I found the serial number and the maker's mark, but either my savage is mis-marked or it doesn't really exist. My rifle states that it is a 12M model 99. The serial seems to date back to 1961 (1014xxx), but i just cant find the 'M' anywhere online. . Model Number/Name. Serial Number. Caliber/Gauge. Is this your first Savage? If not, how many do you own?. Do you wish to opt in to Savage marketing emails? Email Address. Purchase Date. = Required Company.

Stevens Favorite Rifles

and closely associated versions

This type of rifle action is known as a pivoting block type, or swinging block, since the breech block is pivoted on a pivot screw in the mid section of the receiver. Upon activating the lever, the breech block pivots, or swings down to expose the chamber.

These firearms evolved basically with many internal running changes happening over the time span that the guns were in production. This article is not meant to be the BIBLE, in that many times if something is printed, there may later be some gun show up to prove us wrong. So, you will see words like appears, may, could, possibly, assumed, etc. used frequently in this article.

There appear to be basically 4 main different versions of the Favorite, the 1889, 1894, 1915, & the 418 with other sub variations made at the productions start & then again at the end. These older Favorite series had a total of 4 different versions of extractors. Most guns were made in either 22RF, while 25RF or 32RF calibers were offered.

There is no real way to tell anything by a number or combination of numbers & a letter that appears to possibly be a serial number. It is suspected that the factory used a series of letters & numbers to some preset upper number like say 1,000 or 10,000 or even 100,000 & assigned a letter to that block of numbers, like A, F, or W. When that upper number was reached for that letter, they picked another letter & started over. Now this is not to say that these letters were in alphabetical order either. Some manufacturers would assign higher numbers at the start of a model to fool the competition into thinking they were making a lot of guns. What I am saying is that no one really knows how many of these guns were made or even a numbering sequence.

We won’t cover barrel configuration in detail here at this time, as we are more interested here in identifying the actions & the internal parts used in them. However they could have been had in round, round/part octagon, or octagon in different lengths. The early guns that had a part octagon barrel only had it on the top of the barrel, stopping at the front of the forearm, while the barrel under the forearm wood was round. The later guns bore different model designation, as say (17, 20, 27). The barrel & or sights were what determined the different models. This model designation was never stamped on the gun however & was only mentioned in the sales catalog.

Standard sights on the 1889 & 1894 were fixed with the rear being just a triangular metal section & not adjustable for elevation.

All versions utilized a wood screw on each of the top & bottom of each tang to secure the buttstock in place. These wood screws are 1.050″ in length with a body dia. of .214 and a head size smaller in relationship to the body of .270 dia.

Buttplates appear to have been made of black hard rubber.

1889 Sideplate version–

In Frank de Haas’s book, Single Shot Rifles & Actions in chapter 17, he covers a 1889 Sideplate version. Since there are so few of them out there, I had about given up hope of ever seeing one. However recently a customer sent an action in for us to examine. The following are my observations.

The sideplate is on the RH side of receiver, held on by 5 screws, 3 of which are the trigger, hammer & finger lever pivot screws. The lower part of the frame under the barrel extends forward enough in front of barrel shank abutment to accommodate the barrel takedown screw. The breechblock is longer than any of the subsequent models.

The mainspring appears to be the same as the 1889 & has the cast in lug on the bottom tang as a rear abutment for the spring.

The extractor is a 7 o’clock style different than any others. It has a recessed screw head that acts as a pivot point. The extractor hook is at a 35 degree angle. Apparently it is screwed into the inside LH side of the receiver & activated by the breechbolt’s link pin that is slightly extended

The sideplate style would make sense from the manufacturing standpoint, in that when getting a new model into production, it would have been easier to make it this way to get a prototype up & going faster.

1889 —

The mainspring for this version is a thin lazy “S” shaped spring that the rear just snaps in front of a abutment lug on the lower tang. Some abutments were cast into the inside of the lower tang, (presumably the earlier versions) while others used a thick headed screw. The mainspring goes in backwards from what you may imagine, in that the flat end goes forward. This flat is what is needed to clear the rear of the hammer when cocked. On the later type, many times the rear of the mainspring may have a slight convex radius where it abuts the abutment screw to keep it from sliding off sideways.

Stevens Favorite 1889 Hammer & Mainspring, drawn to size

The version which used the screw as a stud could be later versions, as it appears that the 1894’s utilized this same hole & spacing for attaching it’s mainspring. You can tell if the screw is just an abutment type screw if when the screw is tightened all the way in against the lower tang with no mainspring under it, the radiused threaded end will be just even with the bottom of the tang.

If you install the 1894 mainspring on this version, the hammer will not cock as the hammer is totally different. The screw in this instance was not designed to hold the mainspring by going in the mainspring hole & being tightened down. On this version, the 1894 mainspring could possibly be used if BOTH 1894 hammer & mainspring were used.

You can also help identify this type, if the buttstock is original, in that this thin mainspring is arched enough that it many times will touch the underside of the top tang. To accommodate this, the wood has to be relieved back about 1 1/2″ from where it abuts the rear of the receiver.

The barrel-takedown screw had a bow loop into the head of the screw. The trigger & spring appears to be the same on all models.

1889 & early 1984 with side style extractor — had a 2 dia. stepped barrel shank (.630 & .695) with 1.526″ overall shank length. These used the side style extractor, sometimes called the 7 o’clock style. The center of the breechblock under the barrel’s rear had a small screw with the head bearing against the bottom of the barrel. This could be adjusted against the bottom of the barrel to allow take up for worn linkage that allowed the lever to droop.

Forearms for both the 1889 & the early 1894’s had a slight schnabbel on the front. Forearm length varied with the version & the barrel configuration.

1894 —

The 1894’s were probably the most proliferate as to the many varied different type of parts improvements in relationship to barrels, extractors, breechblocks, forends & stocks. You could see many different internal configurations on this variation. This was also in an era that the factories would offer special options when ordering firearms. By the time the 1915 came out the options had dwindled.

Stevens Favorite 1894 Hammer & Mainspring, drawn to size

Savage Serial Number Identification

The early 1894’s had the same side style extractor as the 1889 guns. The top side rear of the receiver at the top flat at the rear of the barrel (at the hammer area) had a more square corner on the early guns. The next version in succession had a short threaded section on the barrel in front of the receiver & utilized a thin knurled ring that threaded onto the barrel at the juncture against the receiver front. This ring could be adjusted to position the barrel rearward enough to put more pressure against the breechblock, putting enough tension to keep the lever from drooping if the linkage became worn. Later guns used a spring loaded plunger inside the lever that put tension on the link. Then still later the whole adjus