Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 1951 99EG .300 Savage

Recently I bought my third Savage 99. I wanted one with the Schnabel fore-end, 24" barrel and in .300 Savage. This one met all three criteria. It had a pretty crappy looking polyurethane finish that I removed with a 50/50 mix of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol. I then applied three "coats" of a hand-rubbing paste made of 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 turpentine and 1/3 melted beeswax. The old rifle was missing a lot of bluing but it seems to be fine mechanically. Last Friday, I bought the first .300 Savage ammunition I've ever had and hope to try her out this week. Here are a few pics, before and after. Thanks for taking a look, and I welcome your comments.
Gary

stock before:





raw furniture:



with one application of hand-rubbing mixture:



completed rifle:





More pics here:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/Texg...20Savage%2099EG%20300%20Savage%20caliber

Obviously, the old girl has a lot of honest wear, and slight pitting on the receiver and rear of barrel. I've removed the two scopes bases and plan to try it with the open-sights before considering a scope. Overall, I'm pleased with this rifle, bought for $399.

got a good deal at that and a great gun ,now you need to bloody it
n

norm

Nice job! That 60 year old beauty will serve you - and several generations of heirs - very well in the whitetail fields. One of the most graceful rifles ever made, IMHO.
yooper

Dang, good looking finish on that one! Nice job.

Hint: remove the white spacer on the pistol grip cap if you can.

Hand rubbing and a little lipstick makes all those older classic glow. Nice looking rifle. GW

Never heard of anything like that for a finsh. Any idea how it will hold up to moisture? Looks beautiful, very low key and subtle.

That a good looking EG!! Will serve you well. 300 Savage will surely do in those Texas whitetails. It's nice to see one refinished with taste. Well done.

Steve

Thanks gents! I'm glad you like her. It was a quick and fun refinish. The mixture is as old as the hills I'd guess. I found it and instructions years ago on the old Culver Shooting pages. It can probably still be found with a search or two. The beeswax gives good moisture prevention Fireball2. I like the satin look and it's always easy to touch up or refresh. Damn, it just smells great too!

I had a chuckle at Calhoun's tip about the white spacer. The original spacer broke in half after I got it out. I wanted to try one in black, but couldn't get my hands on some black plastic, so I made a new one out of white. I still will try a black one, might look kinda cool.

My son picked up two boxes of CoreLokt 150 gr., I believe he said at Gander Mt. in College Station. Wow. Forty rounds at just north of $80. Not a plinker, huh?

I looked for the old article but maybe it's been taken down. I did find numerous references to it and quite a bit of it copied and pasted. Here's the basic method I've used on many stocks:

"If you want a finish that rivals the most meticulous hand rubbed finish applied by the professional soldier (or Marine) in the days prior to WWII, you might want to try the following:

This is a finish I got from an old-timer at Perry back in the mid-50s who appeared to be old enough to have used it on his issue Trapdoor Springfield in the Indian Fighting Days. I went home and tried it and am still using it to this day:

1. Go through the cleaning process described above, whisker the stock as outlined and apply the Dixie Antique Gun Stock Stain. Make sure all the dents are steamed out (or filled) and you are happy with the finish.
2. Apply Tung Oil liberally to the inside of your stock and let dry (this is basically a "waterproofing" treatment. Apply a light hand rubbed coat of Tung Oil to the outside of the stock and allow to dry (this acts to do a preliminary sealing of the grain/pores of the wood.. Use the 0000 Steel Wool (or the Scotch Brite pads) to remove any evidence of the Tung Oil from the outside of the stock. Allow the dried Tung Oil to remain on the inside surfaces.
3. The "magic finish formula" consists of equal parts of Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine (essentially a solvent) and Beeswax. (1/3rd Linseed, 1/3rd Turpentine, and 1/3rd Beeswax. Melt the mixture over a "flameless" heat source (hot plate, radiator or the manifold of your vehicle). Stir the concoction and allow to cool into a paste. Put the paste in a convenient container (I used to use a typewriter ribbon can when they still had such things). You might get a can of Brie Cheese in the Grocery Store, those round cans work well and will fit in your shooting stool most handily inside of a zip-lock bag.
4. Take your prepared stock and start to rub the Beeswax mixture into the outside of the stock with the palm of your hand. Allow the friction (and generated heat) of your hand to melt the paste into the grain of the wood. You can do this while watching the "tube" and not screw anything up. After you have rubbed in the first coat, rub it down with an old towel. Repeat the process until you are satisfied (you can always add more, and this is one of the beauties of the finish, as it can be used until you get tired of rubbing). The last coat is always burnished with an old (Terrycloth) towel. The final "piece-d-resistance" is a quick final rubdown with a silicone cloth. The finish gives the appearance of a hand rubbed stock with 20 years of effort applied. The Beeswax imparts a waterproof finish to the stock, and any minor scrapes, or scratches can easily be rubbed out of it with a small addition of the Magic Paste. The finish looks good, has a non shiny military appearance, it’s waterproof, doesn’t smoke or bubble the finish in rapid fire and appears to be an original well rubbed rifle stock from the days prior to WWII. It truly IS a hand rubbed finish!

This method works equally well with any military stock and is a really practical finish for your hunting or "head for the hills" stock.

NOTE: Beeswax can usually be found in shoe and saddle makers shops (they wax their sewing machine thread with it), leather stores (Tandy, The Leather Factory, etc.) or even from bee keepers... You ain’t gonna’ need a bunch. I’m still using a block I found 25 years ago. Beeswax can usually be found in shoe and saddle makers shops (they wax their sewing machine thread with it), leather stores (Tandy, The Leather Factory, etc.) or even from bee keepers... You ain’t gonna’ need a bunch. I’m still using a block I found 25 years ago."[size:14pt][/size]

My hint about the white spacer was because the EG's never had spacers. Just a pistol grip cap.

Appreciate the instructions. I know some of the resident woodworkers will groan at a few points in it, but the end result in your case looks really good. May have to try that sometime on a rat.

Thanks, I sure didn't know that. I bet the spacer was added by someone during an earlier "redo". Were there only two 99 models in '51? It seems I've heard that; the EG and ?

You're quite welcome. Yeah, I like the refinish method because it is easy, and gives nice results. I've shared the instructions with several friends, and they've all had good lookin' finishes with it. It would sure be worth your time on an old beater like this one.

99 Models in 1951= EG, R and RS. Tom

The white spacers seemed to be quite popular during the late 60's and 70's and in fact Savage did do white spacers for a short time on rifles then. But never prior to 1960. I've bought several rifles that had them added.