Thanks Mark!

To address the comment in your PM, I'm not certain of its vintage. The 4-digit serial number had me suspecting this is an early example, too. There are variations I've seen in the style of hammer, the way the rear sights were made, and different material for the grips. I think I may be able to figure out when it was made if I do a little research to dial in when these variations in configuration appeared.

Your pics and dimensions will be a great help in this repair, and I appreciate your taking the time to provide them. Tom has spare slides for sale, which would save me all this trouble and machining expense. I may just take the easy way out if he has one that matches whet I have,

Dave, interesting acquisitions. I am not that familiar with any of them. I like the Savage that has a bit of Buck Rogers styling. Sounds like a fun project for the winter.

David, personally I would buy a slide if it matched and the price was right. Still don't understand how your slide came to be the way it is. Not like that is an area that would fail, unless the early ones had a thinner integral bushing area. Or maybe someone chopped the slide back in an attempt to expose more barrel for attaching a suppressor??? Regardless if you found a replacement slide I would go that route. Good Luck, Mark

Repairing the slide is a noble undertaking, but if you can find a proper replacement slide I would jump on it like a duck on a junebug. The effort required to restore the existing damage would make Don Quixote look like a slacker.
Ron

Gents, I agree that replacing the slide with an intact one is the way to proceed, if not merely for economy, but to keep life simple. Tom Heller seems to have some, and I'm waiting to hear from him whether one matches the style of this one.

Once again, exactly why this was done by a previous owner is a mystery. The hypothesis that it was in preparation for threading the now-exposed end of the barrel is feasible, but who the heck knows? If that was the case, I'm glad the project didn't go any farther because the workmanship used in shortening the slide is certainly terrible. If they couldn't even make a square cut on the end of the slide, I shudder to think how threading the barrel would have turned out!

Just out of curiosity I looked at Numrich and noted that they have the slide...If Tom doesn't have one... ;)

I also have a Savage model 1910, serial # 1234 :D

Update for 1907 Savage
 

Ladies and Germs,

Tom sent me a very nice slide, but it did not fit. The hole in its front end through which the muzzle passes was slightly larger diameter than mine. It also is from an earlier example, one with finer cut gripping serrations at the rear. The larger hole in the nose didn't center the barrel properly, and beyond that, it was also large enough so that leading coil of the recoil spring gets sucked in aside the barrel and binds the interface. So, we went back to the drawing board...

This pic came in this morning from my machinist so I'll post it here in order to show progress made on repairing this pistol's butchered slide. He has the new end TIG welded on, and will address the front sight next. We're going to go with a fiber optic unit mounted in this dovetail, so getting that designed and constructed will be the next step. Obviously, we've departed from a "restoration" but I think my eyesight will be happier with something that can actually be seen! Improvement of the diddly little rear sight may also be in the offing.

Phoenix rises from the ashes!
Ron