Savage letters - 24hourcampfire

I am kind of an accumulator and a bit of a goober. Is it worth lettering two Savage 1895's? They are nice and I reload and shoot them and have no intention in moving them on until I "move along" but I was just wondering whether or not it is worth the effort and fee. Hopefully my son would want to keep them.

I fight the urge of lettering any of my 1899s. They're all standard models and I think I'd be disappointed with the information returned, and the fact I would be out 75$ per letter ( I doubt I'd become a member or whatever). But I still kinda want to letter a couple for some reason.

Maybe Rory or someone else can say for sure. But, I think they do a search with all the same info for a fraction of the price. Cody was at the Baltimore show last year and they were doing searches for $5. So, I got one on my 1902 engraved rifle. It stated all the extra's, but, the one thing I was hoping would be in the letter, was not. So, I won't be getting a letter. The search told me everything I wanted to know.

Years ago I found a 22HP that was listed as having a "No name period Scope". I thought it looked like a Malcolm, so I took a chance and bought it. When I got it and looked in good light it was marked Malcolm. I sent for one of JTC's letters and it turned out the rifle was sold to the, "Malcolm Rifle Telescope Company". So that was worth the letter. If that happened now, I'd do the cheaper search, and if it turned up something exceptional, I'd get the "Letter". If it just turned up the normal info, I'd be happy with the search. They email it to you, so when you print it, it looks like a letter, just not the fancy embossed paper.

$150 membership gets you info on 5 guns. $250 mbrship gets you 12.

If you do more than one, become a member.

Rory, do you know what the Search costs? I'm waiting for the first of the year for a membership so it covers the whole year. I thought when I talked to them about my 1902 they said if you buy a $150 membership on December 15, you only get two weeks of membership, it runs by calendar date, not one year from when you get it.

It sounds like this "search" thing is identical to a letter. What's the difference?

The letter is on fancy frameable paper. The search was just an email, that you can print on your own paper. I'll see if I can find mine and post a pic of the search.

That's the search as I printed it off my email. Just to show their level of customer service, at the Baltimore show, I inverted a couple numbers so when I didn't get the Email within a week I called and they happily did another search for the correct number. I feel I got my $5 worth.

Ah, you have to be a member to get the quick searches email.

Yes, the searches are only for members. If you aren't a member, you have to pay the $75 for a letter.

You get a PDF of the results that's basically the same as the factory letter. You just have to print the pdf yourself.

Memberships are for 12 months from when you sign up. Mine, for example, expires at the end of March, 2023.

The $150 membership gets 5 searches. So comes out to $30/search.
The $250 membership gets 10 searches and 2 letters, comes out to about $21/lookup.

Once you're a member, you can buy additional bundles of searches or letters at really fair rates. So if you have 50 rifles to letter, do it all in one year. Save money. Though they are a good org and the membership fees are tax deductible.

Thanks for clearing that up. Whoever I talked to said they were from year to year. Wait till January 1st. But I don’t remember if that was Cody, or someone I asked?

IMO a Factory Letter is worth every penny if it confirms that a gun is right especially when it’s time to sell.