Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99 R Restoration - 1953

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I thought that you might like to see a restored (some modifications) Savage 99 R in 300 Savage. It was made in 1953.

Its been rust blued, re-checkered and hand rubbed linseed oil finished. I did all the work myself.







[img]http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp287/cabemis/DSCF0115_zpsffb5282e.jpg[/img]
Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Ladies and Gentleman? I think you have the wrong forum.

Nice, looks ready for another 60 years of service.

Very nice!

Steve

Wow nice work Yalie.

Nice work. Any "before" pics?

Dear gnoahhh:

Sorry, no pre-restoration pictures, but it was in great shape when I bought it two years ago. It looked like someone had sent it back to Savage, and had it re-blued and re-greased.

The rifle had some minor exterior pitting, so I stripped it and rust blued it. I had a tough time getting the old bluing out.

Also, the stocks were a bit banged up, but nothing that a hot iron, wet paper towels and some 400 grit sand paper couldn't fix. Nevertheless, the grain is fairly open, so I had to fill in the butt stock screw holes with maple dowels to get a better bite.

Beautiful engineering by Arthur Savage. I didn't have to touch the trigger, it breaks nicely at 4 lbs.

Thank you for your compliment.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Great work Chris! Nice piece of wood on the butt, that's fantastic consistency on the bluing too!

..we need to know distance, powder, and bullet choice!!! It looks like 44.0g works!!!

VERY NICE WORK
NICE TO SEE NEW LIFE Brought Back
STEVE

just super!!!

I love R's, and that's a pretty one, Joe.

Very nice! Wish I had your skills.

Looks like you did the rifle justice. Nice work. What is your preferred hand load? Please PM me if you are willing to share.

Joe, That came out beautiful. I love the finish the rust blue gives when done right. I have rust blued over 30 rifles, usually 8 to 10 coats. I have used Pilkingtons, Brownells & a couple of others. I find that if you do the prep work right & take your time (very time consuming) they all work just fine. I think it has more to do with the person whos doing it then anything else. Wish I could do checkering.
How many coats did you apply & what brand did you use? Again great job.
Jerry

I REALLY Like the way the Figure-Grain of the Wood Pops Out.

The load was 44.0 grains of Accurate Arms 2495 behind a 125 grain Hornady TNT bullet. These groups were shot with a 1.5-6x B&L 4000 scope at 100 yards.

The finish is 13 coats of Mark Lee rust blue. Even so, under fluorescent lighting there are some imperfections. I'll probably strip it down after deer season this fall.

This rifle was I think re-blued at the factory, and I still don't have all the old bluing all out. Frustrating.

Tomorrow, I will do the final pre-hunt target shooting with 150 grain Nosler Partitions. Here in Pennsylvania, a long shot is 100 yards, so I'll set the Lyman 29 1/2 at about 2" high at 100 yards.

Using 150 grain Speer Hotcores with IMR-4064, my maximum loads (44.0 grains also) showed an average of 2736 fps with about 3"-4.5" groups. I'm still not completely happy with my sight picture at 100 yards with iron sights. I'm still experimenting.

Thank you, all for the compliments.

These really are well made and well engineered rifles.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

After I remove all the existing bluing I bead blast the steel. It removes whatever bluing might remain on. Really makes the new bluing cover completely. The bead blasting seems to give the steel a satin finish that just absorbs the bluing.
Still a beautiful job on that rifle.

That is a beautiful rifle and I really like the peep sight..nice job

Dear Velcro:

Here's the problem with a second hot salts bluing job. It fills the micropitting. I've noticed this problem on a 1957 Model 12, a 1948 Model 71 and this Savage.

You have a nice 400 grit finish, put it in boiling water, do 7+ coats of Mark Lee, and all of a sudden the filled in pores release the old bluing salts. That gets me really angry.

So, I had to strip it all down again, re-sand and re-blue.

Actually, with this Savage 99, I'll probably hunt with it for a few years before I re-blue it. The finish looks fine in day light.

Thank you for the idea.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

I'll just add my amen to the chorus. Beautiful!

Is there anything more beautiful than walnut and blued steel on a gun? Nope!