mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-I regularly bookmark interesting auction lots that might yield a bargain. Plus I try to keep up with the market by watching hammer prices. Recently a rare Savage 1915 in .32ACP pop'd up and online bidding was tepid. I had a 1915 in .380ACP, with a poorer finish. So I kept an eye on this one and when it came up in the live auction it stalled at $300. So I took a chance, praying that the magazine was the original with a hold open feature as they are duces hard to find in the wild (took me over a year to get one for the .380ACP). The lot hammered for under $400 and even came with a period leather holster.
-The 1915 was not a roaring success for Savage. It featured the aforementioned slide hold-open feature, a grip safety and a shrouded hammer that required racking the slide to cock the pistol. Between WWI and the higher cost of making the 1915 vs the older 1907 design, sales of the 1915 never took off with just 6,500 and 3,900 of .32 and .380 examples built before production ended in 1916 (.380 production lasted a year longer, until 1917). Savage continued production of 1907 variations until 1920 and the new 1917 design which finished in 1928. So the 1915 had the shortest production run of the Savage pocket pistol lines.
-The 1915 was not a roaring success for Savage. It featured the aforementioned slide hold-open feature, a grip safety and a shrouded hammer that required racking the slide to cock the pistol. Between WWI and the higher cost of making the 1915 vs the older 1907 design, sales of the 1915 never took off with just 6,500 and 3,900 of .32 and .380 examples built before production ended in 1916 (.380 production lasted a year longer, until 1917). Savage continued production of 1907 variations until 1920 and the new 1917 design which finished in 1928. So the 1915 had the shortest production run of the Savage pocket pistol lines.