I need to find out a little more about it first. I picked it up a couple of years ago from Simpson Ltd. After it arrived I started researching it a little. My conclusion, and that of a couple of folks on this site, is that it was a "salesman's sample" gun. It has the D&T under the rear sight and on the back of the receiver. It also has hand cut checkering and sling swivels. The one thing it doesn't have is any engraving or roll stamp on the receiver. None. It's an EG with D on the lever boss. Does this sound right to you guys?
I don't have it in front of me now to look at the serial number. The only thing I know isn't a factory option is that it has a small compass inletted into the top of the stock just in front of the butt plate. Funny though, that little compass still points north after all these years.
I'm going to sell it because I've got other projects that are more important and funds are low.
Now I just need to figure out how to post actual, large, visible photos on the site.

This will be fun Can't wait to see it!

lever boss code "D" = 1952, too late for 30-30 production, what length is the barrel? What stampings are on the barrel besides the caliber? What is the serial number range?

If it's just a standalone "D" it may not be the LBC for the date code.

Need the SN as well.

Even with all the climate change mate I think you will find north is still in the same place, but never say never with savages. Big Smiley Here

johno

A little more data.

SN is 368539 and caliber marking is .30-30 (SP). Barrel length is 21in.
I hope to have some pics up in a couple of days.

Correction on barrel length, it's 22 inches.

SN is in the 1937 range.

We think some salesman samples (Speigle specials) didn't have engraving. I don't think JTC has data for 1937.

Good to know. I didn't even realized that EGs went back that far. I popped the front handguard off and it says EG and has the correct serial number.
I'm going to post photos in a couple days but I don't think they'll turn out big enough judging from past experience.

That one could be lettered, the serial number is low enough. I don't think it would be a Spiegle gun without the engraving, but there could be other mfr's that Savage worked with. We've seen other guns including R's with those d&t holes as well, no idea who did them.

If you letter it I would sure like to know if there is anything shown in the log book about the extra holes or who it was shipped to.

What does lettering cost? Do I just contact Savage directly?

To letter, send a check and details of the rifle to:

Thank you sir. I guess I can add the $30 to the price of the rifle once I sell it:) Hopefully it's worth what I'm thinking of asking for it.

Bring's it up to $230.

Rory, don't members here still get the $5 discount? Joe.

You are right, I missed copying and pasting the following line, I'll add it to the post above also. Thanks for catching that.

So, here are some pics. They're better than I thought.

I still have the original rear sight but since I installed a Redfield peep I filled in the rear dovetail with a Marble's dovetail filler.

And here's one showing the compass. I'm thinking I'll get this one lettered. Thanks for the help guys.

Earliest checkered so far?

See pic #3 ... on the lower side of the forearm the checkering comes together, rather than a 1" gap or so between the points.

For the experts, do you think this checkering/pattern is original?

Good eye Keith.The pattern doesn't look right on the side shot of the forearm.My 303EG [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img]

My 379xxx eg 30-30. I've sent for a letter to get ship date and see if there was a later work order.

That checkering in the OP's pics is no more factory than my Aunt Fannie. Look how crude it is, and the diamonds are square instead of lengthened. Definitely aftermarket. The work of Bubba who maybe knew how to wield a checkering tool but was clueless how to lay out a pattern. (And if a factory checkerer caused an over-run at the end of every line like what you see here, he/she would have been out of a job. Those folks weren't the most accomplished checkerers in the business but even this is worse than any I ever saw.)

Also, the full length pic shows the checkering pattern on the fore end to be asymmetrical, unlike every pattern Savage ever used. The pic is too poor to clearly show the checkering on the wrist, but I get the impression it's dodgy too from the little I see.

Thanks for the kind words. I kind of thought it looked sort of crude myself the first time I pulled it from the shipping box. I think I'll still letter it just in case.

Uh, you might want to save the money to letter. Taint factory chekin. Won't enhance the value.

Gotta agree the checkering is after market, at least the forearm. Pic is kind of dark to see the buttstock, and some Spiegel guns had the buttstock checkered but not the forearm... But from what I can see it doesn't look quite right either.

Still, it's an EG in 30-30.. the only one I have is refinished and reblued and I'm happy to have it.

Save your money.Take the kid's to Mickey-D's

"Still, it's an EG in 30-30.. the only one I have is refinished and reblued and I'm happy to have it."



Agreed. It took me awhile to find this one and it's the only .30-30 EG I did find.

I sent off for a letter anyway. I've never done it on a firearm and it sounds fun. I'm interested to know more about it. Thanks guys.

Just got my letter back from Mr. Callahan today. I'm sure glad I lettered it. This rifle was shipped to Spiegel Inc. on September 10, 1937. So, third year of EG production.
Mr. Callahan attached a hand written note saying that the little compass is also factory original. I didn't think that was going to be the case. I'm pretty happy with that bit of info. So, it looks like I've just got an oddball factory EG ordered by Spiegel with a rushed factory checkering job to get it out the door.

Starting to rethink the idea of selling.

Congrats!
A few pics of the rifle and the factory letter would add to the edification of this group.

what is the buy now price

I'll try to get some better pics up in the next few days. I'm working night shift for awhile so my schedule is all off.
I'll get a picture up of the letter soon.

As for a "buy now" price I'm still figuring that one out:)

Keep it!!!!

Factory original compass? I'd like to see a picture of the letter.

another oddity for my next book.

Here are pics of the letter.

I'm planning on taking some real photos of the rifle with an actual camera (not a cell phone) as soon as I get a chance.

I am going to sell it because I don't shoot it and I don't hunt enough to warrant keeping it. I've got other rifles I don't mind dragging through the woods on the few occasions that I do get. I just want to figure out a fair price for both buyer and seller. More to come soon. Thanks for the help guys.

I'll try to get you some good photos. Your book looks interesting.

Started life a smooth 30-30 Speigel(had one)and bubba checkered and added compass.

My $.02's, checkering and compass were added after purchase. I don't think we have seen a compass in any of the other have we?

The D&T = Spiegel. Also the sling loops style and location are correct for that time period.

Did you guys not see Mr. Callahan's hand written note? He says that the compass is original. No reason to believe the checkering isn't as well. Might have been an earlier attempt or a rush job. It might have been checkered on a Friday. Or a Monday. It was during the Depression. Someone might have been really depressed.

Disagree with Mr. Callahan on this one.Checkering & compass have Bubba written all over it.The letter itself told you what you already knew.

Great pics would be greatly appreciated. If you could send them to my email address: [email protected] as well as post them here I would greatly appreciate it.
My next book will probably have to consist of many photos taken by other people. The first book consisted mostly of photos of rifles in major collections. This still required quite a bit of travel. The next book will contain a lot of oddities like this rifle and the 1899 Schutzen that I photographed last Spring and posted photos here. It will be cost prohibitive to travel long distances to photograph one gun.
My publisher recently asked if I planned another book and I told them I had another in mind. I want to go into a great deal of detail on Enoc Tue's engraving and non-cataloged oddities such as Loggah's half octagon SRC, Rick99's octagon barreled 99C, the 1899 Schutzen, the many variations of the Speigle's, the 99RT's, etc.
I probably should have started a new thread on this. I will get into this further on the forum after hunting season.
I'll be at the Utah Gun Collector's Association gun show this weekend in Ogden. I'll be displaying my 51 rifle collection and selling books.
David

pdcrig, I read the letter and post-it. The letters usually provide some general information from which one can deduce the rifle model, configuration and born on date. The post-it is some additional info provided by JTC who may have inside information as a former Savage employee. Nice gesture on his part. However, the post-it does not say specifically that the compass/checking were Savage factory done, nor does the letter. I think he is saying "Spiegel had the work done". By who? Good question.
I have a similar rifle that is D&T'd like yours, and I suspect the D&T was possibly done by Belding & Mull or whoever the optics folks were at the time. At that time the burden of jigs & fixtures for drilling a rifle so that their scopes fit correctly was on the optics manufacture as optics were new and in general early rifles of any kind were not D&Td. I have some original Belding & Mull literature and it specifically says something to the effect "rifle must be factory fitted" by B&M.
JMO

You will never convince me that this checkering was done by anybody other than someone who knew enough about it to be dangerous. Bubba, in other words. A final inspector at the factory would've taken one look at it and sent it back for a re-do. That compass was set in place by whoever did the lousy job of checkering too, I'll bet. Besides, compasses didn't become a fad until the 1950's when anybody with a drill bit could install one in their basement.

You can delude yourself into believing whatever you want it to be, but the evidence speaks for itself, IMO. The letter/note says nothing about said work being factory. Such a sloppy job of checkering wouldn't have passed muster at any facility that "doctored" rifles for the Spiegel company. They had as much of a stake in their gun's appearances as the Savage factory did. In the depths of the Depression, maintenance of high levels of quality were paramount for everybody's survival in the manufacturing world.

The more I think about it, the more I think it started out as a pre-war EG sans checkering, had the d/t'ed holes installed per Belding&Mull or somesuch who knew what they were doing, checkering and compass courtesy of Bubba, sling swivels courtesy of the local gun shop (I've seen that style on more rifles than just Savage). It is what it is: a decent hunting rifle, no more no less. It's additional desirability is due to the cartridge; .30-30 is pretty cool in an EG.

Rick, what are the the earliest Spiegel guns with rollstamping?

This one went to Spiegel.. and has the d&t holes and the sling studs that match the standard Spiegel EG's. Rather than just write it off as bubba work, let's see where it fits in with the others. How many folks wrote off the standard Spiegel guns as being worthless because of d&t holes and sling studs?

I have data on one R and four H's that are D&T'd (B&M) only. Plus two EG's with no roll engraving. One is Pdcrig's and the other is within 500 serial of it. No checkering, sling loops (front holds the forearm on)and D&T'd. The above are all pre-372xxx cut off. Pdcrig's is the only lettered.

After these the roll engraving starts showing up with other options that we have posted about. There is no log info available only the Spiegel ads.

I think Savage did the checkering, sling loops and the B&M D&T. Probably not on all because we don't know if all went to Spiegel but there are too many rifles with the same features to be after market.

I say that Pdcrig's rifle left the factory with sling loops and D&t'd.

I have an R in 250 that's 1000 higher than that and is d&t with those B&M holes, so we do see them. No compass in mine, though mine is also d&t for side Weaver T7. I'm not sure I recall seeing another B&M d&t gun with compass?

I was just wanting to remove the possibility that his might be some early variant.

pdcrig, the checkering style is different than anything Savage was doing at that time. They were checkering the 99G, 99T and the 99R, I can't see the factory doing an entirely new checkering pattern for a single Spiegel EG. It looks like a pretty good checkering job, just not one of Savage's styles. Most here would presume the compass was added by the same guy who did the checkering, but it might be that Mr. Callahan knows something we don't about Spiegel and compasses and it was done by the factory. Never say never.

All good info guys. Thanks a bunch. I think I'm going to hang on to this one for now. I can't really see me having a more interesting .30-30 Win rifle right now. Now I just need to find a load that it likes. It seems to like the 170gr stuff the best.