I posted this example on my usual site (MSC) a while back, but in the end, I figured there are many here who don't go there that might be interested in seeing pics of what unissued Savage No.4's look like. I took fresh (better) pics today and am posting them here for your viewing pleasure.
This was part of a batch that turned up here 20-25 years ago, still in the cardboard shipping boxes. Sadly, when I got this from an estate a couple months ago, the boxes were already tossed out
The rifle still had the original light application of factory cosmolene on just the metal when it came to me. The bore was heavily greased and the rifle was un-fired since leaving the factory (still unfired by me). All I've done was degrease the rifle, add a sling, and I very carefully cleaned off a few areas where surface rust was just starting to appear on the areas that didn't have grease on them. She still looks new except for bluing loss on the buttplate screws from being displayed in a rack for many years.
Many (most?) of the Savages you encounter today have had other finishes applied, are heavily oxidized, have been to India, etc. to the point you don;t often get to see how they left the factory. Factory fresh LB's are BY FAR more common up here.
So without further ado, here is a parkerized unissued 1943 Savage No.4MkI* looking like a GI would have first seen it during the war. Mk2 flip sight, stamped-construction front sight protector, slab-side cocking piece. Every par,t wood too, is S-stamped. Magazine (S marked) hand-numbered to the rifle. EDIT: To the fellow who PM'd me - yes, the barrel is 2-groove. Virtually all 1943 production should have been2-groove when it left the factory.
If a rifle you encounter doesn't look like this, then it's been monkeyed-with somewhere along the line
Here is a photo taken in bright sunlight through a window, no flash. It makes the stock color look a little washed-out.
Here is the same shot with a camera flash:
The color in-hand is somewhere between the two. There is definitely a reddish-orange tone to the wood. I don't know if this is a factory-applied pigment, or a function of the original RLO dip tanks being contaminated with wood tannin from seeing thousands of stocks, or if it's the oxidizing effect of RLO aging for 70+ years. No way to know today. But an untouched rifle should look like this one TODAY. The interior wood surfaces ARE oil treated, but would not see much oxygen and are much lighter natural-birch coloured. Yes, the wood is all yellow birch.
Here is the other side.
Notice the oil-blacked safety spring. It looked just like this when the grease was wiped off, imperfections from rattling around the parts bin and all. The patchy finish is a by-product of the oil blacking process wearing off from factory handling, it isn't very robust. Most you see are worn down to plum bluing. By 1943 the factory was using a smaller ordnance bomb stamp. On this rifle, it was applied crookedly and only the "flame" is showing, the round part of the bomb not having indented the steel.
Nice clean park-lubrite. Same finish you see on M1911A1's from the same period.
Bolt handles are hand stamped, the Letter-digit in a larger font than the numerals. This is how the factory did it. The receiver serial was machine-applied, the bolt serial was hand-stamped. The C is larger on every example I have come across than I can verify is original.
Hand-stamped Savage magazine. Done in a different font than the rest of the rifle, mags were added and numbered to rifles at a much later stem in the manufacturing process in a different part of the factory.
Hope that was helpful to some folks Now I need to decide what to do with the rifle, display it, shoot it, or sell it to finance the next treasure hunt - lol.
Ain't collecting a great hobby?
This was part of a batch that turned up here 20-25 years ago, still in the cardboard shipping boxes. Sadly, when I got this from an estate a couple months ago, the boxes were already tossed out
The rifle still had the original light application of factory cosmolene on just the metal when it came to me. The bore was heavily greased and the rifle was un-fired since leaving the factory (still unfired by me). All I've done was degrease the rifle, add a sling, and I very carefully cleaned off a few areas where surface rust was just starting to appear on the areas that didn't have grease on them. She still looks new except for bluing loss on the buttplate screws from being displayed in a rack for many years.
Many (most?) of the Savages you encounter today have had other finishes applied, are heavily oxidized, have been to India, etc. to the point you don;t often get to see how they left the factory. Factory fresh LB's are BY FAR more common up here.
So without further ado, here is a parkerized unissued 1943 Savage No.4MkI* looking like a GI would have first seen it during the war. Mk2 flip sight, stamped-construction front sight protector, slab-side cocking piece. Every par,t wood too, is S-stamped. Magazine (S marked) hand-numbered to the rifle. EDIT: To the fellow who PM'd me - yes, the barrel is 2-groove. Virtually all 1943 production should have been2-groove when it left the factory.
If a rifle you encounter doesn't look like this, then it's been monkeyed-with somewhere along the line
Here is a photo taken in bright sunlight through a window, no flash. It makes the stock color look a little washed-out.
Here is the same shot with a camera flash:
The color in-hand is somewhere between the two. There is definitely a reddish-orange tone to the wood. I don't know if this is a factory-applied pigment, or a function of the original RLO dip tanks being contaminated with wood tannin from seeing thousands of stocks, or if it's the oxidizing effect of RLO aging for 70+ years. No way to know today. But an untouched rifle should look like this one TODAY. The interior wood surfaces ARE oil treated, but would not see much oxygen and are much lighter natural-birch coloured. Yes, the wood is all yellow birch.
Here is the other side.
Notice the oil-blacked safety spring. It looked just like this when the grease was wiped off, imperfections from rattling around the parts bin and all. The patchy finish is a by-product of the oil blacking process wearing off from factory handling, it isn't very robust. Most you see are worn down to plum bluing. By 1943 the factory was using a smaller ordnance bomb stamp. On this rifle, it was applied crookedly and only the "flame" is showing, the round part of the bomb not having indented the steel.
Nice clean park-lubrite. Same finish you see on M1911A1's from the same period.
Bolt handles are hand stamped, the Letter-digit in a larger font than the numerals. This is how the factory did it. The receiver serial was machine-applied, the bolt serial was hand-stamped. The C is larger on every example I have come across than I can verify is original.
Hand-stamped Savage magazine. Done in a different font than the rest of the rifle, mags were added and numbered to rifles at a much later stem in the manufacturing process in a different part of the factory.
Hope that was helpful to some folks
Now I need to decide what to do with the rifle, display it, shoot it, or sell it to finance the next treasure hunt - lol.Ain't collecting a great hobby?
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