I've gotten quite the education over on the Savage Collector's Webpage (on 24HourCampfire forum) about this gun. Because it isn't drilled and tapped for a scope, the denizens there didn't think it was a mid-50s gun. They asked me for the SN and then responded that from the records they evidently possess (or have access too) it was one of only 501 made in that rather-odd serial number range, and was made in October/November of 1953. The date code is evidently misstamped with an "E" that looks like an "F" (at first glance, I though it was an "I"). All of that means very little, of course, but is part of the fun of discovering the history these old guns. They all have a story, evidently.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Love that brass rotary magazine.