used as an inspector's stamp prior to 1949. So we'll believe you that it has one... it's just not a date code. A date code would be a letter that comes after 1 or 2 numbers - such as 7E, or 19R.

The "SAVAGE ARMS" stamp on the barrel of your 1895 means it is indeed a later barrel, and actually a much later barrel from the late 20's or 30's. Might be a factory replacement.

Your 1899 dates to early 1902, by the way.

A factory letter would be ordered from the Cody museum, which has the ledgers now. Costs $75, so not sure it'd be worth it unless you are just curious about who bought it originally, and what shape the original barrel was (round, octagon, or half-octagon).

Your 1899 dates to early 1902, by the way.

Rory, read his post again. 4 digit SN.

Hey guys, is the 1895 lever the same as the early (pre-90,000) 1899?

Hey guys
The 1895 is 4 digits, 46xx in 30-30
The 1899 is 5 digits 30.xxx
The model 99 is 371xxx, this is in 300 Savage, and is the one with the Q.
Calhoun, your reference to an inspectors stamp makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

Rick99, I have that same question, I purchased a Model 1899 lever, straight lever, but I don't know its vintage. The differences I see are at the boss that engages the bolt, the 1899 is a bit heftier, and at the safety cut out, they are a bit different but might not be significant. If anyone has some experience with interchanging these I would love to hear about it.

The 1895 and early 1899 use the lever that has a hole for the safety to engage. Newer style has the slot for the safety.

There's one on fleabay. Ignore the top tang safety reference. The seller doesn't know what it is. Top safety has no safety engagement at all on the lever.

lever

I checked my supply, no love here. Sorry.

The 1895 could have been ordered in 30-30

OK another update;
Just taking my1899 apart to look for commonality,
Rick99, the internals of the 1899 s/n 30.xxx appear to be the same as the 1895. Lever, bolt, linkage all look interchangeable.

Looks like I need a lever from an 1899 with a s/n of 31,000 or lower. I'm assuming from comments above that there must have been a design change around 90,000.

If anyone has one please advise.
Thanks

With all respect.. I think I disagree with 1895's being available in 30-30.

The 1895 catalog lists rifles in "US .30 cal", but that would be the 30-40 Krag cartridge which the US government was using. The 30-30 was marketed by Winchester as the 30 WCF, and when Marlin introduced it they called it the 30-30.

As far as we know, Savage Repeating Arms never made any production rifles in 30-40 Krag/30 US, though a probable military rifle in 30-40 exists. And only one 1895 in 30-30 is known, but details of the ledger entry for it are not publicly known and it's not stamped 30-30 or 30 WCF iirc.

The 1897 catalog only lists rifles in 303 Savage, and I don't think the 1899 catalog mentions it either.

The lever is not one of the parts listed by Savage as having been improved on the early 1899's, just to throw that out.

Thanks for the Flea bag tip, just bought it.


we shall see....

Hi guys, back again.
Lightfoot, thanks for the tip, the finger lever on Flea bay was the accurate one for the 1895, it dropped in, the action is smooth and flawless. Now I'm in need of a .303 Savage caliber barrel for the 1895. I don't know what the barrel markings look like but the 1899 barrels clearly identify themselves as that model, so no love there.

Anybody got a barrel they want to part with?
Gun

From other rifles near your serial, I'm guessing your rifle was made around Dec 1896.

I've got a 26" round 1895 barrel here.

Kinda sorta. Has an 1895 barrel address and serial number 10.3XX, so it was brought over from Marlin when Savage got his own factory.

Rifling is present but not sharp, what do you want from a 125 year old barrel?

Lots of internals as well but I see you already found a lever.

Cripes Rory, almost 42000 posts? Slowly back away from the desk dude.

Welcome back. Where you been for the last 6 months?