Old Savage bolt action 22LR

[Huntinmechanic]

I'm curious if anybody can help me ID this rifle? It's a fun little tack driver. I would like to locate another magazine for it. It was inherited and has been sitting in the safe for ten years. My 9 y/o is in the process of "restoring" it. While we're on that subject, what does everybody recommend for could bluing? Thanks.

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

Not cold bluing, but I’ve had great success rust bluing with this product. I built a steaming pipe instead of a water tank and results were great. https://www.rustblue.com/shop/bluing/rust-blue-american/

 

[Pilsner]

Oddly I just found the same rifle in an old gun safe I had forgotten about in my father's basement last week. Mine has "Savage Sporter" barely legible on the barrel. I need to look up the date of manufacture just to see how old it really is. According to my father I got it when I was still a teenager and forgot about it when I left for the army 2 decades ago. I will update this post if I find the date.

Found this - no idea how accurate the info is.

Savage Model 23AA Sporter - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Huntinmechanic]

Thanks guys for the info. I'll give that bluing a try. What do you mean my steaming pipe?

I've narrowed the model down to a 1919 NRA as seen in this article https://www.ssusa.org/content/a-page-from-history-the-savage-model-1919/

I found replacement mags from triple k for these rifles. Reasonably priced compared to original. This rifle is extraordinarily accurate! My 9 year old had been shooting it a lot lately. There are no sights on it currently, but he's getting pretty good hitting 2" steel @ 30 yards with just aiming down the barrel. Probably a good skill to have.

I have the factory rear sight, but it's missing the windage adjustment screw. The receiver is drilled on the left side. I assume for an optic or a different sight.

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

The nominal rust bluing process involves rusting the metal after applying the solution then boiling the metal in distilled water to convert from red iron oxide to blue iron oxide (bluing). Steaming a 4” sewer pipe attached to a pot of boiling water works better and is much easier to build and use than a stainless water tank.

 

[robtattoo]

I've had good luck with Oxpho cold bluing cream, but there are tricks to getting it to work really well.

1, You have to be EXTREMELY clean. All your metal surfaces have to be 100% grease & oil free. Wear gloves & change them very often. I've gone as far as submerging parts into straight acetone & leaving it 24 hours in preparation.

2, Get your metal good & hot before you start. A heat gun is perfect. You want the solution to sizzle when it hits the metal. Re-heat once it's applied.

3, Wipe on the solution, don't rub it! If you rub, you'll get a coppery sheen that you can't get rid of.

It's always going to look like cold blue, is the other thing. There's a noticeable difference in finish, compared to rust or hot dip.