Savage/Stevens model 325C

[TINCANBANDIT]

well I got the pins out and back in, they slipped right out with some persuasion

I completely restored the rifle, I'll post pics soon

[Fireball]

Would like to see it. I can appreciate a fellow tinkerer.

[TINCANBANDIT]

I decided to document the refinishing of the 325C here.

I already reload and keep 30-30 Win ammo as I have a Winchester model 94 in that caliber, so adding another rifle with the same chambering was an easy decision.

We'll start with the pictures of what the gun looked like when I bought it....btw I paid $100...

[TINCANBANDIT]

I probably should have test fired the gun first to make sure it was functionally OK, but the bore looks really good and the action is tight.....

I gathered up some of my reloads and tried to chamber them, some would not chamber (maybe not sized all the way??) Anyway I took some of the ones that did chamber with the gun out to the range.

I test fired 6 rounds, everything worked as expected, good primer strikes, good feed & ejection and no strange scratches or marks on the spent brass

[TINCANBANDIT]

Blog post with more detail

https://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/20...er-part-1.html

[TINCANBANDIT]

Before sanding wood or metal we needed to make sure the new stock fits the gun


Here are the two stocks side by side, because the new one is for a model 340, it is couple of inches longer than the original and has a straighter grip profile.

[TINCANBANDIT]

The picture above lead me to think I might need to open up the relief cut for the bolt handle

I checked to see if the bolt would close when set in the new walnut stock



Then I compared the location of the bolt handle when closed in the old stock




and once more when not in either stock. It appears their is enough room for full bolt handle travel, the safety worked and everything fit as it should.

[TINCANBANDIT]

Before finishing the wood we will need to drill some holes for the sling swivels, the rear trigger guard screw and install the escutcheon for the front take down screw.
Here it is removed from the old stock. It is bare metal, I think I will nitre blue it before installing it.

[TINCANBANDIT]

I went through my supply of butt plate screws and found some slotted ones to replace the Phillips head that came with the stock. This wasn't necessary, but I wanted it to look more "period correct".



The Phillips is on the bottom, I'll clean them up and nitre blue them

[TINCANBANDIT]

I used a file to get the clean up the big dings



Then sand paper to smooth everything out



Then polished on the buffer

[TINCANBANDIT]

The barrelled action was not ready yet, but I was bluing some other guns, so I blued some of the small parts, here is the trigger guard and bolt cover polished up




and reblued, the parts in the picture include the trigger guard/mag guide, bolt cover, safety lever, barrel band and mag guilde



in case you are wondering, I blue my parts using the hot salts/caustic salts method. If you don't know what I am talking about, it involves using Sodium Hydroxide and a Nitrate (Sodium Nitrate in this case) heated to 275-290 degrees. This is the same process used by nearly all gun makers since the WWII and before.

[TINCANBANDIT]

The front sight has been polished and readied for bluing, I cannot hot blue it as it has a brass bead, which I have been told will be damaged by the salts (even though I have successfully blued parts with brass inserts before, I don't want to push my luck)
I will have to cold blue or rust blue it



also note that the front edge of the sight is not highly polished (about 400 grit in this case). you don't want anything in your sight line polished and possibly reflecting light.

I finished polishing the rest of the bolt and reassembled it