Welcome, in case you are a newcomer to this enjoyable bi-weekly section of AllOutdoor.com! The final time round was chronicling the Sage 1907 pistol with its history, variations, dating particulars, parts, and range time. You’ll be able to revisit that multi-part collection by utilizing the hyperlinks beneath. As we speak we’re leaping again into one other multipart Savage article on the Savage 101 Pistol!
Current Content material in Curious Relics:
Welcome to our recurring collection of “Curious Relics.” Right here, we wish to share all of our experiences, data, misadventures, and keenness for older firearms that one may categorize as a Curio & Relic – any firearm that’s at the very least 50 years previous in keeping with the ATF. Hopefully alongside the best way you possibly can garner a better appreciation for older firearms like we do, and concurrently you possibly can train us issues as properly by means of sharing your individual experience and ideas within the Feedback. Understanding the firearms of previous, their significance, and their growth which result in lots of the arms we now cherish at the moment is extremely fascinating and we hope you get pleasure from what we have now to share, too!
Made You Look!
Okay so earlier than diving into the historical past of the previous Savage 101 I really feel that you will need to clarify precisely what it’s. You see, it might seem like a small single-action revolver just like a contemporary Ruger Bearcat. In actuality, it’s a single-shot pistol. The cylinder and barrel are one conjoined piece and there is just one chamber. The barrel meeting pivots to the facet so as to load and unload. Single shot, no cylinder, no revolvers right here.
Historical past Abridged: Savage 101
Within the late Nineteen Fifties, Robert Hillberg, an worker on the Bellemore-Johnson Device Firm, had an thought to create retro-looking .22LR firearms designed for children, impressed by the recognition of Western films (Winchester 73, Excessive Midday, Rio Grande) and TV exhibits (Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman) on the time. He conceptualized two prototypes – a Colt Single Motion Military revolver lookalike that was really a single-shot pistol, and a Winchester 94 lookalike rifle with the identical single-shot idea.
Hillberg introduced these prototypes to Savage Arms. The corporate’s vp was reportedly enamored with the revolver-style pistol design, whereas the higher-ups felt the rifle prototype lacked potential or on the very least it was not price double the software up for 2 dangerous new merchandise. Consequently, Savage determined to proceed with the revolver lookalike, later named the Mannequin 101, whereas the rifle design was offered to Ithaca, who marketed it because the Mannequin 49 Saddlegun.
Lot 942: Two Lever Motion Rifles – B) Ithaca M-49 Single Shot Rifle. (n.d.-b). Rock Island Public sale Firm. {photograph}. Retrieved March 31, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/element/2058/942/two-lever-action-rifles.
The Ithaca 49 Saddlegun went on to be an enormous success which lasted from 1960 till 1978. They offered tons of of hundreds of these rifles in several variants and grade fashions. The Savage 101 made it to 1968 and so they solely made round 53,000-54,000.
Savage made slight modifications to Hillberg’s revolver design for manufacturing causes. After contemplating varied names, the corporate settled on the Savage Mannequin 101. Names that had been additionally within the operating are reported as:
- Apache
- Mustang
- Chief
- Chieftain
- Westerner
- Eagle
The pistol was formally launched in 1960 with an preliminary retail value of round $19.50. Savage marketed the Mannequin 101 primarily in the direction of kids, with ads depicting fathers educating their sons tips on how to shoot, and slogans like “Protected Enjoyable for Father & Son.” The corporate emphasised the pistol’s secure nature and suitability for outside actions like fishing, climbing, and tenting.
The Mannequin 101 was designed to resemble the enduring Colt Single Motion Military revolver in look, but it surely was not a real revolver. As an alternative, it was a single-shot pistol. To reload, the barrel, cylinder, and ejector mechanism popped out from the correct facet, permitting a .22 LR spherical to be ejected and a brand new one inserted. The pistol was single-action solely, and the cylinder was faux, with machined faux bullet suggestions within the entrance of the false chambers.
Manufacturing of the Savage Mannequin 101 continued till 1968, with the ultimate serial variety of 54,816 closing out its eight-year run.
Finish of Half I: Savage 101
The Savage Mannequin 101 represented a novel and considerate design that capitalized on the general public’s fascination with cowboy tradition and Western-themed leisure within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties. Conceived by Robert Hillberg and delivered to life by Savage Arms, this single-shot pistol cleverly mimicked the looks of the enduring Colt Single Motion Military revolver whereas incorporating revolutionary options for security and manufacturing effectivity. Regardless of its area of interest attraction as a youth-oriented firearm, the Mannequin 101 discovered a spot available in the market, with Savage producing round 54,000 items throughout its eight-year manufacturing run from 1960 to 1968. Although unconventional in its design, the Mannequin 101 stands as a testomony to the guts of its inventor and the enduring attract of the Previous West.
In closing, I hope our Curious Relics section knowledgeable in addition to entertained. This all was written in hopes of continued firearm appreciation and preservation. We didn’t simply understand how guns had been presupposed to look and performance. It was a protracted and tedious course of that has formed the world we reside in. So, I put it to you! Is there a firearm on the market that you simply really feel doesn’t get a lot notoriety? What ought to our subsequent Curious Relics subject cowl? As all the time, tell us your whole ideas within the Feedback beneath! We all the time recognize your suggestions.
