My $60 handgun

[David LaPell]

A friend of mine showed me a neat little handgun last year that peaked my interest, a little single shot .22 pistol from Savage called the 101. It looks just like a revolver but its a single shot with a breech that swings open to the right. I also got it because my mother is getting a pistol permit and this is just about right to learn on. I picked it up in an online auction for all of $60. It feels about the same as a Ruger Bearcat does and the trigger and action is exceptionally smooth thanks to the coil mainspring. I'll have to do something about the screw for the ejector rod housing since it isn't correct and it would catch on a holster. Once I got used to where to hold the little gun it proved to be fairly accurate with some ten year old Remington .22 ammo. Might be fun to take in the woods to whack a squirrel with, it certainly appears capable.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/picture2838.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/picture2837.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/picture2836.jpg

[timspawn]

Never knew Savage made such a thing.

[Multigunner]

Never knew Savage made such a thing.

They also made or at least marketed a .22 single shot styled like a lever action carbine. It had a tilting block like a peabody/martini action. The rifle was also sold under the Itahca brand.

[km101]

First one I've seen. Kinda cute, and it would be great for a kid or someone with small hands to learn on.

[timspawn]

They also made or at least marketed a .22 single shot styled like a lever action carbine. It had a tilting block like a peabody/martini action. The rifle was also sold under the Itahca brand.

I have seen the Ithaca in 22 and 22 mag but didnt know Savage had one.

[farmallcrew]

Nice looking gun.

[ReloaderFred]

That's the second of those I've seen. The first one was in the belt of a guy who threatened to shoot me with it when I was a young Deputy Sheriff many years ago. It was destroyed after the trial and conviction...........

Fred

[Matthew 25]

I think that looks like a GREAT trainer. Good job.

[rintinglen]

That picture brings back some good memories. That was the second handgun I ever fired. My uncle bought one in the late 50's or very early 60's and let us boys fire a few shots through it. It seemed more accurate than Grandma's Iver Johnson, though I never shot them enough to really say one way or the other. I never saw that gun again and wonder if one of his son's has it now.

[lar45]

Looks like an excellent find.
One of the things I like about Auction Arms is you can search between a price range to see what little treasures you can find if you only have $100 mad money for a new toy.

[429421Cowboy]

They also made or at least marketed a .22 single shot styled like a lever action carbine. It had a tilting block like a peabody/martini action. The rifle was also sold under the Itahca brand.

I have seen and shot one, they really do look like a well made repeater untill you realise the action is totally different!

I had never seen or heard of Savage having a pistol like that, very neat!

[jlchucker]

One of my brothers had one of those in the late 1960's. Until I saw this thread I had forgotten about it. As I recall, Bob's gun had a barrel that was longer than shown in the picture. He eventually either sold it or traded it off years ago.

[Shuz]

I had one of those Savage 101's in the early 60's when I was stationed at Loring AFB in Limestone, Maine. I don't remember what I paid for it, but it was used. I had a little fun with it and traded it off and swore that I would never again buy a .22 pistol without adjustable sites!

[3006guns]

The Savage 101 only came in one barrel length, as shown. There was also a .22 single shot (manufactured by Sheridan I think) with a tilt up breech, styled after a semi auto. Both guns were in the $20 range back in the very early 60's. I owned the Savage 101 back then and had a lot of fun with it until the urge for a "real" revolver took over!

The Ithaca rifle was styled after a Winchester lever action. You dropped the lever which lowered the breech block, inserted a .22 long rifle, then lifted the lever to close. No funky safety.....just cock and pull the trigger. A second "commemorative" run was made back in the eighties and I bought one for my son's birthday. Unfortunately, the newer version was an absolute piece of junk compared to the original. Breech block was hard to close, trigger pull was awful and the extractor only worked when it felt like it. He was pretty upset........enough that I drove him into town and bought a brand new Marlin 60.

[_Hawkeye_]

Any chance of a pic with the action open?

[David LaPell]

Here it is, this is as far as the action opens, just a bit to the right to allow the breech to move, which is connected to the barrel, The whole thing slides open.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/picture2840.jpg

[Idaho Mule]

Neat little pistol, my cousin has one of those and he says it shoots pretty good.

[NoZombies]

I've never had one of the Savage 101's but I wouldn't mind one!

The little ithaca single shots are a hoot. I've been giving them out to kids for several years now. I think both of my nephews, and several of the sons of good friends have them. Every one I've owned has been a good shooter, one of them had a problem with ejection, but the ejector still worked like an extractor, so it just made it a little slower to fire a second shot. (being a single shot, this wasn't much of a problem!)