Since my roomie already finked on me, yes I bought a gun at the Fun Show yesterday. I really shouldn't have, but it was a can't-pass-up deal on the purtiest Savage 1907 I've seen in a long, long time.
It's a 1914-vintage gun in easily 95%+ condition, with only a small amount of "sock drawer" type wear. The case coloring on the trigger still richly-colored, and the hard rubber grips are still nice and black and so un-worn that you can make out the "TRADEMARK" on the headband of the injun's war bonnet. (A lot of UV exposure would have bleached the trigger, faded the high-polish bluing, and turned the black rubber grips brown.)
Best of all? It was only $50 more than the worn, brown-gray patina'ed example I picked up at the last Indy 1500, which dated to 1911. So even if it means more canned soup and frozen burritos, I feel like it was worth it. Any time you buy a gun that you not only like, but are reasonably certain you could sell at a fair profit on Gunbroker that same day, it's worth it, especially if it banishes fear!
Pics to follow.
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22 comments:
Corvette in the barn?
Chevette in the barn. :)
It may be a really nice Savage .32, but it's still just a Savage .32 :D
Incidentally, I think it was very thoughtful of Savage to have put that great big re-bluing indicator over the left-hand grip panel starting in 1913.
The text of the instruction booklet is priceless. It carries a strength and directness of expression which is disappointingly absent from the wishy-washy soft language of nowadays.
gvi
I especially liked Savage's literature, including "What good does police protection do you? If an undesirable citizen decides to smash your skull with a convenient lead pipe wrapped up in a yellow newspaper, does the possibility that the police may afterwards catch him and send him to the electric chair console you very much?"
Hmmmmm..... it consoles me more than today's version, in that the possibility that the police may catch him and send him to a prison for a few years of 3 hots and a cot, and cable TV, that my estate must pay for through the Estate Tax ..... why yes, it consoles me more than today's version.
From the catalog: "This special pistol designed on these lines is a particularly beautiful pocket arm. It is equipped with high-grade fancy pearl grip plates. The entire blued steel frame is elaborately ornamented with especially high-class engraved scroll work. Price, $55.00" Jeez, according to CPI, $55.00 in 1913 comes out to $1259.00 of today's dollars, yet a high end engraved gun today would easily run $1500 to $3500 bucks. Guess that shows what a good investment guns can be for someone.
"Jeez, according to CPI, $55.00 in 1913 comes out to $1259.00 of today's dollars......"
Really, Alan? You believe in the CPI?
I hate to break it to ya, but the Tooth Fairy and Santy Claus .... are ..... well, yer parents, they were kinda fibbin' .... for your own good, you see ..... just like Uncle Sam and his CPI.....
I recently found what has to be the wierdest of the wierd .32s ever made, an Armi Jager AP 74. Picture, if you will, a near clone of an AR15, but chambered in .32ACP, with a 15 round single-stack magazine. This thing is just off the scale for sheer WTFness.
It was a secret?
I'm somewhat jealous that your fun show has something other than $50 Pro-mag magazines, $500 used LCPs, and $60 Winchester White boxes that they picked up at Wally World on the way to the show.
Your Savage probably would have been the same one Teddy Roosevelt used in a charge in World War I or some other bizarre nonsense.
The pistol is neat (needs pics), but you partially buried the lede with that great bit of Savage literaure. I especially liked Page 2.
Alan: $55 back then would buy you two and a half ounces of gold.
You can find the current price of gold at kitco's website.
Matt G,
The past is another country, no? :D
pretty! i really like the old Savage pistols. had one once, too. sadly, had to let it go when the money got low and haven't seen another one in nearly so good shape.
We sold a really nice Savage 1907 a while back...sadly you can't buy everything that comes through the door in this business. The gun had some nice history to it as it was for almost two decades the "Night Watchmen's pistol" for the town I live in...back in the quaint times when full fledged police coverage was considered unnecessary...and we had some the paperwork from when it was transferred from the town to the only other owner who purchased it in 1953. It had a remarkable lack of holster wear leading me to believe that the watchman generally didn't even bother to carry it around.
Wow, a 40-page instruction manual.
It’s apparent that SAVAGE wasn’t too concerned about making phone-book-sized manuals written in more languages than spoken in a Star Wars film fest, eh?
It was also easy on the eyes reading a gun manual without all of those pesky and distracting bold red warnings created by legal men for the morons and idiots, too.
Page 40 is rather interesting - a “who’s who” of endorsers and users at the time - like Buffalo Bill, Bat Masterson, William Pinkerton, etc…
Interesting read.
RevGreg,
"...leading me to believe that the watchman generally didn't even bother to carry it around."
'You people better not be here when I get back!'
The past, indeed, was another country.
Did I just see the first, illustrated of course, tactical reload?
You've given me gun lust.
I passed on one of those little pistols a while back, I'd just seen Road to Perdition, and lo! one turned up at the range's store I frequent. At the time I was such a regular they'd even let me paw items I fancied. That was one item of many I was told, "sure, if you want to check it out, go ahead" as in, go behind that counter, remove it from the display case.
I had a keltec .32 at the time, and was even told a magazine could be run through the Savage if I was interested in purchase. Alas, it fed and fired not so well. I passed, wondering if spring or parts were available for such an old gun. I should have purchased, it was under 2 bills, and it did go bang.
Oh, and Anon 2:42, I found a buddy one of those Jaeger AP74's but in .22 LR, and, instead of black, it had actual wood furniture. Looks for all the world like an M16.
Saw an ad for "across the pond" a .32 blank firer in that model for Merry old England...as they can't be trusted with projectiles without a lot of hand wringing.
"The Savage 1907: How Tam Got Her Mojo Back"
gvi
Does the Savage's "delayed blowback" design have any effect on how easy it is to pull the slide?
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