Savage 1907 French Contract Pistol...

2708 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by MGMike, Sep 27, 2018

BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · Sep 15, 2018

Came home with me from the fun show this morning.

From the batch of 20,000 that were actually made for the French, and not the first ones sent over from civilian inventory.

Mechanically good, just s tiny bit of frosting ahead of the chamber, but it is getting better with successive gentle cleaning. Finish shows holster wear of course, as like most military side arms, it spent most if it's time in one.

I've always admired the 1907 Savage, both for it's ahead of it's time design elements, being striker fired and have a semi rotating barrel delayed blow back system, and of course that WAY ahead of it's time double stack 10 round mag, and also because I've always thought they were darned good looking pistols.

I've passed on several before, mostly because they had sewer pipe bores, or broken internal bits, or were very optimistically priced, but to fall into a military model in good mechanical shape at a price I found acceptable was just a great way to start my weekend.

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BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 16, 2018

Oh, I hate to ask, but if anyone comes across two slot mag for one of these, or even rarer, a holster, let me know.

Of course I'm on the hunt as well, and the hunt is quite fun actually, maybe better than the kill.

I'll have a range report soon.

Redcat94

· #3 · Sep 20, 2018

BlitzPig said:
I've passed on several before, mostly because they had sewer pipe bores

That describes my 1907. But I've found that even with a badly corroded bore handguns still shoot pretty good at normal handgun distances.

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BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 20, 2018

Oh yeah. A friend of mine has his grandfather's Model 1917 in 380, and it's bore looks like it was cleaned with salt water and never oiled. It still isn't too bad inside 10 feet, and even though it keyholes at greater distances it still shoots minute of bad guy. Meaning if you aim at center of mass, you will hit the bad guy... somewhere...

DeutschlandUberAlles

· #5 · Sep 20, 2018

BlitzPig said:
........and the hunt is quite fun actually, maybe better than the kill..........

That's for sure.

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Andyd_is_PzGren

· #6 · Sep 21, 2018

I had the .380 version of it about 20 years ago and it was in 95% condition but had a developing crack in one grip panel. The gun was accurate and handled well. It was sold when I tried to consolidate calibers.

BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 23, 2018

Took it to the range this morning. It ran like a champ. It is by far the least picky of my 4 32acp pistols. It even ran 3 mags of the really awful Winchester truncated cone FMJ without missing a beat.

I also shot some S&B, Geco, and Italian Fiocchi. Not one issue.

The biggest problem was the interface between my nearly 65 year old eyes and those teeny tiny little sights. A bit more practice with her and I'll get the groups down some, but honestly I'm not going to be running lots of rounds through it. However, if I had to, it would work.

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halfmoonclip

· #8 · Sep 25, 2018

I have a pretty clean example; not sure of its original provenance. Yeah, the sights are a pain, as is the trigger. But the things are beautifully made, and the radial slide grooves are a treat, as is the double stack mag.
And I reload .32s...
Moon

halfmoonclip

· #9 · Sep 25, 2018

BlitzPig said:
Oh, I hate to ask, but if anyone comes across two slot mag for one of these...

Check with Jim Shaffer, PO Box 381, Irwin, PA, 15642, # 814-672-6830.
He has a real assortment of old magazines; grips too.
Moon

BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 25, 2018

Thank you sir.

Redcat94

· #11 · Sep 26, 2018

You might be interested in getting a factory letter from the Savage Arms Historical Service. I got one for mine and it wasn't very expensive ($45).

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BlitzPig

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 26, 2018

Thanks for the tip on this.

MGMike

· #13 · Sep 26, 2018 (Edited)

The two really indispensable books on the Savage are Ten Shots Quick by Daniel K. Stern and Savage Automatic Pistols by James R. Carr. Both are out of print now but can be found through used book stores.

For magazines, don't overlook this FAQ: https://www.waltherforums.com/forum/pp-tp-series/23482-potential-sources-old-obsolete-parts.html

M

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Redcat94

· #14 · Sep 27, 2018 (Edited)

Another excellent book is "Savage Pistols" by Bailey Brower. Right now it's still in print and is my main reference book on the subject. Gunshowbooks has it for $70. https://www.gunshowbooks.com/cgi-bin/webc.exe/st_prod.html?p_prodid=GS39825&sid=SH6POA5d

"Ten Shots Quick" would be my number two. I haven't found "Savage Automatic Pistols" by Carr to be as useful as the others but if you can pick it up for a reasonable price it might be worthwhile.

I think Bailey intentionally refrained from duplicating material from the earlier books so they will still be desirable.

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MGMike

· #15 · Sep 27, 2018

Redcat94 said:
Another excellent book is "Savage Pistols" by Bailey Brower. Right now it's still in print and is my main reference book on the subject. Gunshowbooks has it for $70. https://www.gunshowbooks.com/cgi-bin/webc.exe/st_prod.html?p_prodid=GS39825&sid=SH6POA5d

"Ten Shots Quick" would be my number two. I haven't found "Savage Automatic Pistols" by Carr to be as useful as the others but if you can pick it up for a reasonable price it might be worthwhile.

I think Bailey intentionally refrained from duplicating material from the earlier books so they will still be desirable.

I was not impressed by Brower's book or its scholarship.

M

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