I'm always on the lookout for classic firearms of almost any type, and this one caught my eye at the Phoenix gun show yesterday. It's the last of the normal-width 10-shot Savage pocket pistols with a unique feature. Instead of a cocking piece/hammer at the rear of the slide, this Model 1915 has that device fully shrouded, making it a "hammerless" model. It also incorporated a grip safety. Only 6,500 were made in .32 ACP, and it's a sought-after piece among those who collect Savage pistols. The ones made in .380 caliber are even more rare, with only 3,900 having been made. This one, as its model number specifies, was made in 1915. As an added bonus, it came with a Savage box; I just discovered it's a reproduction, but at least it looks good with the gun, which is in excellent condition. I'm impressed by the quality of this gun; it's fitted as carefully as a Swiss watch. Here are a couple of pics.

John

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That is a beautiful pistol. I've always wanted one, but have never seen one that was anything but pieces. Is it proper to
inquire as to the price for it?

Great looking Savage. They did as nice a job as any in the finishing on those.

There are repro boxes and paperwork around,,at least there was a few years ago. They were being sold on Ebay at one time, maybe still are.
I had a couple of the boxes and though I could say they look just like yours,,that's what they're supposed to look like I guess!.

I don't know the small details of the boxes and paperwork such as colors, lables, etc.

Bailey Brower could probably tell in an instant.
Send him some pics. He'd probably also like to see the pistol and may give you some info on it.
Savage Pistols: Home

That's a Model 1915 and was Savage's attempt to counter the Colt Hammerless automatics. They shrouded the hammer, added a hold open to the slide, and even a loaded indicator, and the grip safety, but no dice, couldn't catch Colt's lead. Was only produced for little over 1 year. The box, however, is not legit.

Nice pistol, and a very hard one to find. Ditto on the box being a repro, they are offered by the same seller that sells the reproduced owners manuals. It shouldn't be a single stack magazine though, it should be a 10 shot double stack mag. The magazine for the Model 1915 is also unique, it should have two mag catch holes on the front edge and be relieved for the hold-open catch at the top right edge of the lips.
Production of the .32 cal. 1915's started in May of 1915 and the majority were made that year. Only 123 more were made in 1916 before being dropped from the line. For anyone interested in Savage pistols, I highly recommend Mr. Bailey Brower's book. It is moderately priced and well illustrated, mostly in color too which is a big plus.

I have a couple that I shoot-these first generation auto loaders were made with old age steel-so they're chunky-I think they're pretty accurate-but my 1903 Colt is my favorite carry gun.

One of my late uncles carried one of those Savage .32's in his fatigues as an infantryman in WWII in Europe. His main piece was a BAR. After the war, he took it apart and polished most of the blue off of it, probably to refinish it. He then apparently lost most of it. I found only the frame, grips, slide and barrel (I think) when I cleaned out the house as executor.

Authur Savage was a good gun designer. He came up with some pretty good firearms.

I also found much of a Winchester 1897 shotgun, similary "prepped!"

The one disadvantage to these otherwise great little guns is the location of the serial number. It's on the front of the frame, and it's easy to mill it away to change serial numbers on stolen guns. I got to noticing this about 30 years ago when I collected a few of them and examined a great many more. If you've looked at a bunch, it's pretty easy to detect the shortened frame. What amazed me was the high percentage of shortened frames. I estimated it was around 10%, which seemed extraordinarily high. Does anybody have another explanation for the shortened frames?

Buck

I wouldn't advise dry firing it; you don't want to replace a broken firing pin. Don't ask me how I know this.