110 serial number assistance

Hey all you 2nd amendment nuts. My name is Tony and I just inherited a Savage 110 30-06 from my Pop who just passed. Guess the old marine had only 1 firearm and I was the lucky guy to get it. My first Savage but I am a fan, especially due to the availability of left handed models. This is a righty, but it has 1242 on the barrel and the bolt. I cannot find any other identifying marking. All wood, no magazine. All I could find is it's pre-68, but nothing else. Any information would be helpful. Thanks in advance, Tony.

WOW! That’s an OLD’n there.... 1242! You have a first year production. That is a 1957 Savage 110. I think PhilC had the OLDEST anyone’s heard of...like a 10xx serial number rifle. And yours is close.

The 110 was not sold until 1958, but they were made in ‘57. You have quite a collectors piece there. Kudos!


BTW... wouldn’t mind hearing from Jim. He’s more an authority on this than I. I’m just going with what I’ve read over the years.

Late 1957 or early 1958 production. As Dave said, it's a first year gun and a very low SN at that.

Yes, I do have serial number 10xx and quite likely 1242 also has a 1957 date of manufacture. Officially released in 1958, but several were manufactured in 1957.

To confirm, look at the barrel for an oval stamp with 2 digits and a letter. The 2 digits are the inspector's stamp and the letter denotes year of manufacture - "I" is 1957.

Here's the chart for early 110s...

1957 = I
1958 = J
1959 = K
1960 = M
1961 = N
1962 = O
1963 = P
1964 = Q
1965 = R
1966 = S
1967 = T
1968 = U*

(* used only until Savage started adding an alpha character preceding serial numbers in compliance with the 1968 Gun Control Act. See this article if your rifle does not have an oval barrel stamp as described above).

Are you sure the ser # is on the barrel? Should only be on the receiver and scratch marked on bolt. Pictures would be awesome, either become a Savage team member or use a pic hosting site and post link.