Savage Arms - History

History

Savage Arms was founded in 1894 by Arthur Savage in Utica, New York. Within 20 years they were producing rifles, handguns, and ammunition. Savage introduced the first hammerless lever-action rifle, the Model 1895, derived from Arthur Savage's Model 1892 rifle that he had designed for Colt in a failed bid for a US Army rifle contract that instead was won by the Krag-Jørgensen design. The Model 1895 won a New York National Guard contract, but the contract was cancelled due to political controversy. The Model 1895 was developed into the even more successful Model 1899, later renamed Model 99, which remained in production until 1998. Savage was one of six companies to participate in the US Army trials for a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and was named one of the two finalists before losing out to Colt's design, which would become the M1911 pistol. Savage marketed a series of .32 and .380 caliber pocket pistols, the Models 1907, 1915, and 1917 based on the same patents as their .45 caliber prototype. Savage merged with the Driggs-Seabury Ordnance Company during World War I and produced Lewis machine guns. Savage also produced Model 1899 muskets for the Montreal Home Guard during World War I. In 1920 Savage bought Stevens Arms. In 1939, Savage introduced the Model 24 combination gun (a configuration uncommon in the U.S.), which sold over a million copies. Savage was one of the few U.S. makers of affordable double barrel shotguns, including the Fox Model B and Model 311, and produced rifles and shotguns under house brand names for large store chains.

Read more about this topic:  Savage Arms

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
    —Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)

    “Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
    —Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

    “The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.”
    —Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)