Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99G Forearm

Just got out my best 99G. The guy I got it from said that it was unfired. With a grain of salt, it does look like new. It also came with original box. I was wiping it down and after all these years I noticed the forearm was not straight back like other G's that I have had. Is this an unusual shaped forearm? Also the stamp on the boss, a Q or A, nothing to do with the date? Ser. number 3796xx.

I have never seen a G forearm that looked like that. Is there a serial number stamped on it?

Stamp on boss has nothing to do with when it was manufactured.

I should have taken a picture of the inside of the forearm. Numbers match.

I’ve got to think it was altered afterwards. Never say never, but also Occam’s Razor. Simplest answer is usually the right one.

Yeah, I'd say a previous owner cut it down too. The odds are just in favor of that conclusion.

No offense intended, but when I hear a seller say "the gun is unfired", I see a red flag. Obviously the gun is test fired at the factory during Q&A. Beyond that... who knows.
Since the rifle is in good condition with the original box, sounds like a well cared for rifle.
Doubtful a factory letter would mention "custom forearm wood".

A wild guess may be the forearm had a crack or piece missing and a previous owner just took the sides down to eliminate the problem and made the sides look even. JMO

A factory one off? I’d bet heavily against it.

Sent for a letter from Cody to see if the fore arm would be mentioned.

Just got my money back with no explanation.

Called and was told that the ledger was blank on this rifle. So it is still a mystery.

Savage stopped logging info in the 371xxx range. Nice they sent your money back. They should have noted why.

Callahan never sent money back! He also didn't charge nearly as much and sent a letter explaining that the ledger did not exist for that serial, etc.

I believe you are referring to "Callahan"?

Provenance aside, I wonder if this isn't a repair, done after the dreaded takedown splits occurred under a clumsy hand? It's a good repair though..

Could be. My observations of pre vs post war schnable forearms are that there is substantilly more wood in the later guns. I suspect Savage did that intentionally as a way of eliminating the splits you see in prewar forearms. Likewise, post war buttstcks have a visible hump, or hunch back, of wood behind the upper tang that you don't see on prewar guns (that is at least for the EG). I suspect Savage left that area slightly beefed up as a way of reducing tang cracks.

Jeff is referring to what happens when you have a tight T/D barrel (or someone forgets to open the action) and uses the boss in the forearm to attempt to removal the barrel... if you hare not keeping very tight engagement, its fairly easy for the T/D hook to slip out of the boss and then smack the edge of the forearm and is goes zinging past. I would tend to agree with his speculation as to what was likely cause of damage and to that this is a repaired forearm... albeit, exceptionally well done.

And yes, post war stocks were much more robust than prewar.

Haha, him too!

I can work out a very good price plan for this..

pretty lucrative deal when you get to send the same letter back to every person... "I regret to inform you that your serial number is not listed in the Savage ledgers"

HAHA

Back in the good old days Randy sent for two letters on the 1919 I now have. The butt number is off from the receiver. The receiver letter came back with the normal data, the butt # came back, “no rifle with that number left the factory”. Insinuating the butt was installed at the factory.

Thats very cool!

True story. And a beautiful gun.