EddieCoyle
Member
I figured I'd take advantage of the balmy weather here today so I headed to the range. I stopped off at my local shop to buy a brick of .22's and a box of .30 Carbine when this caught my eye:
A few minutes, and a $160 later, this Savage Model 1907 (s/n 1797xx) was mine. I added a couple of boxes of Sellier & Bellot 73gr FMJ .32 Auto to the shopping list and hit the range.
Normally whenever I buy a gun, I'll take it apart and clean it thoroughly before firing it but I didn't even know how to field strip this little beauty yet; and what the heck, I was at the range so I might as well try it out.
Firing from the standing position with a two-handed grip from 15 feet, my first 10 shot group was over 12". Why 10 shots? Because that's what the magazine holds. Did I mention that this is a WWI-era double stack?
Anyway, I fired four more 10-shot strings and each time the results were similar. I was disappointed to say the least.
When I got home, I went on the internet and found this site and learned how to take it apart. The gun was filthy. It took me over an hour to clean it. The worst part was that when I looked into the barrel, I SAW NO RIFLING!
At first I thought that the barrel might be shot out, but the rest of the gun was tight and in very good condition by any measure let alone for a 90 year old gun. Upon closer examination, I saw a faint outline of the rifling but it was filled with lead. I let the barrel soak in Kroil for a while and then scrubbed it out with a bore brush wrapped in copper steel wool. Lo and behold, the bore is bright and unpitted with nice sharp rifling.
I finished cleaning it, lubed it up with some ATF, put it back together, stopped for two more boxes of ammo, and took it back to the range.
The results were startling: 10 shot groups of 3" from 7 yards. It shoots a lot better when it's not a smoothbore.
This is an unusual little pistol. Recoil is very light (about like a .22). Target reacquisition was tough because of the tiny, thin sights. The rear sight has a notch that is only about 1/16" wide. It is cut right into a "bump" on the slide and is not visible when the cocking lever is down. Notice that I called it a cocking lever and not a hammer. Although it looks like a hammer, it is a cocking lever. This gun is striker fired (see below).
The magazine catch is a bit awkward. It's located on the bottom of the front strap. Until I cleaned the gun, the magazine catch was very hard to operate and the magazine had to be pried out with your thumbnail. After cleaning, you can press the release with your pinky and the mag will drop right out.
The slide doesn't automatically lock back. In order to lock the slide, you have to pull it all the way back and engage the safety:
The safety will not engage unless the slide is fully forward, or fully back.
It really is a fun gun to shoot. With my very limited experience (200 rounds) it has proven to be 100% reliable. I tried to limp wrist it and fire as quickly as possible to see if I could get it to fail to feed or fail to eject but I couldn't. YMMV, but I found this to be quite accurate when simply pointing it one-handed and firing quickly.
They also made these in .380, a pistol that I think I'll have to put on my list.
A few minutes, and a $160 later, this Savage Model 1907 (s/n 1797xx) was mine. I added a couple of boxes of Sellier & Bellot 73gr FMJ .32 Auto to the shopping list and hit the range.
Normally whenever I buy a gun, I'll take it apart and clean it thoroughly before firing it but I didn't even know how to field strip this little beauty yet; and what the heck, I was at the range so I might as well try it out.
Firing from the standing position with a two-handed grip from 15 feet, my first 10 shot group was over 12". Why 10 shots? Because that's what the magazine holds. Did I mention that this is a WWI-era double stack?
Anyway, I fired four more 10-shot strings and each time the results were similar. I was disappointed to say the least.
When I got home, I went on the internet and found this site and learned how to take it apart. The gun was filthy. It took me over an hour to clean it. The worst part was that when I looked into the barrel, I SAW NO RIFLING!
At first I thought that the barrel might be shot out, but the rest of the gun was tight and in very good condition by any measure let alone for a 90 year old gun. Upon closer examination, I saw a faint outline of the rifling but it was filled with lead. I let the barrel soak in Kroil for a while and then scrubbed it out with a bore brush wrapped in copper steel wool. Lo and behold, the bore is bright and unpitted with nice sharp rifling.
I finished cleaning it, lubed it up with some ATF, put it back together, stopped for two more boxes of ammo, and took it back to the range.
The results were startling: 10 shot groups of 3" from 7 yards. It shoots a lot better when it's not a smoothbore.
This is an unusual little pistol. Recoil is very light (about like a .22). Target reacquisition was tough because of the tiny, thin sights. The rear sight has a notch that is only about 1/16" wide. It is cut right into a "bump" on the slide and is not visible when the cocking lever is down. Notice that I called it a cocking lever and not a hammer. Although it looks like a hammer, it is a cocking lever. This gun is striker fired (see below).
The magazine catch is a bit awkward. It's located on the bottom of the front strap. Until I cleaned the gun, the magazine catch was very hard to operate and the magazine had to be pried out with your thumbnail. After cleaning, you can press the release with your pinky and the mag will drop right out.
The slide doesn't automatically lock back. In order to lock the slide, you have to pull it all the way back and engage the safety:
The safety will not engage unless the slide is fully forward, or fully back.
It really is a fun gun to shoot. With my very limited experience (200 rounds) it has proven to be 100% reliable. I tried to limp wrist it and fire as quickly as possible to see if I could get it to fail to feed or fail to eject but I couldn't. YMMV, but I found this to be quite accurate when simply pointing it one-handed and firing quickly.
They also made these in .380, a pistol that I think I'll have to put on my list.
