Savage model 24

[J_Hensley]

A coworker brought this old savage to me to see if I could get it to function for him. I’ve never seen one of these, but I kind of like it. This thing has not been very well looked after and needs some TLC.

I tore it all down(mostly). Found that the selector bar is only half there. They had glued a small piece of leather to the hammer to get it to fire. That fell off, and it would not function.
There is hardly even any evidence left of the gun ever being blued. I might try to reblue it. He just wants to be able to shoot the occasional red squirrel again.

I ordered a complete selector button kit from Numrich.

I do love a good project.

 

[J_Hensley]

This is the selector piece that is broken. And the replacement.

 

[DDriller]

The barrel on mine looks the same way. If you get that one blued I may have mine done.

 

[DShortt]

I've had good results with just cold bluing on older, inexpensive firearms. The biggest thing is the prep work. All the pits and scratches have to come off. Lot's of time with sandpaper and sometimes draw filing if there are rust pits.
I don't know what the value of a functional rifle such as that might be, so perhaps it's worth the investment for a hot caustic rebluing job. Getting hard to find anyone who does those anymore.

 

[J_Hensley]

I have some cold blue solution I will likely try.

Here are some close ups of the barrels.

 

[J_Hensley]

I don’t like waiting for parts. They’re only a 6 hour drive from my front door, but USPS likely won’t deliver until next week!

 

[DShortt]

I don’t like waiting for parts. They’re only a 6 hour drive from my front door, but USPS likely won’t deliver until next week!

The USPS isn't what it used to be, for certain.
As I mentioned above, prep work is everything when rebluing. If you can see it before you put the solution on, it'll probably be even more obvious when you reblue it. Make certain everything is completely clean before starting and wear nitrile gloves.
Might read up on cold bluing while your waiting for parts if it's a new project for you. I only touched on the most important points.

 

[BuffaloBill]

Do you think bead blasting it before bluing would help create an even appearance? I’ve not tried this on a rust pitted firearm but have done this on misc steel items. The below pic shows a “stop” I made for an auto-retracting threading tool holder. I bead blasted it and cold blued it. (Only the parts made from 5/8” square stock)

 

[DShortt]

I have never tried bead blasting, so I have no experience with the finished product.
I can say I've cold blued some barrels that were badly pitted and they came out very nice.

But.

I used a flat file to draw file every little bit of the pits out, then sanded starting with 200 grit, then 400, then 600. Change to new paper once it quits cutting. Requires several new pieces of each grit. Then buffed it on a buffing wheel with course and then fine compound. I then applied 6 or more treatments with cold bluing solution. Not sure how many I've done over the years. I'd guess around a dozen.

It was enough work and time I'd be hard pressed to ever do any again.

The OP has a particular problem dealing with that over-under barrel configuration. That's going to complicate things a lot.

 

[J_Hensley]

I wish I had a bead blast cabinet. That'd be a nice tool to have available. I had considered trying my hand at rust bluing this, as I believe that is how it may have originally been blued. I think that is a little too involved for this project though. I have a small bottle of Brownells Oxpho Blue to use. I need to get some more steel wool to aid in burnishing.

 

[Sniperhandle]

I wish I had a bead blast cabinet. That'd be a nice tool to have available. I had considered trying my hand at rust bluing this, as I believe that is how it may have originally been blued. I think that is a little too involved for this project though. I have a small bottle of Brownells Oxpho Blue to use. I need to get some more steel wool to aid in burnishing.

Rust bluing really isn't all that hard, You can even use the trunk of an old car out back as your rust cabinet, haha

 

[J_Hensley]

My main issue with rust bluing would be having a vessel long enough to set the barrels into, that would also be capable of boiling water in.

 

[Sniperhandle]

My main issue with rust bluing would be having a vessel long enough to set the barrels into, that would also be capable of boiling water in.

You can buy those tanks pretty cheap. Put a gas burner from anywhere.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Karl-home-150-000-BTU-Portable-Propane-Gas-2-Burner-Outdoor-Cooker-177178951332/326713019?g_store=4418&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&fp=ggl&pla&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28I-028_022_GRILLS-NA-MULTI-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PMAX_SHP_JControl24_PMAX&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28I-028_022_GRILLS-NA-MULTI-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PMAX_SHP_JControl24_PMAX-20455392646--&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20369730181&gbraid=0AAAAADq61Ue6Fh_7CRn7RSzYyTlkTNZQC&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PPNBhD8ARIsAMo-icxOmskpj0xINTh3Fp8QNqHW8DGIQfx7nTqFKUJT8cn1joxln0_GursaAr25EALw_wcB

Allied Stainless Steel Parkerizing Tank, Gunsmith, blueing 40"x6"x6", 20ga USA!! | eBay

20ga premium 304 stainless steel. Made in the USA. Except no imitations. 1/2” stainless steel valve included.

www.ebay.com

 

[DGP4]

Here are some tricks to get a good cold blue:

Do not use any grit over 320 as a higher polish will not take the blue well

Clean with acetone and wear rubber gloves to prep properly and keep body oils off the bare metal.

Heat the metal with a heat gun or hair dryer. You want the metal very warm, not hot, as you apply the bluing solution. Soak cotton balls with the solution and apply a heavy coating to start.

Make several applications until the metal will no longer darken more. Immediately neutralize with oil when done.

 

[J_Hensley]

I’ll be seeing how it takes to bluing this weekend.

 

[J_Hensley]

You can buy those tanks pretty cheap. Put a gas burner from anywhere.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Karl-home-150-000-BTU-Portable-Propane-Gas-2-Burner-Outdoor-Cooker-177178951332/326713019?g_store=4418&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&fp=ggl&pla&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28I-028_022_GRILLS-NA-MULTI-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PMAX_SHP_JControl24_PMAX&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D28I-028_022_GRILLS-NA-MULTI-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PMAX_SHP_JControl24_PMAX-20455392646--&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20369730181&gbraid=0AAAAADq61Ue6Fh_7CRn7RSzYyTlkTNZQC&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PPNBhD8ARIsAMo-icxOmskpj0xINTh3Fp8QNqHW8DGIQfx7nTqFKUJT8cn1joxln0_GursaAr25EALw_wcB

Allied Stainless Steel Parkerizing Tank, Gunsmith, blueing 40"x6"x6", 20ga USA!! | eBay

20ga premium 304 stainless steel. Made in the USA. Except no imitations. 1/2” stainless steel valve included.

www.ebay.com

Thank you for posting this. Good to keep in mind.

 

[J_Hensley]

Only two rounds of the oxpho blue, it isn’t getting any darker. Drastic improvement over how it came to me.

 

[J_Hensley]

Back together and functioning properly. Just waiting on the ramp for the rear sight.

I’m going to try to convince him to replace the butt stock. He lost a chunk off of it at the heel of the receiver.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Back together and functioning properly. Just waiting on the ramp for the rear sight.

I’m going to try to convince him to replace the butt stock. He lost a chunk off of it at the heel of the receiver.View attachment 1754380

You can repair the stock with acraglas, use the brown dye to get it as close as possible.

 

[J_Hensley]

You can repair the stock with acraglas, use the brown dye to get it as close as possible.

It’s a substantial piece that is missing. Without reinforcing pins, it would likely snap off.