Savage 99 of unsure date or rarity

I need help with date of new to me Savage 99 in 300 Savage,serial number 7380xx with 20E within a circle on the hinge of the lever. That serial number seems right for 1954 but 'Mad Dog' in his article says, if I read it correctly, they were rare and only made in 1953. It has a 24 inch barrel but unfortunately the stock has been cut to add a recoil pad. It was D&T for scope bases but not factory done because the model number is covered by the bases. It also has the ramped front sight referred to in Mad Dog's article and the round counter on the side..

Any help would be appreciated

Rancher1997.

It has been D&T may be the stock has been shorted, rare value is probably gone !!!

1954 is correct.

Why would I say 738XXX is rare? Sure you weren't mixing it up with one with an 800,000 serial number?

Sorry, I did not mean to imply the serial number made it rare. I probably misunderstood the article where you wrote that the early model 99B's, C's, D's and E's are very rare find. It was a late night reading of your article and I thought I read something about 1953 being the date for 99E. I must have been mixing it up.
Rancher1997

After seeing J. Baker's Thread I was really confused because his chart indicated E was 1953. I made me recheck with a bright light and magnifying glass to find it probably is an F but the bottom horizontal part of the "E" really was not pronounced like the top ones, so it is an F and year is 1954. Hope this helps someone else trying to read/see that mark.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Savage's - where everything's a "best guess" when it comes to dating because Savage did such a lousy job of keeping records.

BTW, I got that chart from Mad Dog so it's still his fault you're confused. haha