Hello everyone, pleased to find the forum...
So I sold a ratty old small ring mauser and used the funds to buy a ratty 170 in 30-30. I know, what was I thinking? Well, I had done all that could be done with the Mauser short of rebarreling to solve its problems, and I always had a soft spot for the 170 (when it feeds), and so it is in pieces in the shop, getting some rust bluing, some new checkering, a recrown, and probably a pine tar stock finish for the crummy days here in South Georgia ... that leads to this serial number question. Now, I have had a closet full of model 23A's, AA's, and currently have a 19NRA. I hunted with a 99 in 308 for years, and I know that with Savage, anything is possible (I also own a Marlin two barrel set over/under ... how rare are those?). Did Savage use one "running" serial number for all production (i.e. a Model 99 might be 12345 and the next 110 produced would be 12346) or were there certain blocks of numbers dedicated to certain firearms? I know that Savage has had all sorts of serial number issues over the last century, but when was my trusty 170 #A603*** built? I found an earlier post stating that the OP's 170 was a 1971 vintage, but the actual number A700,000 or so, was substantially higher (+100,000) than mine. I find it hard to believe that Savage would have delivered that many units in first year production, so does anybody know when mine was produced and how they sequenced the numbers at that time? Additionally, any idea how many units were produced in the 170 run from 1970-81?

Thank you guys for your time-
Cree