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I'm new to the forum and Savage having just picked up my first....a 32 Savage 1917. The pistol appears to be original except for the grips. Odd thing is the serial number is very far out of range. The SN is 12865 and the 8 appears to be double tapped. All of the reference materials I can find show a range for the '17 in the mid 200000 range. Any knowledgeable folk here have any thoughts? I would post a photo but don't have a hosting site. Thanks in advance!
You're correct, a serial number that low would be a 1907, even the 1917's in 380 with a trailing letter started higher than that. You're sure it's a 1917 with trapezoid grips rather than the rectangular gripped 1907? Hard to guess at much more without a picture.
Here's a picture. The two on the upper left are 1907's with rectangular grips. Two on the lower left are 1915's with rectangular grips and a palm safety. Top 2 in the second from left row are 1917's with trapezoid grips.
https://www.savagefest.net/SavageFes...G_1298_595.jpg
It's a 1917 for sure. I am unable to post pics here as I don't do the hosting site thing but there are pics on THR. Someone there mentioned it may be a stamp over but other than the double tapped 8 it doesn't appear to be to me. Even if it were it doesn't explain the 5 digit number. Nice collection BTW.
Found your pictures there. I can't see the full sized picture without having a login, but the thumbnails make it clear it's a 1917.
Most reasonable thing I can think of is that the original number was removed and it was restamped. Saw a 1907 with no serial number in Tulsa one year, and looking close it was apparent it'd been filed off and reblued.
Second most reasonable thing I can think of is that somebody sent in a 1907 for repair or replacement, and Savage stamped a 1917 with the same serial number and returned it. That's NOT how they normally did things, but.. never say never. A factory letter is probably the only way to get any idea, but even that's pretty unlikely to shed any information.
All this being said.. I'm not heavily versed in the pistols. Hopefully somebody will pop up that knows more about this.