Nobody wanted that Savage Model 602

Was at an estate auction last Saturday. There were a couple dozen guns on the block, even a NIB blunderbuss kit, which I got. Towards the end of the table, I saw what was obviously an old rifle. Seems that as soon as anyone saw that it only fired .22 greased shorts, interest vanished. That interest was confirmed when I bid low and no one bid against me. OK, so maybe I stole it.

Condition is probably NRA "Good". The stock has a clear coat on it with very few dings. The iron has no pits, a few rust spots that rubbed off, the bore is smooth, almost shines but rifling is shallow but still there. Most of the bluing has turned brown. I have not yet fired it, but when I do, I guess I'll put a dab of crisco on each bullet and see what happens.

Can someone tell me what the heck I got? There is so little info available on a Model 602 that I think I'm looking at a ghost.

Thanks,
Tom

Made about 1939 to 1942. No need to grease your bullets, now days they come that way. 22 Short ammo, price & availability may have scared people off. Yes it is fairly rare, was replaced with 22 long after only being made for a short time.

The 602's often command a premium, if you have a couple bidders who know what they are. It was never replaced with one in 22 Long - the Model 6 it was based on was in 22 Short, Long & Long Rifle, but would only function reliably in semi-auto with 22 Long Rifle - the action had to be locked and cycled manually with 22 Short & Long. There was also a version or two in 22 Short made under the Steven's brand name.

It should be fun to shoot, it will hold a lot of rounds.

If you ever need any parts for the action you might be in trouble, the main action parts, including the cocking knob, are made lighter so they will cycle with 22 Shorts, replacing any of them with the heavier parts from one in 22 Long Rifle might cause it to not function reliably.

Thank you for the info. Before firing it, I disassembled but only to its major components. Looks like someone used Crisco to grease the bullets so it needed lots of elbow grease for cleaning. Thanks to "Sav22" I saw that there are a few differences between it and a 6A, like even the hammer has cut-outs to reduce its weight.
It fires OK, .22 shorts are awfully guiet. But...
The Left Extractor including its spring plunger is missing. It's hole was loaded with grease which indicates to me that it was fired without the left extractor.
Got a problem cycling a round into the chamber. Looks like the head of the bullet gets jammed into the barrel below the chamber opening. The edge of the lifter is straight and smooth. But I noticed from pictures of the 6A lifter that it has a slight up-tick at the end. Any ideas will be most appreciated.

I don't know if this will help or not, I found some old pictures comparing an early 6 top, 602 center and 6A bottom. They may not show the details you need, the guns are not real accessible right now to take new pictures.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/6family3.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...x/6family4.jpg

Awesome pictures! Thanks. From the 602 picture, it looks like there is a shadow of a left extractor. I'll order it and hopefully it will fit. There is an occasional problem getting a stove piped casing so this might fix that. As for the chambering problem, I'm still guessing. What the heck is the "bumber" for? Mine seems to spring up with a bit of tension. Its length appears to be the same as in your picture. Maybe I should shotgun it and get a replacement and see what gives. If I do this, got any ideas on how to R&R it?

I appreciate Sav22 for staying with this forum topic for over a year. Had some medical issues that got in the way of me having fun with old guns. Made rapid progress once I left the VA and got private care.
Tally Ho!

The bumper is above the chamber and is supposed to swing down to guide the nose of the cartridge into the chamber, it has to move up to clear the bolt as it closes. With the left extractor missing the cartridges may be going in a little crooked and missing the bumper or getting to far out of line to chamber easily.