Savage Fox Model B 16 Guage Serial #

[Vinny]

Hello

I own a Savage Fox Model B 16 guage. The story is my grandmother bought it for my grandfather for $25. By the cost, I am thinking it is a 1940 or there abouts. On the barrel it reads Savage Arms Corporation, Utica NY. On the action where thee barrel seats is the numbers B25188. Would I be correct to assume this is the serial number, and is there any records to determine how old this gun actually is?

Vinny

[FoxintheHenHouse]

I think you are looking at the water table? Look for a small oval, about 1/4" across at the most, on the bottom of the gun on the receiver. Possibly one or two numbers followed by a letter inside the oval. The letter tells the year of manufacture from a chart from Savage Arms.

FoxintheHenHouse

[Researcher]

With a Utica, NY, address The gun is from 1939 to 1946. By 1947, Savage Arms Corp. had consolidated all their arms making activities at their J. Stevens Arms Co. facilities at Chicopee Falls, Mass., and the factory at Utica went to making washing machines and other household items for the post WW-II housing boom. The insert to the 1939 A.H. Fox catalog which introduced the Model B --

1939 catalog insert

1939 Flyer introducing Model B.jpg (28.21 KiB) Viewed 4671 times

The Model B in the 1940 A.H. Fox catalog --

1940 A.H. Fox catalog

The date code letter and number in the tiny oval on the bottom of the receiver began with A in 1949 and has no relevance to a Utica gun.

[Vinny]

Mr. Researcher

What would the B21588 signify on my gun? It is stamped on the barrel seat of the action.

Vinny

[Researcher]

The Fox Model B doubles made at Utica had serial numbers. I don't know of any surviving records for the Model Bs made at Utica. From 1947 at Chicopee Falls and from 1961 on to 1968 at Westfield the Model Bs didn't have serial numbers, then the Gun Control Act of 1968 required a serial number. Prior to the GCA of 1968 the serial number was mainly for the manufacturers use, not the governments.