Savage 219 and 220 Single Shot Rifles & Shotguns
Savage Single Shot Firearms => Savage 220 Single Shot Hammerless Shotguns => Topic started by: Garnett on February 04, 2019, 07:46:21 PM
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I bid and lost on a really nice Second Model Utica yesterday. :( This was only the 3rd one I have seen for sale. Did any of the readers on this forum purchase it? Some people think these were used to guard prisoners. Maybe so, but it seems more likely they were issued to G.I.'s for hunting or shooting clay pigeons. Either way, they are very hard to find.
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The US Army depot in Syracuse NY bought up almost all the available civilian field grade shotguns in 12 and 16 guage in early 1942 directly from manufacturers who had finished guns in stock.
I've seen US Ordnance acceptance marks (the "flaming mortar bomb") on Winchesters (even Model 37s), Savages and Stevens' including 220s and 94s, and LC Smith doubles, Ithaca doubles and pumps, Remington pumps and autos, H&R and Iver Johnson singles, and maybe some I've forgotten like Marlin Model 90 doubles.
The original intention of these purchases is unclear; they MAY have been intended for emergency issue to State Guard units or volunteer security guards in the event of large civil unrest or Japanese or German invasion. The ones that I know were actually used by the US military were pump and semi-autos used to train aircraft and ground anti-aircraft gunners in how to hit flying targets OR issued to troops in barracks or R&R centers for skeet or trap shooting or bird hunting on military reservations. The latter use is probably what the military used the singles and doubles for.
Not sure how they made it into civilian hands, since I don't recall them being sold by DCM or civilian surplus outlets. Some may have been liberated by GIs from their workplaces or sold directly to vets by the military. Anybody here know?
In the last few years there have been some fakes of these guns. Apparently the "flaming bomb" stamps got surplussed or stolen too! Don't pay a great big premium for one unless it has a provenance (paper trail) that leads all the way back to Uncle Sugar!
My grandfather was the Adjutant General of the California State Guard during WWII--he'd already fought in four wars, two big and two little starting in 1898, and the Army wouldn't re-activate his commission for a combat command so he joined this official gathering of volunteers: aged veterans, 4-Fs, and ranchers (who were considered "essential workers" not subject to the draft). Most states had such an Guard (some like NYS and CA still do, I think). They ended up using surplus US M-1917 "Enfield" infantry rifles for the infantry units; most of the ranchers just kept their .30-30s for mounted patrols. He never mentioned shotguns to me in his discussion of the CA State Guard. He would have known because he was in charge of the Guard's logistics, such as they were.
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Mike, Thanks for this input. We just did not know to ask the right questions at the right time.