Savage 1907

This particular one isn't military, but these were used by the French with 40,000 purchased and Portugal with a thousand or so.

I'm a huge fan of Savage rifles and have wanted one of these for years but kept holding out for a French purchase. Finally decided I'll probably never find one and Mike had this one today, so it came home with the Zastava 88.

Couple of interesting things about these that I learned is that is not a hammer but a cocking piece for a striker. This also has an early version of a stacked magazine which obviously beat out the Browning hi-power which gets credit for being the first. There are no screws in its construction and the grips are made of the same material as period golf balls.

Next week I'll probably find a French purchase, but I don't care, I like this one.

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Nice... There are a few I always wanted but never got through time. One is this little Savage pistol, a Remington 51, a Beretta 34. I had a Beretta 948 in about perfect shape and handled all of them but never owned them. Now of course for us it's far too late.

Nice find. A friend has one, an interesting little pistol.

I'm afraid this one has become a problem. I needed the book, now I want more. Turns out this one was only made one year, 1919. First year for the small serrated grip, last year for the heavy round "hammer" (striker)

The book is really nice, Stackpole publishing with their usual high quality glossy paper. Loaded with photos and production data. Has all the variants, accessories, holsters, etc.



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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

The book is really nice

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Ok...you see there was your stumbling point. The book has all these perfect examples and now you want them. All.

I've had a soft spot for the small pistols of this era. Had to limit the Savages to a couple of 1917's, one in .32, the other in .380. One nice thing is that the mags swap between the two.

I think that's the swcond version mag release.
I found a problem with mine which released on recoil when i gripped the frame too tight.
That's why the later mags have 2 latch positions and the earlier ones have a single latch position.

The Savage pistols have only one real weakness these days and that is good magazines are hard to find. Original magazines command astronomical prices while the readily available Triple K magazines are a crap shoot. The earlier pistols the magazine release was about halfway up the front strap with the notch in magazine at the bottom. Later pistols moved the mag release to the bottom of the grip and the notch was about midway in the mag body. Late mags came with notches in both places.

The later spur hammers can bite, as well.

A friend of mine told me he had one when I showed him pictures of this one. He sent me photos and serial number. It's a first series 2000's serial number, likely first year of production. I told him if he ever wants to get rid of it let me know but he probably won't as he told me his grandfather purchased it and he traded a mauser rifle he had to his brother to get it. It's in very nice shape also. He's not a collector that I'm aware of, just an outdoorsman that likes guns. He always comes to my presentations when I have them.

I shouldn't have bought this damn book.

I've noticed that about the magazine prices. Haven't bid on any yet, still a little confused about which is which and everyone is advertising 380 mags when I believe the book said these will all be marked 380 and none of the for sale magazines are marked.

Three digit serial.

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Aragorn, the ones marked .380 will typically have only the high release hole, which yours uses. Those will work fine for both calibers if in good shape. If you find one with both holes, as yours is, that'll be good as well. I suspect the low hole only mags would be a bit more rare, and won't work for you anyway.

Martin, very nice!

That's good to know but the prices on all of them are ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

prices on all of them are ridiculous.

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I'll bet. I have only one for each, but they both function well. As rapid reloads with these are beyond my skill level, I'm fine with that.

As I tend to be crazy when it comes to correct setups, it's looking like I'll need two extra magazines. Not for this one but I do still want a French issued one, plus the holster which is odd in that it holds two magazines instead of the usual one.

I'm just looking towards the future. Don't have the holster yet either but will be watching now. I may try to find a period holster for this one also. I've seen a few but they want as much for them as a lot of military holsters.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I tend to be crazy when it comes to correct setups

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Wouldn't expect any less!

Managed to get an original military holster for $15.00 on eBay as no one else bid on it.

Nice. Pics to follow?

I don't have it yet, just won it last night but here are the eBay pics. They say it has Portuguese markings but don't show them and then claim it's French used because it's dyed black. I believe the same company supplied holsters for both France and Portugal as they look the same and both have the same snaps unless they were replaced. The left pouch has the correct outer snap but it was modified to be used as a button rather than a snap. Came from a 1907 collection. It's not perfect, has a messed up snap on the one magazine pouch but almost all of these I've seen are messed up. Must not have been a good design. The only other holster on eBay at the moment is a Portuguese one in brown with missing interior snaps and they want $265 for that one.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

a messed up snap on the one magazine pouch

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Wish it were a bit closer, I'd make a replacement setup to assemble there. They get rusty or verdigris and people force them so they break.

I'm not sure you could. This is not a normal snap. I've never seen anything like them before. When I get it, I'll post some better photos. The male portion is serrated in a star like shape. This evidently is what goes bad with them, they separate from the leather.

The seller did have a photo I missed:

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Holster came today. I don't think I can really improve on the photos, I do see where the back is marked AF which is where the Portuguese connection comes in.

New question. This black paint is undesirable to me, anyone ever try to take it off? I use citristrip on wood, not sure how it would work on leather. I've seen hot water soaking, mild soap, sugar soap and acetone as a last resort. It is flaking off in some areas and the leather looks fine underneath. I don't want to ruin it of course but I only have $15 into it also. It's brown underneath. The black doesn't bother me but it's high gloss black.

I took the plunge and started removing the paint. This is going to be a long ordeal. I used two coatings of citristrip and that removed maybe half of it. Not sure what the problem is but it either took it off or it didn't. Maybe the amount I put on is the key, heavier amounts dissolving it better. After that, I tried scraping it off and that works but is slow going. I have it maybe half complete now. Leather is OK underneath but where there is a crack in the paint, the leather is also cracked. It is still pliable. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be much happier with it when it's done. I did not like that high gloss paint. It was brown originally but may have been dyed black at some point, I can't tell for sure. I'll probably have to dye it something to make it consistent in color.

I have about 98% of the paint off and getting time to start thinking about the next step. Leather is not my area of expertise. These can obviously be brown or black with brown being the original color, black probably postwar police use.

So what to do with it? Just seal it with a leather conditioner as is, dye it brown or dye it black. Not trying to create perfection, it's a 100 year old holster. My preference would be brown which it sort of is now but it's blotchy.

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I'm with you on the preference for brown. Wonder how much some neatsfoot oil would darken the lighter spots. Maybe enough to lessen the contrast with the more blackened bits?

Any kind of oil will darken it. It'll be almost black after. Why not use Fiebing's leather die to get your color once you have it stripped to what you want? I think it's still full of paint.

Pretty sure what you see is dye, not paint. The paint was actual paint, not something that soaked in. I scraped a lot of it off by hand. I'm in the process of citristriping it again and the black is leeching out quite a bit. On second application now. Will see how much is still coming out when I wash it before maybe putting a third on it or just letting it dry.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I'm in the process of citristriping it again and the black is leeching out quite a bit.

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That's exactly what I'm talking about. I don't think it'll be patchy after. You know paint soaks into things, think of painting plywood. It'll be flat brown after, or whatever color it started before paint. Then dye to taste.