Tonight I removed the forearm from a very nice prewar EG I recently bought from Roy to put a little RemOil on the metal and noticed that the front face of the frame is clearly stamped with an E to the left of the barrel and a G on the right. I have a circa-1929 F that too is marked as such in the same place as the G on the EG. I don’t have my copy of Murray’s at hand but the serial number is 353XXX putting it, I think, at about 1936 or 37. I haven’t had many prewar 99s and I am certain the post war EGs that crossed my path were not marked at all. Has anybody else noticed this?

So for the halibut I took the forearm off a post war EG in the 583XXX range and there are no marks.

That sounds about right.

Later 20’s up to ‘49 or so iirc. Prewar R’s usually had an 8.

The G on my frame looks like it’s struck over an 8. I’ve noticed a number of detail differences between the pre and post war EGs such as more robust forearm and butt stock (beyond the obvious lack of checkering) with the latter and dimensional changes in how the receivers were milled. It’s a crummy weekend here so maybe I’ll take some pictures and post my observations a little later today or tomorrow. If I were to sum it up succinctly I would have to say that the prewar gun be the EG-LW (light weight) in compareison to the post war model. The prewar EG really is a nicely balanced and proportioned gun.

My Pre-War EG S/N 385XXX also has an E on the left and G on the right. I also have a pre-war G S/N 362XXX that just has the G on the right side.

The thing I noticed about the pre-war EG and G compared to my postwar EG is that the wood at the top of the wrist is more graceful. They beefed up the wood at the top of the wrist post war, it makes the lines not flow as well and looks a little clunky.

I noticed that too. The Post war EF has a a distinctive hump in the curve of the stock behind the tang. I suspect Savage did this in an attempt to reduce cracks. The nose of the comb as well as the rear points of the check pads are also slightly sharper, and the pistol grip is a bit more fully shaped. The forearms on postwar EGs are also more robust, again likely done by Savage to counter forearms cracking at the tip and breaking out at the top corners where the wood mates to the frame.

There are visible differences in the shaping of the metal too such as at the top to the immediate left of the bolt and along the sides of the lever lug. I've been meaning to check more into this but I have a hunch the receivers on post war EGs (and likely all such 99s) are a bit beefier - as though they left more material on the receivers walls. And I think that little by little all of these things add up to the pre-war guns having a lighter look and feel than those that were made after WWII. Which is why I call the prewar 99 the EG-LW in comparison to the post-war 99. They simply are nice guns.

Glad you like that EG! Makes me happy.