Well, not the first. But the first that I believe was all together. SN is 5302. I am assuming that it was made in 1895. Anybody ever own this one?

RAS

1895-A, Cabela's 2014. Probably made 2/1896 which would be very early 1895.

I have 5266-02/21/96 and 5449-03/05/96

plab

three of mine letter as produced in 1896 from serial #4775 to 7844. I wonder if all of them were produced from late 1895 to sometime in 1896?

Mine is #6686. We should try to fill in the blanks.

Mine is #47XX Shipped 12/96

....anyone seen one in the 2XXX or 3XXX range yet?? I have not.
tjw

Lots of 3XXX serial numbers out there, no 2000's.

I think Savage / Marlin started with the 5000 serial number and worked their way up to the high 8's (even a few 9XXX are known of) and then started from 3000.

This is just based on lettered guns and data I have from J.C.

Latest gun I have data on is one of Blairs old cut barreled guns which was accepted Sept 20, 1898 and shipped the same day. That was serial 64XX.

1895C, #659x, Accepted May 1896, Shipped Sept. '97

I got one the later 1895s - #386X.

"The record books tell us that this rifle was accepted at Savage's, Utica, New York offices and was shipped in November 22, 1896 to Baker and Hamilton, San Fransico, California."

[we get what we're given...]

LBK - is that a ship date or production date? We need the production if you have it.

David - JTC stated that there were a few in the 50xx that were produced in Oct, 1895. These might have been the test run for Savage acceptance...? The earliest production date I have seen on a letter has been 2/1896 and there are several. The latest production date is 9/1897 with most in the 3/1896 through 4/1897. I don't know how close to true that is. Just what I've see from my data.

As for ship dates, thay are all over. It is for sure that there was no FIFO system used. More like "whatever was easiest" system. Not unusual to see early rifles produced within a few days of each other have ship dates two years apart.

Looks like most inventory was gone by end of 1898 with a few shipping in 1899.

Mine is #47XX Shipped 12/96.

Guys, just to put it out there, shipping dates are not as important as acceptance dates.

I know that, Joe. But when it's all that's available it's all you have.

Funny that the acceptance date wasn't in the ledger?

Serial # and shipping date. Nothing more. There are many line items with serial # and nothing more. Pretty much blank entries.