The western-styled wooden forend and stock were in keeping with their famous big brother, the Model 94 Winchester.
The overall appearance of this rifle and Ithaca’s low sales price of $21.95 was sensational. When the BJT prototype was first demonstrated to Sheldon and Charles Smith, they were extremely impressed with its appearance, performance, and low cost. They immediately opened negotiations with us to purchase the rifle.
Since this was the very first of many firearms which were designed to and built for outside production, instead of asking for a royalty we negotiated for a lump sum cash payment to cover our expenses for the designing and fabricating the prototype plus a nominal profit. Ithaca accepted this approach and Bellmore Johnson and I agreed to split the profit equally. This was virtually the end of our connection with Ithaca and we observed the initial activity and the successful introduction of the Ithaca Model 49 BJT-designed rifle.
Ithaca successfully produced many thousands of guns before they were consumed by debt and bankruptcy from previous indebtedness. They were faced with a demand to remove hazardous materials from the site by the New York State Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Ithaca. This was the result of over a century of manufacturing. A federally-mandated cleanup program to dispose of land containing thousands of tons of lead-contaminated soil cost Ithaca $4.8 million dollars! Besides the cleanup, the factory itself was in a sad state of disrepair. It was obvious the grand old factory had to be sold or go out of business. Unfortunately, the low volume of the trap gun, the steady sales of the Model 37 and the large sales volume of the Model 49 all failed to revive the troubled company. They were forced into bankruptcy and the only saleable things left of interest for other investors were the timeless Model 37 pump shotgun and the new Ithaca Model 49 rifle.
The rifle was eventually sold to Savage and it was marketed as the Stevens Model 89. A total of 31,841 guns were shipped by Savage during the next few years. By then the direct labor costs to manufacture the rifle had increased, as had the price of zinc, the material for the major die-cast components. The rifle had lost its momentum and no longer offered the sales and profit advantage it originally enjoyed. This would be the sad ending of this fine little rifle, the Ithaca Model 49.
The Model 49 Ithaca .22 rifle ended with the sale to Savage. The price was right, and its workmanship and accuracy were very acceptable. I designed it to be a Honda, not a Cadillac. (Note: the M49’s design, which I did not patent, was later produced by Agawam Arms of Agawam, Massachusetts.)
(Note also that the solid design and performance of the Ithaca Model 37 were not about to be forgotten, however. After surviving several sales and bankruptcies, the remaining company was sold. The new owner, David Dlubak, is an avid sportsman, hunter and businessman. Dlubak purchased Ithaca Guns USA, LLC in June of 2007 and he created a new and up-to-the-minute facility in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, using the very latest and finest manufacturing technology. Receivers and other parts are now fabricated on CNC machines from solid billets of the finest steel. Dlubak insists that all operations of the new factory are to be of the very highest quality and all parts are to be fabricated entirely by U.S. manpower. This type of operation ensures top performance and quality equal to or better than the original Ithaca’s very high standards.)
THE SINGLE-SHOT SAVAGE MODEL 101 PISTOL
The concept for this unique handgun came as a result of the spine-tingling early struggles between heroic lawmen and despicable bad guys as shown on TV in the 1950s. This universal theme was that honesty and fair play always win. These scenarios made a deep impression on young Americans and entertained many oldsters as well. The numerous handgun conflicts which erupted always involved the rock-solid legendary Colt single action pistol. This was Hollywood’s standard equipment for the good guy’s and bad guy’s handgun, which, in truth, was close to being historically correct. The lasting romance of this famous old six-shooter is still with us today. It had excellent balance combined with a superb universal grip. It was well built and rugged and it always functioned.
Loading the single action Colt revolver to fire in a single shot mode is not a simple operation, however. A live cartridge has to be placed in an empty chamber and the cylinder manually rotated to the proper position to align with the barrel when ready to fire by cocking the hammer. This is not a simple, straightforward operation. It is not a maneuver for an inexperienced shooter. A simple, safer, and inexpensive concept for loading and extracting a single-shot had to be devised.
I therefore imagined a new “lookalike” single-shot version of the famous old Colt. If produced at an extremely low sales price, would have an immediate sales appeal as a boy’s first handgun. I have always considered that the safety and simplicity of a single-shot was mandatory for a novice’s first gun. Too many careless and unnecessary accidents have been caused by beginners with repeating firearms.
The solution to this problem was to load the pistol directly by passing the barrel through a false, non-rotating cylinder. This combined unit was rotated to the right side of the frame for easy and safe extracting or loading. When the unit is rotated back to the firing position, the hammer remained in the safe rebound position and had to be be manually cocked to fire. I made the layout and the finished detail drawings for this design and enlisted the excellent tool makers of the Bellmore Johnson Tool Co. to build the prototype for the proposed production gun.
The 1961 Gun Digest featured two Hillberg-designed pistols on the same page: the Whitney Wolverine and the Savage M101.
I had become very familiar with Savage through several previous design projects and also as a Savage expert witness in several court cases. I decided to present this proposal to their top management. When I demonstrated the pistol to Jack Knode, the VP and chief engineer of Savage, he was enthusiastic over the design prospectus and decided to make the tooling in-house. I had recommended subcontracting the die-cast frame to Alcoa, the contractors for my Whitney Wolverine pistol frame. They had a large engineering office and a huge manufacturing facility. Jack decided to save money and hire a moonlighter to design the tooling and produce the die castings in-house at their own facility. I was hired by Savage to work with this individual in the Savage engineering department until the tooling for the die-cast frame was complete. Fabricating the frame from an aluminum die casting saved Savage a considerable amount of direct labor in machining and polishing. The hammer and trigger were formed and hardened by the sintered metal process from a subcontractor, and this further eliminated large machining and finishing costs. The plastic-impregnated wood segments for the grips were subcontracted with the typical Savage molded Indian head logo embedded.
Savage was able to produce and market the newly-christened Model 101 pistol in 1960 at the very low price of $19.50! This single shot pistol was well-made, accurate, and economical. It made a lot of sense for a beginner’s first handgun, or for a safe, reliable, and inexpensive general-purpose .22 pistol for just about any shooter.
Of possible interest to collectors is the fact that I had Savage make up about a dozen 101 pistols which couldn’t be loaded and fired. They were marked “DUMMY” on the bottom strap of the grip. I gave four of them to my neighborhood kids to play with as cowboys and Indians. The rest were used by Savage as salesmen samples.
RESURRECTION OF THE .500 JEFFERY
BY TOM TABOR
John Taylor wrote glowingly about the .500 Jeffery in his books and should get a certain amount of credit for keeping the caliber alive over the decades. But, even without Taylor’s assistance it is not difficult to see the merits of this fine old warrior. Prior to the .460 Weatherby Magnum entering the scene in 1958, the .500 Jeffery was considered