Found an old Savage .22 LR - Restore project

scaredofowls

New member
I was cleaning out my garage's loft yesterday and I couldn't believe it when I came across an old Savage Bolt action .22. I have squirrels up there that have destroyed so much of my stuff and they chewed up a lot of the gun case, as well. The thing is caked with squirrel dropping and other nice tasties, but I want to restore this gun. I think it will be a nice little winter project. I can't even tell the model number because of the amount of "gunk" on the barrel. But, I will work on this. Anybody have any suggestions on bluing chemical I should look for or wood restoration for the stock? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
As long as the acid in their 'droppings' hasn't pitted the surface of the barrel, it can be stripped down and re-blued..

If you want to restore it to really nice condition, you might want to talk to a local gunsmith that does bluing as the chemicals and tanks can be expensive for a one time project...

Refinishing the wood is really fairly simple, depending on how extensive you want to take it...I've refinished a couple of wood stocks on old rifles using Oven Off oven cleaner to remove the old finish and refinishing the wood with Tung Oil...There are actual stock finishes that are available that produce excellent results as well..

Below are a couple of projects that I've done in the last two years..Both are old .22s that are out of the 1940s...

Walther - Before
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Stripped
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After
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Stevens/Springfield (the first really mine rifle)
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Stripped
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After
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Well, I haven't had much time to work on my Savage Model 5, but I was able to get some work done on it. OldTurtle...I tried your suggestion of using Oven Cleaner to strip the stock down. It worked like a charm...Thank You! I have most of the supplies I need already...like the wood finish, the oven cleaner, the REM oil, elbow grease and the steel wool. I made a trip to Wally World and bought the Perma Blue and this stuff called "The Must for Rust." I have to say...this stuff works well. It also strips the old bluing off of the barrel. The tube feeder was more than half covered in rust and this stuff stripped it right down. There was a little bit of pitting on the barrel and the tube, but it was very little and hopefully it isn't enough to cause any problems. I have included a few pictures and will be posting more soon...Thanks for the suggestions! OldTurtle-- nice job on those projects that you posted! I hope my project comes out half as nicely as yours did!

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The only thing not on the picture is the elbow grease...can't buy that at Wally World.

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As long as you neutralize the oven cleaner with dish detergent, thoroughly rinse and let the wood dry over night, you should be good to go with the refinishing....While I used Tung Oil, if you steel wool the stock between coats of the Min-Wax, you will be surprised at how much wood grain you will emphasize....Each coat will make for a much deeper look... Just be patient about letting it thoroughly dry before rubbing it down...

When you get close to the final coat, try to find a box of Rotten Stone at a paint or hardware store and ball it up in a piece of old T-Shirt and dampen the ball before starting to rub...
 
The 0000 steel wool will also work well for removal of light pitting on the barrel/action, if you're rebluing. If it takes more than that, it probably isn't worth trying to remove it. Shoot it with a little oil and use light pressure to buff it out. Be sure to remove all oil before attempting to blue.

On the cold bluing... Cold bluing processes of this nature don't actually blue the steel. They put down a coat of copper on the steel, and blue the copper. If you smell a gun that has been cold blued using this process, you can actually smell the copper in the finish when you're done.

While this is a cheap alternative, and it will give you decent results, it's not a real durable finish. It tends to rub and/or wear off fairly easily, and fades fairly quickly even with multiple coats applied, in my experience.

I used it on one gun... Was an antique Stevens 410 Single Shot that someone had tried refinishing (stock, action, and barrel) with 80 grit sandpaper. It worked well for me in that case as I wanted the natural rust finish back about it, and couldn't find any browning solution the weekend I tackled the project. It protected the steel well and gradually allowed the aged rust finish to rejuvenate over a few years, under the bluing, restoring the gun to a natural finish in much less time than would have been otherwise necessary.


Not saying don't use it... just saying if you want a durable long lasting blued finish, you aren't going to find that in a bottle.


If you have any dents in the stock, you can easily lift those with a damp cottonball and a hot butter knife. Heat the butter knife over the burner on the kitchen stove or a propane torch, lay the damp cottonball over the dent in the wood, and apply the hot knife firmly to it. This forces steam into the wood pores causing the grain to expand, and lifts the dents out of the wood without having to sand deeply to remove them. Results are not always great if the wood grain has been broken, but attempting to lift those where it has been broken will raise the grain to a certain extent, reducing the amount of sanding required to remove the scratch or dent.
 
I have used the Birchwood Casey (SP?) products on several guns. About 10 light coats of TruOil over about 2 weeks and use the Stock Sheen and Conditioner, which has rotten stone in it, and if you like a glossy finish vs. a satin finish, use some carnuba wax or the BC stock wax.

On the metal, I have used the Perma Blue with good results. I seem to get better results if I wash the metal with dish soap and dry it. Then between applications rinse with water really good. Buff it with steel wool and clean again before more bluing. Most steel wool has some sort of oil in it, and it leaves a residue that messes up the bluing if you don't get it off after buffing between "coats"

Lots of old .22s have beautiful wood hiding under years of crud and bad finish. I have a Rem. 41-P I restored that has awesome wood on it. I spent a lot of time on that stock.
Larry Potterfield at Midway USA has how-to videos on refinishing an old .22, I think they are on their website and YouTube.
 
I've used the Miles Gilbert stock refinishing kit. It has just about everything in it you need to refinish a stock. Miles Gilbert

I refinished this old savage 112 stock with it

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thanks, I was pretty pleased with it for being my first one I've done. It sure is time consuming though. My great uncle had been hinting around that he would like to have to old thing refinished so I figured I would give it a try, after all I do all my reloading at his place so I figured it was a pretty good deal. took 6 or 7 weeks from start to finish, but stupid me forgot to take a pic before I started stripping it. It is now chambered in 6.5x284 with a walther 28" stainless barrel.
 
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Wow! Atom- that looks fantastic! Great job! If mine comes out that good, I would probably put it on the wall. I would be too scared to take it in the woods with me. My project is coming along well, except for one problem spot on the stock... It's just not absorbing the Min-Wax. I will post a picture of it soon. A lot of great advice on here...Thanks guys!
 
Absorbing stain too well, I could help you cure. Unfortunately, not absorbing stain, or in this case Min-Wax, is usually a sign of very dense wood. Softer grain takes stain faster than hard grain.

Using Min-Wax may be a problem there.

In staining and varnishing, you have a couple options.

1.) Put lots of stain on, then wipe softer areas down with a cloth soaked in mineral spirits. The softer grain will also soak up the mineral spirits quicker, softening the stain and allowing you to wipe away.

2.) You can soak a rag and leave it over a dense area for an extended period to try and soften the gums and resins in the wood. Or, you can thin the stain applied to the dense spot, hoping that with a little thinner carrier for the pigments in the stain, that it will soak in a little quicker.

Since Min-Wax is your stain and varnish, the first option is obviously out of the question. The latter of these options MIGHT work for you with the Min-Wax, if you knew the problem existed before you applied the first coat.

No guarantees here at all. Frequently the wood is just that dense and the stain won't penetrate it. And, if you've already begun applying your Min-Wax, the wood is not only dense, but it's sealed now.
 
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