just a little additional info reguarding markings to add to the great info provided above ,
the very early savages [1941-2] were marked as mkI , these would have a small button at the right/rear of the bolt , it is depressed to allow bolt removal , these are the rare ones of the savage as there werent many made before the transition [1942] to mkI* which eliminated this button , bolt removal was changed to a slot in the bolt guide which allows it to be rotated for removal ,
2 groove bbls are most common but 5 & 6 groove bbls are also found ,
savage serial numbers started with the prefix 0C + 4digits in 1941 and only a few thousand were made , in 1942 the prefix went from 0C to 40C , in 1943 40C to 81C undated and to 90C , and in 1944 90C to 99C then 0C + 5 digits to 0C59674 with production ceaseing mid year
the change from mkI to mkI* occured about sn 13Cxxxx
the 'US PROPERTY' marking was first applied at about sn 4Cxxxx
savage made about 1,236,000 rifles , all went to commonwealth use - none were issued to US troops ,
the top handguards of early rifles were fluted but that was deleted early on as a war expediant , as was the flip peep rear sight as opposed to the earlier ladder style , most of the buttplates were ZAMAK/MAZAK as opposed to brass ,
savage did make and mark with the square "S" the mkII spike bayonet , but they were not necessarily associated with the rifles , victory plastics in the US made a spike scabord [actualy two versions] with an integral web frog ,
good luck on your purchase - i no longer have any of the savage rifles i owned over the years , i do still have my savage spike and victory plastics scabord ,
