[BangBang]

My wife had an unexpected day off today so we got up bright and early to go have some breakfast. On the way to the cafe we spotted a yard sale sign at the end of a little dirt road. Well my wife loves yard sales And since it was early and they might not have sold all the good stuff we decided to stop. There were 2 ladies running it and they were still setting it up when we got there. My wife goes rooting around for treasure but I didn't see anything I was interested in.

The lady told me she had some fishing reels that she could bring out to show me if I was interested. I told her no thanks but asked if she had any guns and she said yes she did. She took me into the garage and she had 5 guns. There were two single shot bolt action .22 rifles, an ancient SKS with a cracked stock, an old hand painted AR-7, and a nice old handgun.

I wasn't interested in the rifles but I wanted the pistol. It was a Savage model 1917 semi auto in .32 acp. She wanted $250 for it. Most of the finish was worn but the gun felt good and was tight. I decided to take a chance on it and paid the lady. Well, actually, between my wife and I we only had $187 cash. We gave her the money and told her I would bring her the balance from the ATM. When I got back she gave me an old paper bag with the gun, a few assorted rounds of ammunition, an honest to goodness Old Milwaukee church key, an old rusty pocket knife, and some horse shoe nails.

I gave the lady a copy of my CR license and my wife wrote down the lady's name and address and we headed to the cafe for breakfast.

This is a busy week for me but I'll shoot it as soon as I can.

Don

.
..
.

.

 

[garyh]

Interesting looking old gun. I would be interested in how it shoots also.

 

[DeltaBravoKS]

Nice gun. That will be fun to see when it is cleaned up and shooting. I don't do yard sales, but I found it interesting that she asked $250 and you paid $250. I thought half the fun of yard sales was the haggle. Is CarMax running all the yard sales now?

A word of caution...the title of your post, along with the first two words of your post are a little alarming and there's probably someone in the house you don't want seeing it.
"100 years old still shoots great" "my wife". Hey, it may sound crazy, but when I read it, that's the first thing that stuck out in my mind. Your secret is safe with me!

 

[NativeTexan]

Interesting old pistol and anyone would be proud to add it to their collection. I'm thinking you might have gotten a great deal on it, but I'm not well versed in old gun values.

And, I hope folks can say that about me in 34 years..... 100 years old and still shoots great!

 

[BangBang]

Nice gun. That will be fun to see when it is cleaned up and shooting. I don't do yard sales, but I found it interesting that she asked $250 and you paid $250. I thought half the fun of yard sales was the haggle. Is CarMax running all the yard sales now?

A word of caution...the title of your post, along with the first two words of your post are a little alarming and there's probably someone in the house you don't want seeing it.
"100 years old still shoots great" "my wife". Hey, it may sound crazy, but when I read it, that's the first thing that stuck out in my mind. Your secret is safe with me!

I did not haggle with the lady Because I knew the value of the gun. The savage 1917 is bringing between $400 and $600 on the auction sites. It was a fair price, I was happy with it, and I paid it. At that price I already knew I was getting a good deal!

Don

 

[BangBang]

It is an interesting gun. The only screws in the whole gun are the 2 screws that hold the grips on. The 1917 was 1 of 3 models that were made at that time by savage. They made a model 1907, model 1915, and the model 1917. Many people mistakingly Call this gun the model 1905 because the date 19 0 5 is printed on the top of the barrel. That is not the model number, that is the year that the original designer got his patent approved and he started looking for a manufacturer. The gun appeared 1st on the market in 19 0 7. Also interesting is that the gun is a double stack holding 10 round.

The pistol is not only double stacked But it is striker fired. What looks like a hammer in the picture is actually a cocking lever similar to the construction of the rhino revolvers manufactured today.

Don

 

[silverstring]

Ya gonna love it - if the magazine still works ok. I have worked on a few of them, and they shoot like a dream. If you can, break it down and do some judicious cleaning and lube before you shoot it.

 

[bobbojama]

You got a heck of a deal.......CONGRATS!!

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/savage-1917-32-acp-pr25098/

 

[Kevin Keith]

Now that's a garage sale find for sure! Let us know how it shoots. Congrats on a great buy!

 

[Czechbikr]

Congrats on the new, old gun!

 

[sig_230]

Love the Savages. Mine is a model 1907 that was made in 1913 and yes, still going strong. I have changed the recoil spring and striker spring. One big difference between my 1907 and the 1917 is I don't even have 2 screws.

​

 

[ifithitu]

Old is great,congratulations.

 

[kschilk]

It boggles the mind, to see evidence of the high technological and manufacturing skills mankind once possessed.

 

[GhostHorse]

Very cool! Congratuilations! Have you read The Tenderfoot's Turn? Savage paid Bat Masterson to write a book explaining the pistol's virtues. A very interesting read; you can find it on line easily.