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Savage Arms Corporation, Utica, New York, USA. Savage Arms was founded in 1894 by Arthur W Savage in Utica, New York. Within 20 years they were producing rifles, handguns, and ammunition. Savage merged with the Driggs-Seabury Ordnance Company during World War I and produced Lewis machine guns. In 1920 Savage bought Stevens Arms. The Savage Model 1907 a 10-round semi-automatic pistol produced by the Savage Arms Company of Utica, New York, from 1907 until about 1920 in .32 ACP and .380 ACP caliber. It is often erroneously called a Model 1905 because of the 1905 patent date stamped into the top of the slide. Advertised with the slogan "Ten shots quick!" it was very popular because, despite its small size, it had a 10 round magazine. A safety lever is located on the left side of the pistol, at the upper rear of the grip. Some, but not all, model 1907s had a collared barrel and a "loaded chamber indicator", allowing the shooter to tell by touching the shell ejection port whether a cartridge was chambered. The model 1907 uses no screws (even the grips snap into place) and is simple to strip. The mechanism of this pistol is based on the designs of William Condit and Major Elbert H Searle, and in 1905 they patented their pistol. By the end of 1905 the designs have been sold to the Savage Arms Company. The pistol is a semi-automatic with a ten shot detachable box magazine, utilized what he referred to as a hesitation or delayed blowback system to lock the breech. The Searle design consisted of a separate breechblock containing a spring-loaded striker with a prominent cocking lever (not a hammer). The cocking lever was inserted into the rear of the pistols slide, held in place with a tongue and groove system. The barrel has two lugs at the chamber, the top lug mates with a groove in the slide and the other at the bottom fits into a slot in the frame. At the instant of firing the breechblock and slide are locked together, but as the slide starts rearwards the helical groove in the slide rotates the barrel to the right. This rotation unhooks the barrel from the frame and the breechblock can recoil fully. The groves in the barrel rotate to the right to slow the disengaging of the breechblock. This part of the mechanism functions similar to the Steyr Hahn of 1912. The manual safety lever locks the sear Although it was designed for civilian use, the French government purchased over 20,000 .32 ACP model 1907s between late 1914 and 1917 for the French military in World War I. A much smaller number was purchased by the Portuguese military. These military "contract" pistols are recognized by the presence of a loaded chamber indicator and a lanyard ring, or mounting holes in the grip for a lanyard ring; lanyard rings were not available on civilian pistols. The Savage model 1907 has many parts in common with the "hammerless" (shrouded hammer) model 1915, which proved unpopular and was discontinued shortly after being introduced, and the model 1917. Starting in 1919, model 1907 pistols were manufactured with model 1917 slides. (ref. ‘Pistols and revolvers’ - Maj F Myatt p172, ‘Price guide for collector handguns’ by R H Balderson, ‘Pistols of the world’ by Hogg and Weeks p206)

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