Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1895 spotted

My wife and I took a ride today and lo and behold right there on the rack was an 1895. It wasn't very pretty at all. It did have the 1899 bolt upgrade, but that was about all the good I could say about it, I thought I had taken a picture of the bolt, but again I failed. I got a few other pictures If anyone "might" be interested, it resides at
1158 Hooksett Rd. Hooksett, NH 03106
603-232-6125

Shooter's Outpost

The butt stock looks interesting, fore end checkered too?

However the price tag was another matter.

I failed to get a complete picture. Yes the forend was checkered. Both pieces were sanded and refinished at some point. It also had a very short LOP.

That's an 1899 checkering pattern, $5 or A3. Not an 1895 pattern.

The stock and froend fit was near nice, bbbbbut, didn't belong on the gun. When the safety was realeased the lever drooped considerably.. Other than the fact it is an 1895 I can't say much good about it.

Wish there were more parts to this puzzle to work with.

The stock looks like a factory checkered pistol grip 1899 stock.

I don't remember seeing an 1895 serial number with the "." between the numbers.

How close did you look at the rifle and do you remember anything else about it... barrel address... ".303 SAV" on top of the barrel...forearm concave on the bottom?

Admittedly I did not look any closer than what you see in the pictures. I talked with another member and he said he has at least one. The decimal point was the first thing that caught my eye. The last date is july 29 1893. Followed by ..303. The rear sight was a dolding sight that would not remain in any position. It was a crescent buttplate. I honestly had no interest in the gun at any price.

me either

Maybe rebuilt, reserial stamped when back to the factory for a bolt change? Wish these things could talk!

That number stamp style was not used till after 21.xxx. Defiantly not the 1895 stamps.

Good catch. I don't remember any either. Wood looks a bit proud to the metal in the first picture at rear of receiver, more than most from that time at least.

Maybe a refinish/restock by the factory early on, where they restamped the serial number?

That rifle has been there for months. It is the same one I posted about a while back.

I don't often go to retailers to look for guns. I got a call saying tyey were loaded with powder. Well they were and I spent a ton on powder that I really didn't need. I was looking for IMR 4064. NONE there. I think the 1895 will be there for months more.

Wouldn’t give that gun a second look.

A leftover 1895 receiver produced during the infancy of the model 1899 rifle?
The dot, the wood, special wood at that.
Has the ear marks potentially being a Savage rifle. ??
Agree, more puzzle pieces needed.

Nobody will ever convince me the number is re-stamped. Wood is another story, The stock set is not original to the gun.

... then I won't try.

I totally agree.

Q: What looks restamped about the receiver?

Arthur said, “Make something special with this leftover receiver, I’ve got a show coming up.”

They had just as many unused 4 digit serial numbers as they had used ones - 5000 of each. I just have a problem thinking they chose to reuse a random number from the middle of what Marlin made rather than an unused number.

There are half a dozen or so 1895's logged that are above the normal serial range. Those I could believe was Savage Arms finishing up unstamped receivers.

Could guess all night.. an employee wanted that number because he got married on May 7th, 1897.
Somebody stole the parts and stamped that number at home when he assembled it to sell.
Receiver had the original number mis-struck and so it wasn't used, Savage filed it off, restruck it and sold it.

Etc..

I have two and I have seen a few and I have never seen a serial number like that. Looks more like an early 1899 serial number format.

The s/n doesn’t look centered on the receiver. Off-center s/n’s on Winchester lever guns are a sign that the s/n has been altered in some way.

Anybody got a ledger page containing 5797?

I don't know the serialization process at Savage or Marlin for that matter.
Seems the serial number would not be stamped until after receiver production, quality checks, etc.
"IF" it was serialized during the time of early Savage production when XX.XXX was being used that may explain it. Just a theory.
I don't dig in and defend a theory, just looking for ways to prove or disprove the unknown.

Two 1895s recently came to auction in Canada, gun number 36 and 37. Actually, they were part of a fairly large collection of Savage lever guns and ammunition. The sale ended August 31 and there was no shipping, everything had to be picked up at a later date. They can be seen at Jim Hands Auction. No prices are listed, but gun #29 a model C in 284 Win sold for $725 Canadian, just under $600 US.

The 1895s sold for around 1100 or 1200 Canadian. The highest price that I saw was the 1899 in 25-35 at about 1400 dollars. Most were well below those prices. Having no shipping lowered the potential pool of buyers.

Nick

No shipping helped those in the gallery. Lots of desirable Savages at prices not found in the US.

My notes show that I've seen either the top part of the page this was on, or the previous page. But it stopped before getting to this gun. Most entries on that partial page were accepted March/April of 1896, many shipped in the fall of 1896.

While the first shipments received by Savage were in the 5000 serial number range, the ledger books start at serial number 1 (blank entries, tho). 1895 entries start at 3156, end at 8200. So 5797 is 2,600 entries from the lowest 1895 entered, and 2,403 from the last 1895 entered. Right in the middle of the entries.. but not middle of the book.

If it was stamped later and was looking for an unused 1895 number, it's at an odd place. Number of blank entries earlier in the book.

Thanks for the context info.
Obviously the deluxe wood and the serial number style do not fit squarely in any known Savage model/configuration. Doesn't mean it's not a "Savage" rifle.
We've seen and know of plenty of non-catalogued examples from 1895 to 1899 to 99.

Granted we've only seem limited pics at this time. (thanks to LBK for what we got!)
Some look at this rifle and see red flags all over the place. That's fine.
Some see deluxe 1899 wood on a 1895 receiver with a unique serial number style that is intriguing. Fine too.

If anyone gets another shot at that rifle in person, some pics, s.n.'s wood, more would be good.

Meanwhile I'm more interested in knowing about the rifle than the rifle itself. That's how I roll.