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September 22, 2011
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I am late to Savage 1899s, decades ago I found them to be rather quirky, and, as I’ve gotten older, they just don’t seem that quirky anymore. And so I’ve started to collect them. I found this one yesterday at the Forks of the Delaware show, the fancy wood and checkering makes it special order. In .303 Savage, circa 1903. Front sight appears to be period but replaced.
October 14, 2024
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Very nice rifle. I don’t own a Savage 1899, but I appreciate the advantages of the rotary magazine. To me, the straight gripped versions look better.
February 18, 2024
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Nice find! That is a great rifle. I love all my Winchester levers but will always have a soft spot for my 99G take down in 30-30 with 410 barrel for added fun. These are high quality rifles.
August 27, 2014
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Always had a thing for the Flame Checkering
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them”
President Harry S. Truman
September 22, 2011
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Tedk said
Always had a thing for the Flame Checkering
That’s what I really like about it as well. I sent for a letter on it.
November 19, 2006
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Savages 1899/99’s have been part of my life since I bought my first Model 250-3000 takedown before I made it out of my teens.
The one featured in this thread is particularly nice given the checkering, the condition, how early it is – it has a lot going for it.
September 22, 2011
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steve004 said
Savages 1899/99’s have been part of my life since I bought my first Model 250-3000 takedown before I made it out of my teens.
The one featured in this thread is particularly nice given the checkering, the condition, how early it is – it has a lot going for it.
👍👍👍
January 20, 2023
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Ian, That is a beauty. Obviously a special order. Congratulations.
Bill
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
July 8, 2012
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Very nice Savage 99. I like the condition and special order features. Please post the letter once you receive it.
Al
January 12, 2024
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Lovely rifle. I have a soft spot for 99/1899s, myself.
August 14, 2021
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I love this rifle, the rotary magazine and the round counter where ahead of its time.
September 22, 2011
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I received the factory letter yesterday. And here it is:
Interestingly, this rifle lettered to an attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was also a Civil War veteran.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3867820/eugene_allen-fiske
And this is why you letter your firearms. It makes them so much more interesting.
I hate to say what should have—what could have, but why don’t Winchester rifles have a ship location on them? How did they record this data, or how was it different than with other manufacturers? For example, Roy Jinks has shown me entries in Smith & Wesson’s ledgers, and it usually gives a serial number, finish, barrel length, finish, etc, and then a ship location. Some were so commonplace that they were literally rubber stamped in the ledger.
With regards to this Savage 1899, I wonder why the date accepted, I assume this means into the warehouse, was 26 October 1903 and this didn’t ship until 25 March 1905. It seems that this would have shipped soon after ordered, either for stock somewhere, or to an individual. But, as we know from Winchester rifles, some sat in the warehouse for years prior to shipping.
July 8, 2012
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Great letter that adds to the interest of your model 99.
I don’t know why Winchester didn’t include the shipping location on most of the guns, but I’m sure someone with more knowledge of this will respond.
Thanks for posting the letter.
Al
March 31, 2009
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The records that said where they went weren’t saved. Maybe Savage didn’t save them?
April 15, 2005
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Winchester’s warehouse ledger records with very rare exception did not include the shipping destination, just the Order number. I suspect that Winchester maintained separate Order number records in the shipping department that would have told us who the guns were sold to and the shipping destination. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of those records has not ever been discovered.
What is known, is that in mid-year 1907 (when Winchester abandoned the use of the old-style ledger books in favor of individual index cards), the shipping destination was nearly always included on the index record cards. For the Models 1873 and 1886, the index card records were not destroyed, and they are used to create the CFM research sheets or factory letters. In the late Single Shot ledger records (this was the last model to use the ledger book record keeping), the “Sold to” information is sometimes listed.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
August 27, 2014
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mrcvs said
I received the factory letter yesterday. And here it is:Interestingly, this rifle lettered to an attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was also a Civil War veteran.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3867820/eugene_allen-fiske
And this is why you letter your firearms. It makes them so much more interesting.
I hate to say what should have—what could have, but why don’t Winchester rifles have a ship location on them? How did they record this data, or how was it different than with other manufacturers? For example, Roy Jinks has shown me entries in Smith & Wesson’s ledgers, and it usually gives a serial number, finish, barrel length, finish, etc, and then a ship location. Some were so commonplace that they were literally rubber stamped in the ledger.
With regards to this Savage 1899, I wonder why the date accepted, I assume this means into the warehouse, was 26 October 1903 and this didn’t ship until 25 March 1905. It seems that this would have shipped soon after ordered, either for stock somewhere, or to an individual. But, as we know from Winchester rifles, some sat in the warehouse for years prior to shipping.
Good Stuff!
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them”
President Harry S. Truman
September 22, 2011
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Bert H. said
Winchester’s warehouse ledger records with very rare exception did not include the shipping destination, just the Order number. I suspect that Winchester maintained separate Order number records in the shipping department that would have told us who the guns were sold to and the shipping destination. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of those records has not ever been discovered.
What is known, is that in mid-year 1907 (when Winchester abandoned the use of the old-style ledger books in favor of individual index cards), the shipping destination was nearly always included on the index record cards. For the Models 1873 and 1886, the index card records were not destroyed, and they are used to create the CFM research sheets or factory letters. In the late Single Shot ledger records (this was the last model to use the ledger book record keeping), the “Sold to” information is sometimes listed.
Bert
I forgot about those later index cards containing the destination location.
My guess is there were ledgers indicating the shipping location but these were sacrificed to feed the factory furnaces decades ago.
December 30, 2011
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Good looking Savage Ian.
I found some information that would seem to verify these records existed when we were working on the Model 1895 book. Winchester provided the quantities, dates and destinations for .30-03 M-1895s shipped from the warehouse and the New York dept. from August 1904 through December 1906, and the same for 152,920 .30-03 cartridges, to the government during the congressional investigation into the 1906 Brownsville Affray/Affair/Incident.
Jesi Bennett was attempting to match them up to the warehouse ledger entries. Feel free to contact her about submitting her results as an article for the magazine 
These are shown on pages 322-323 of the Model 1895 book.
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