Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Is this a CD or special order1899 rifle?

Unable to post photos. Help please and I will forward them to your email address. GW

Send to Calhoun @ savagelevers.com and I'll post them up. Remove the spaces.

If it's not an actual 1899CD, it's the same options. 26" barrel?

I do think the wood has been redone.

Don’t think it will letter as a CD with the 4 point checkering
Is the rifle to early?
What is the but plate?

Serial #102811 falls within the range of the 22" barrel takedowns witch it is. Butt plate is number to the rifle and in the correct timeframe for the gun. All numbers match. The wood had almost no varnish on it and was very dirty. Cleaned with Murphy's oil and waxed with paste gunstock wax. CD's came with plain wood unless the owner ordered the higher grade wood with the four point checkering. Action and barrel whows little wear.

Was wondering about the four point checkering also. Never seen it previously. The 303 action and bore shows little wear.GW

Calhoun

Thanks for posting the photos for me and the fire to share. GW

Looks like a sweet Savage rifle! Good find.
I don't know what original finish would look like. Regardless, you can get there at anytime.
A factory letter would be interesting for the curious.

I surely like those proportions of the swept-back "S" grip and square-back less curved lever. Very nice!

I've been under the impression that CDs are under debate of being a real model. I have a savage catalog that seems to show them as a model. Do any of the three 99 books address this? I can't seem to find it if so.

Anyone ever see that four point checkering on one? Was that an option in any of their catalogs? GW

I think the checkering is correct for a CD. I have one like that and pictures of others.

Will it LETTER as a CD...?

Yeah, the number of points on the A3 checkering varied - but this is one of the common styles.

If this is a 22" SR, then it's earlier than the 1899CD was explicitly catalogued as being available in 22". 108,xxx would be mid-1910, the 1899CD wasn't catalogued in 22" until 1914.

So my GUESS is that it would letter as a 22" 1899 with round barrel, A3 checkering, and P/G. Which is exactly what an 1899CD is.

But the catalogues were just a guide. So it might be logged as an 1899CD.

have the same with 1/2 Oct.

I love the grain in the forearm of that gun.

Beautiful

The opposite side of stock has nice grain. Oddly the opposite side of the forearm has little fancy grain in it.. GW

I think it was a set of options available on most of the models. See page 46 of the "Collector's Guide". Murray considered it a separate model.

Thanks.

The Grade CD is first in catalog No 15 from about 1905, it was $27 with octagon or half-octagon barrel and $25.50 with a round barrel. Pistol grip and checkering on plain walnut was standard for the grade, the checkering pictures is 3 point. Catalog No 16 shows the same 3 point, No 17 has two point and No 24 shows 4 point.... but catalog pictures are often not accurate. All later catalogs picture the gun with 4 point checkering, they later added the options of a 22" round barrel, and takedown with either the 22" or 26" round barrel (catalog No's 55 & 57). In the last pre-WWI catalog, No 60, a featherweight 20" round barrel takedown option is added. No higher grade rifles are listed in catalog No 61 which was after WWI.

Almost all of the cataloged grades of rifles were made from a group of options that could be ordered separately, so any of them could be duplicated by just combining the options, but it would cost more that way (<-- WRONG, it almost always cost the same! see Calhoun's post below). The first combination seems to be the Leader that is in the 1904 pocket catalog, it combined the options of a 26" octagon barrel, select American walnut stock, checkering, pistol grip, rifle butt, and grade B engraving for $47. This seems not to be a bargain, I added up all the option as priced in the catalog and came out with the same $47. These options could also be ordered on the Model 1903 22.

I'd guess anyone who could afford to put together a $47 rifle in 1904 wasn't too concerned about it being a bargain.

It would be the equivalent of coming up with around $575 today for a rifle, which would be a bargain for a good rifle.

The inflation calculator I looked at at had it closer to $1600.

*added* $575 would definitely be a deal on a built to order rifle in today's money.

hmm. different calculators give different values. probably closer to your number than mine.

It's actually more common for the price of the "Special Grade Model" to be just the sum of the prices of the options. Some years there were slight variances, but not much.

So in 1914 the cost of a 1899A Leader Grade was $51.00.

Ordering it piecemeal was:
An 1899A was $18.00
B checkering was $10.50
Fancy American Walnut was $5.00
Pistol grip was $2.50
B engraving was $15.00
Total: $51.00

This is part of the reason why I don't fret too much whether it's logged as the "special grade model" or the individual features. Ends up as the same rifle, same cost.

I just get annoyed when NO features are logged. Grrr...

thats what I went by until Calhoun book

I owned a rifle that had the 4 pt checkering, SN 115,944. Was built and sold in early 1911. Callahan called it an 1899CD with special features. It had a 24" barrel and had no cut for a rear dovetail... all in the ledger. I sold the gun to a collector in Canada that was specifically after collecting a full collection of CDs. the gun was in immaculate condition.

I can send an email to Calhoun to post if he doesn't mind.

cheers

Andrew

Drew, from the letter I don't think the ledger recorded the checkering or pistol grip.

"The information extracted shows that this rifle was manufactured in caliber .303 Savage with an optional 24" round barrel and takedown feature. An other entry states no rear sight slot."

That's where Callahan would have included that the ledger said it had checkering and pistol grip logged also. I think the above is all that's logged. Sadly not all that uncommon.

I'm guessing you provided him with pictures or a description of the gun, and that led to the next paragraph - "From the information you supplied and the records, this is a Model 1899-CD".

And I agree with you and Callahan.. it is an 1899CD configuration. I'll post pics of the gun tomorrow. Absolutely gorgeous..

Here's Drew's 1899CD. It has the uncommon buttstock checkering with many points. I like this variation.

agreed on all points, which is why I was specific to say "Callahan called it an 1899CD"... It was a beautiful gun and I sort of regret selling it... at the time, I thought I was getting a pretty good $ for it and the guy had quite a collection of stunning CDs that this fit in nicely. Who know what it would fetch in today's market.