Gray Fox
02-27-2013, 11:06 PM
Today I traded for (my cash for his gun) a 1967 Savage 99C in .308. In an email the guy told me the bore "was nice and clean", yeah, right. He didn't say where he got it, but said he'd never fired it and it "had been in the closet for the last six years." I got it home and laid it in the cleaning cradle with the action open and sprayed the bore full of Gunslick Foaming Bore Cleaner. I let it sit for about an hour, and then ran patches through it. The first one was just about all gooey bright blue copper residue. Four more dry patches and it almost looked like a new bore. I gave it one more barrel full and another hour, and half a dozen patches later it does look as good as new. Oiled it lightly and called it good.
Tomorrow when I have time I'm going to remove all the wood and spray the action down with brake cleaner and get out the tooth brush and pipe cleaners. I'm not brave enough to try to do a detailed disassemby on it. I'm hoping that a full cleaning and lubing the trigger/sear contacts with some of the red gun grease with improve it a bit. I'll give everything else a light spray with RemOil with the Teflon, let it dry for a while then wife away the excess. There's no real creap or overtravel in the trigger, but it's got to be 12 pounds if not more. My Ishapore 2A1 is half as heavy. The blueing looks very good, and there are no wood splits, just some of the usual light dings and scratches from that many years of use. I'm going to scrub the wood well with Murphy's Oil Soap, let that dry and hit it with some 00 and 0000 steel wool, then rub in some coats of True Oil. The rifle ought to be good to go for as many years as this old bird has left to shoot it.
I am hoping to shoot the Lee 185 and 200 grainers in it, does anyone have load that they think this rifle might like? Not having slugged the bore I'll try some sized a .309 and .310 and see what shoots better.
This is a real trip down memory lane for me as the first game animal I shot with a centerfire rifle was 50 years ago with with a borrowed 99 in 250 Savage with the tang sight. Boy, do I wish I had that rifle. This is the first 99 I've owned, so lots of fun ahead. GF
Tomorrow when I have time I'm going to remove all the wood and spray the action down with brake cleaner and get out the tooth brush and pipe cleaners. I'm not brave enough to try to do a detailed disassemby on it. I'm hoping that a full cleaning and lubing the trigger/sear contacts with some of the red gun grease with improve it a bit. I'll give everything else a light spray with RemOil with the Teflon, let it dry for a while then wife away the excess. There's no real creap or overtravel in the trigger, but it's got to be 12 pounds if not more. My Ishapore 2A1 is half as heavy. The blueing looks very good, and there are no wood splits, just some of the usual light dings and scratches from that many years of use. I'm going to scrub the wood well with Murphy's Oil Soap, let that dry and hit it with some 00 and 0000 steel wool, then rub in some coats of True Oil. The rifle ought to be good to go for as many years as this old bird has left to shoot it.
I am hoping to shoot the Lee 185 and 200 grainers in it, does anyone have load that they think this rifle might like? Not having slugged the bore I'll try some sized a .309 and .310 and see what shoots better.
This is a real trip down memory lane for me as the first game animal I shot with a centerfire rifle was 50 years ago with with a borrowed 99 in 250 Savage with the tang sight. Boy, do I wish I had that rifle. This is the first 99 I've owned, so lots of fun ahead. GF