Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing All-weather Savage 99

After spending several days guarding the trees and watching rain and snow pile up on the stocks of my rifles (I find myself without a nasty weather "beater") I decided to change directions with the custom 1899 Savage I'm building. It will be my all-weather gun in future. The catch is this: While I want good weather protection, I don't wish to spoil the look of a pre-WWI Savage. Walnut straight grip perch-belly stock and blue steel. The wood is a no-brainer- Epoxy and/or Epifanes spar varnish. The steel is my primary question to y'all. I don't wish to use a finish that would look more appropriate on an AR-15 than a 100 yr. old Savage 1899. Is there something out there that would fill my requirements, or am I p*ssing up a rope? I have always been a blued steel man, and have categorically ignored the "modern" finishes. Now that I want one, I don't know which way to turn.

Thanks.

Gary

Gary is there a cere-coat that is cloce to a blue?

Graphite black would look pretty good on that 99, another option would be to use a Wax..... Seal it all up real good...

If you want to do a cerakote finish, let me know. I would be happy to assist you with that.. I have the tools, and the ffl.

There is a clear coating offered by Doug Burche in his cerra-coatings. Might look into that.

How about teflon coating? It comes out a graphite color.

Teflon is not as durable as the Cerakote finish.
As far as the clear goes, I was told by NIC that the current Cerakote product is way to glossy.
I just got off the phone with them, and they are working on making it more satin. I was told they should have it available soon.

Gary, I picked up my 1899 250-3000 just to have a bad weather rifle. Stock has been sealed, and metal was all parkerized. Doesn't look too bad once you get used to it.

I am used to it,, It looks good... And it is a take down... One day,,,, one day....

Before I read the post, I thought it may have been Cerakoted.. Has that look to it..

Real nice, thank you for sharing that pic...

Truth to tell, I was told it was parkerized. Might be Cerakote, I don't know the difference.

Side view of receiver at the bottom. Got a fuzzy texture to it rather than being smooth.

I might be dead wrong, but in my searches to find a cerakote to closely match gloss bluing nothing looks better to me than Midnight Blue;

These pictures have a better angle. Looks greyer in these pictures, more like a parkerized finish.
Still looks good though, maybe you could send it my way when you are done with it?

Dawn2dusk, I like that color a lot, though the picture is kind of dark.

Brasshound... keep wishing. Took me 3 years of searching to find an affordable 250-3000 I was happy with!

Oh Cal,, you are such a party pooper...

Dawn, I can do a little about the sheen with the hardener. Here is a pic of OD green, and Graphite black..

If you really like blue, you could blue it and then coat it with something. Lacquer for instance, as many case colored actions are coated.

Or you might try something like the coatings that are used on steel tools. There are a number of them out there. One that I use is TopKote or some similar spelling. Sold in most woodworking and better hardware stores. It is sort of like paste wax on steroids.

I don't think I could bring myself to epoxy wood or parkerize metal, but to each his own.

Brent

CAlhoun,
I'd say it is parker. Having just recently done about a dozen rifles, shotguns and revolvers, even one 99, it looks right to me.

Thanks guys, you've given me some food for thought.

Epoxy/ spar varnish on the wood will end up looking just like the original varnish used on these rifles 100 years ago, I guarantee. (Only much more weatherproof, at least for as long as I'll be around.)

Consider the multiple color finishes that Brownell sells; Alumahyde II and other epoxy paint finishes are available in french grays that might look good (receiver) contrasted with a matt blue shade on the barrel and lever (from the same product line).

Good de-greasing prep is paramount; these paints are pretty durable, and a lot of them are air cure with no oven.

edit: Never mind..

Paint finishes? How well do they stay on?

Paint finishes are for individuals who can never make up there mind.. It keeps falling off, so they can change the color any time...
If you rub a hard surface with the paint, it will come off with ease..