Fox Collectors

Have Savage era A Grade with oil wood finish...Was oil or varnish offered as factory option?

It is extremely rare. The only way to tell for sure is order a letter or a factory work card.

I would suspect that more oil finished entry-level Fox stocks were done after market. We do every now and then find a production card requesting an oil finish.

A lot of gun cranks back in the day read Clyde Baker's book, from Small Arms Technical Publishing Co. 1928, Modern Gunsmithing, and followed his instructions for stripping the original Duco or varnish finish and applying his hand rubbed oil finish. That is what my Father did to most every gun or rifle that arrived in his house from 1939 to the early 1960s.

I looked through my collection of A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogs, and the only thing about stock finish I noted in them was in the 1923 to 29 catalogs these few lines were included.
In the Savage era Fox catalogs from 1931 to 1942 the stocks of SP-/SPE-, CE-, XE-, DE- and FE-Grades are said to be finished in hand rubbed oil. Also, the general description pages include the same sentences from the 1920s. No mention in any of the catalogs on the finish used on the stocks of A-/AE-Grades, the HE-Grade and various Fox-Sterlingworths.

so, it sounds like a factory oil finish on a savage made a grade is rare, but not impossible?

Asked and answered. The replies on this thread are pretty comprehensive for a "free lunch" type question. Next steps if you're serious is to sign up for $30. paid membership and request a record card copy. Alternately, paying $65. and waiting for a factory letter from Savage.

recently found a definitive answer to the question, via a work card image that indicated a gun was factory finished with an oil finish...

now on to the next question...was factory varnish finish sprayed? and if so, was it high gloss or something less glossy?...or was that a factory option as well?