How?

There's some things in the realm of guns that are established fact.

Gun owners break things that are difficult to break with little to no effort.

A common complaint of the Savage Axis magazine is breaking off the plastic latch-hook.

I've often wondered exactly how they did this.  Mostly so I could avoid it.  At $45+ for a magazine, I'm careful with them.

The other end of the magazine is where I expected problems to happen.

That's the front locking "lug" for the magazine and it's common to the DBM magazine on up-market versions of the gun.  Nobody complains about bending or breaking this.

Savage improved the latch for the short actions, but doesn't seem to have done so for the long actions yet.

Contemporary

The Colt 1903/1908 and the Savage 1907/1917 are contemporaries.

They both came in .32 ACP and .380 ACP.

Both were popular.

The Colt has better lines and feels more "modern", but the Savage is more advanced in a couple of ways.

It's nifty that the both of them survived to today to pose in my photo.

The Format Is Non-Elastic

The S&W M&P 9 Shield is the same size as several 9x19mm self defense sub-compact guns.

It's a size that's persisted for more than a century.

What's changed is the cartridge.

When that Savage hit the shelves, .380 ACP was pushing the envelope hard in a gun this small.  .32 ACP is very common fitting this footprint.

Nowadays you can get that Shield in .380, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP with just slight variations in capacity.

Living in the future kinda rocks sometimes!

Wrong Box Sir

The Chomps Collection did an inventory and discovered an unremembered pistol.

Prolly got lost in the excitement of my Glock 45 Blue Label purchase the same day.

It's a Savage 1907 made after the bankruptcy and 1917 reorganization as Savage Arms Corporation.

We'd initially ID'd it as a Model 1917 because it says so on the box!

It's hard to see, but the serial number penciled in on the box doesn't match the pistol pictured above.

A good write up of the history is here.

C&Rsenal's vid of the French purchase is here.

The first time I bumped into the Savage I was surprised at the 10-round capacity and that such an old design had a double stack, single feed magazine.

 

It's a wonder thirty two!

It comes apart easily.

The safety is multi-functional.  In addition to being a safety, it will also lock the slide in either position and will keep the striker from being cocked.

Trigger is a short, but mushy, 7 lb. 9 oz.

Pretty nifty!

People Laughed

Some laughed at me when I bought the guns, but I can still get ammo at normal prices.

.38 Super and .270 Winchester are still in stock at pre-Wu Ping Cough / pre-BLM prices.

While the lack of rounds is a bit of concern, my Gov't Model was banned from two bowling pin matches because I kept winning.

I've gotten all five rounds touching at 100 yards with the Savage.

I shoot them well, what can I say?

Always keep a brace of guns in an oddball, but still produced, caliber just in case the popular stuff gets hard to find.

No Two Alike

The only thing they all have in common is being centerfire and lever action.

They don't all share magazine configuration.

They don't have a common cartridge.

They all three lock differently.

The oldest designed is the newest made.  Despite the nearly five decade span from the oldest gun to the newest gun, the designs aren't even 30 years apart.

The oldest design is the 1873, which dates from 1999.
Next oldest is the 30AS... sort of.  The 30 is derivative of the 336 which dates from 1936, but it is derived from the 1893.  Mine was made in 1985.
The "newest" design, dating from 1899, is the Savage 99EG, made in 1951.

The '73 locks with a toggle joint, the Marlin with a rising block the Savage with a tilting bolt.

Madness!

And variety.

Same Make And Model

Marv snagged a Lyman No. 2A SA sight for $50 after I told him he could flip it for $100 easy, maybe more.

What's interesting is that it's not the same as my No. 2A SA.

The knurled barrel is very different.

The elevation stems are very similar.  They even interchange.

It's marked differently from mine.

Marv's

Mine

Mine has 'SA' stamped underneath, Marv's has "1A SA" despite clearly being a 2A sight.  The aperture is the only difference between the 1A and 2A, so the bases might all be marked the same.  The elevation stem may have been swapped over the years too.

Judging from pictures I've been able to find on the internet, mine's the earlier variation and Marv's is the later.

Redfield 70LT

The LH has "hunter" knobs.  The LT has "target" knobs.

The difference is the target knobs have finer clicks and are finger adjustable.

Redfield 80L

Another in a continuing series of what sights were available for the Savage 99.

The 80L looks to be a simplified and more compact version of the 70LH with a quick adjust button that disengages the threads and lets you make gross adjustments to the elevation.  A feature found on many Lyman sights.

Period Aperture

Got a teeny-tiny aperture for the Lyman No. 1A SA on Laverne.

Yes, I know about the crack in the stock.  Apparently most 99EG do this and it's not a structural concern.

Yes, I know about the cat hair.  Apparently, if you own a cat (or two) they donate small hairs for every photo and it's not a structural concern.

Of real note is the correct aperture doesn't kiss the stock when folded like the Merit model 4SS did.

That's because it's MUCH smaller.

The aperture size is the same as I'd dialed into the 4SS, so the front sight is nicely in focus.  There is a more of a ghost ring effect with the smaller disk size.

Why Forward

I've been puzzling on why, since there's a lock, the Lyman sight folds forward as well as to the rear.

It seems to be horribly exposed up like that.

But then I noticed something.

The little tick marks for elevation are only on the rear of the sight's stem.

Lord knows how much each line is good for, I suspect 5 MOA each, but I haven't measured.  I've also not worked up any dope on this rife, sights or ammo.

I am kind of astonished that there isn't already a fan page for Lyman sights with scans of vintage manuals.

All Lyman All The Time

 Top to Bottom:

Winchester Model 54 (.30-06) with No. 48W and Merit #4SS.
Savage Model 99EG (.300 Savage) with No. 2A SA and Merit #4SS.
Marlin Model 30AS (.30-30) with No. 66LA and 1/2" disc, 0.091" aperture.

Lyman No. 2A SA

Willard came bearing gifts today!  It screwed right in like it was designed to.  Not only that, but it appeared to be sighted in exactly like the buckhorns when I was looking through both of them.  The aperture is from the Lyman No. 66LA I put on my Marlin 30AS (but not for long).

It can fold to the rear:

It can fold to the front:

But you use it raised.  There's a little spring loaded detent to let you know it's in the right spot:

On the left side is a latch to keep it erected: Forward is locked, rear is unlocked.

After taking pictures, I decided that to put the Merit aperture I had on the Marlin on the Savage:  It feels more period.

Elevation adjustment is generous!

I don't have a blank for the rear sight dovetail yet, but it's ordered and on the way.