A very scarce example of a Savage Model 1907 pistol that was manufactured for the U.S. military semi-automatic pistol test trials of 1907. Based on the poor performance of the Army's .38 caliber revolvers during the Philippine Insurrection, in January 1906 the U.S. Army Ordnance Chief, Brig. Gen. Crozier, issued a letter of invitation to the firearm manufacturing industry to develop and submit new semi-automatic pistols chambered for the then new .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) cartridge. Eighteen companies initially responded, with only eight actually submitting a test sample pistol. Of the competitors, only the offerings of Savage Arms Corp., Colt, and DWM were found to merit additional trials, though DWM would voluntarily withdraw its Luger design due to concerns that the U.S. wouldn't pick a European offering regardless of virtue. At the conclusion of the tests and after several revisions, the Colt offering proved a more reliable option over the Savage and was subsequently adopted as the U.S. Model of 1911. The number of Savage Model 1907 pistols produced, according to "U.S. Military Automatic Pistols 1894-1920" by Scott Meadows, is 288, many of which were destroyed or misplaced during the course of testing. Aside from a small handful earmarked for retention by museums, all the Savage pistols in government stores were released for commercial sale. Between the number destroyed from the stress of government testing, the number "lost" in transit, and additional wear and tear from civilian buyers, good surviving examples are rare in any condition. Featuring fixed oval blade front and rounded notch rear sights, heavy serrations at the rear of the slide, ribbed hammer, smooth trigger, early thin/narrow grip safety, swinging lanyard loop, and the improved Model 1909 markings of "FIRE" and "SAFE" at the rear of the frame. The top of the slide is marked with the two-line Savage address and patent dates, as well as "CAL .45" ahead of the ejector port, which in conjunction with the safety markings were requested by the U.S. Army partway through testing and were added to the pistols already made, as well as applied to those made after. Fitted with a pair of checkered walnut grips and a nickel plated magazine with blued base. Serial numbered "191" on the right interior side of the grip frame, along with matching "191" serials marked on the underside of the slide, slide stop, magazine catch, both grip panels, and renumbered to match magazine body. This specific pistol is listed on p. 261 of "U.S. Military Automatic Pistols: 1894-1920" by Meadows, as one that was known to be in private collections. Includes a well made reproduction "U.S." embossed and "ROCK/ISLAND/ARSENAL/1911/H.E.K." marked brown leather flap holster with leather tie-down, and a brass hooked rope lanyard.

Exceptionally fine as professionally restored, retaining 95% blue finish and case colors with minor holster pattern edge wear, some faint pitting and milky coloration visible under the finish, and limited minor handling marks. The grips are very good as lightly sanded with a repaired crack on the interior of the right panel and defined checkering. Mechanically excellent. The reproduction holster is very fine. Overall an attractive representation of a U.S. test trials Savage Arms Model 1907 pistol!