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DONATIONS WANTED .22LR ammo & rifles for Elbert County 4H Contact:

Bill Howard (719 481 3587)

Colorado Gun Collectors President John Kelley 12990 N 6Th St Parker, CO 80134 303 840 2372 Gun Show Chairman Les Palmer 3490 E. Orchard Road Littleton, CO 80121 720-482-0167 CGCAShow@MSN.com Secretary/Treasurer Newsletter Editor Bill Pittman 8075 S. Harrison Way Littleton, CO 80122 303-773-0238 SecTreas@CGCA.com

Monthly Meeting Schedule

Monthly Meetings are on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, except for the December meeting. In December we have Christmas Dinner on the first Saturday. Meetings start promptly at 7:00 P.M. They are held in the American Legion Hall at I-25 and Yale Ave., Exit #202 from I-25, East on Yale and take the 1st right.

New Members

Hartwell R Best - Strasburg, CO Conner W Campbell - Englewood, CO

George T Dengler - Littleton, CO Brian L House - Wheat Ridge, CO

Terrence D Murphy - castle Rock, CO

Buying Guns online? $30 transfer Fee for CGCA Members

Call Dave 303-733-4200

Buying Guns online? $30 transfer Fee for CGCA Members

Call Don 303-877-4831

GUN SHOWS 2016

Dates change and Shows are cancelled, so check before you travel Jan, 30-31, Denver, CO Merchandise Mart Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Feb, 13-14, Loveland, CO The Ranch Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Feb. 27-28, Denver, CO Merchandise Mart Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Mar 12-13, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Apr. 2-3, Pueblo, CO State Fairgrounds Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Apr. 2-3, Tulsa, OK Expo Square Wanenmacher Gun Show 918-492-0401 Apr. 9-10, Dallas, TX Market Hall Dallas Arms Collectors 972-369-6062 Apr. 23-24, Denver, CO Merchandise Mart Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Apr. 22-24, Waco, TX 900 East Loop 340 Texas Gun Collectors Association 325-347-0055 Apr. 30-May 1 Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Jul. 8-10, Cody, WY Riley Arena Winchester Arms Collectors Assc 605-430-0889 Jul. 9-10, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Jul. 29-31, Kansas City, MO K.C.I. Expo Center Missouri Valley Arms Collectors 559-825-7463 Oct. 14-16, Fort Worth, TX Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame Texas Gun Collectors Association 325-347-0055

Colorado Gun Collectors Association 51st Annual Gun Show Denver, CO May 2016

Setup: Thursday May 19, 3:00 PM to 8;00 PM Friday May 20, 10:00 AM to 7:00PM Show open to the Public May 21st 9:am to 5:00 pm & 22nd 9:00m to 3:00 pm

Show Chairman: Les Palmer, 720-482-0167

January 19, 2016 February 16, 2016 March 15, 2016 April 12, 2016 May 17, 2016

June 21,2016 July 19, 2016 August 16th 2016 September 20, 2016 October 18, 2016

November 15, 2016 December 3, 2016 January 17, 2017 February 21, 2017 March 15, 2016

CGCA Henry Rifles are still available send a $600 check To: CGCA Henry Rifle

8075 S. Harrison Way Centennial, CO 80122

COLORADO GUN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION Spokesman Volume 51

Number 1 January 2016

CGCA Annual Elections 2016

At the January 19th meeting, we will be elect-ing our 2016 President, Vice President, Secre-tary/Treasurer and two Directors.

Normally we only elect one Director each year, however Director Gary Bostwick resigned and his term is up as of January 2017. In addition Director Darin Carwin is running for Vice Pres-ident. Thus we need to fill the rest of both their terms.

The President, Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer serve one year terms. Directors serve three year staggered terms so only one is up for election each year. There are no term limits.

The Past President serves on the board until a new President is elected, then the retiring President becomes the new Past President.

A Nominating Committee selects the candi-dates, but nominations are open from the floor.

The Gun Show Chairman, Safety Marshal and Display Coordinator are appointed by the Board.

The candidates for the 2016 CGCA offices are: President: Jarvis Hurd Vice President: Darin Carwin Secretary/Treasurer: Bill Pittman Director (2017 term): Arron Davis Director (2019 term): Craig Blancett

Board member not up for election this year. Director: Dave Rupert (2018)

Appointed Board Members Gun Show Chairman: Les Palmer Safety Marshall: Joe Leiper Display Coordinator: Don Douglas

The story behind a very rare Savage 1895 Saddle Ring Carbine! By David Royal I mentioned in my article on the Savage lever action prototypes that once Arthur Savage perfected a rifle that he thought would be commercially successful he contacted the Marlin Firearms Company of New Haven, Connecticut, to manufacture it for him. This rifle is the Savage Model 1895. Marlin made approximately 5000 of these rifles in serial number range 3000 to a little over 8000. They were successful enough that Savage obtained financial backing and opened his own plant in Utica, N.Y. and started producing an updated rifle that was designated the Model 1899. The Savage Arms Company still had some leftover 1895’s in their inventory including three saddle ring carbines. These carbines had a 22 inch barrel, a barrel band near the front of the forearm and military style buttstock and buttplate that was only used on the carbines and muskets. The new 1899 had a redesigned bolt that eliminated the opening in the top of the 1895 bolt that exposed the firing pin which showed a “S” when the rifle was decocked or safe and a “C” when it was cocked. The new 1899 bolt had a rectangular piece that was raised slightly by a protrusion on the firing pin when the rifle was cocked. Savage said this new bolt decreased the possibility of moisture or debris getting into the firing pin channel. With the introduction of the 1899 Savage offered to replace the bolt on the 1895’s with the 1899-type bolt for five dollars. The three left over 1895 carbines were fitted with the new bolt which was engraved with the carbine’s serial number. The barrels were also shortened to 20 inches which was the length of the Model 1899 carbine barrels with a new rounded 1899-type crown and a new dovetail cut for the front sight. Earlier this year the owner of one of the two known 1895/1899 carbines, “BillR” of the Savage forum contacted me to review my book on the Savage lever actions for a Canadian publication. In our exchange of emails he mentioned that he had one of these carbines and was thinking of selling it. We negotiated a deal and he exported it to me. He also sent me a Savage historian letter showing that Marlin produced the rifle in December 1896 but that it wasn’t shipped until June 1899 to the Rice-Lewis Co. No address was entered for Rice-Lewis. He also sent a narrative description of how he came to have the carbine. He first saw the carbine displayed at a Toronto gun show in 1996. The elderly gentleman who owned it said he got

JANUARY PROGRAM Jarvis Hurd Small Pistols

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it from his uncle and that it had been in the family “forever”. He wasn’t interested in selling the carbine but took Bill’s information if he should change his mind. About six months later he called Bill and said he would sell it. It turned out that he put it in a closet when he got home from the gun show. He forgot about it being in the closet and went to Florida for the Winter. When he returned home someone had broken into his house and stolen all his firearms and related items. Fortunately they hadn’t found the 1895 carbine. The police said it had to be someone who had been in his house and knew what he had. He was so disgusted he called Bill and sold him the carbine. As soon as I got the carbine I posted photos of it and the related documents on the 24 Hour Campfire Savage Forum. One of the forum members posted a picture from the Rice-Lewis & Son Hardware Company of Toronto showing an ad for Savage 1895’s in their 1898 catalog. Bill then posted that he purchased the carbine from the elderly owner no more than 35 miles from the location of the Rice-Lewis & Son Hardware Co. This is somewhat circumstantial evidence but it is a heck of a coincidence if Rice-Lewis & Son Hardware didn’t sell the carbine initially and it then stayed in the Toronto area until I bought it in June 2015.

Rick Edmonds also posted that these modified firearms which used up discontinued stock were usually exported. Forum member Kiwi who lives in New Zealand posted that he has one of the other two. At this time we don’t know where the third carbine is located but it probably isn’t in the United States. If it still exists it may be in Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, or who knows where. I didn’t get this carbine in time for it to be included in my new book on the Savage lever action rifles, “A Collectors Guide to the Savage Model 99 Rifle and its Predecessors the Models 1895 and 1899”. However the carbine will be on display May 21 and 22 2016 at the CGCA Gun Show. The book will be available March 28, 2016, and I will be selling the book and doing a book signing at the May show. If any of the members want a copy before the show date you can reach me at wyomingsavage1895@gmail.com. I am getting 500 copies initially and will be inscribing them number X out of 500 copies sold by the author, the buyers name and my signature. I will also have unopened and therefore unsigned copies available. The price of the book is $59.99 at the show and I will also ship them priority mail for $65.00. Schiffer Publications (schifferbooks.com) and amazon.com have them available for pre-order now but they won’t be inscribed.

Figure 1 Overall view of the Savage 1895 Carbine.

Figure 2 The barrel band, saddle ring, swivels and remnants of the carbines sling.

Figure 3 Close-up of the carbines front sight

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In Memoriam John Teeples Loveland, CO

Figure 7. The Savage historian letter on the model 1895 carbine.

Figure 4, the 1899 style crowned muzzle

Figure 5. The 1895 style carbine/musket Buttstock and buttplate

Figure 6. Close-up of the 1895 barrel address which contains the word “Repeating”. This word was dropped at the beginning of1899 production. The carbine rear sight was carried over to 1899 production.