Thread: Self isolation gun projects

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

As mentioned on my other thread I have been working on a fairly old Savage 22 single shot bolt action.

I steamed out those dings that could be steamed out and sanded the stock several time using progressively finer sandpaper and finishing off with bronze wool, I dampened the stock between sandings to get the best effect.

Despite suggestions to the contrary I used raw linseed oil ( it’s all I had and with lockdown couldn’t get any boiled stuff) but I thinned it with turps - meths was a fail. I’ve done two coats.

It’s turning out really well so far.

The barrel was a mess externally but I’ll attend that

Update to the above:
The barrel had lots of surface rust and scratches on the outside plus somebody had sanded the outside lengthwise with what I can only guess was 80 grit sandpaper or emery.

So, I used various grades of wet & dry paper to tidy up the outside, I couldn’t get rid of some of the original scratches despite over an hour plus of study effort but minimized them considerably, I then finished off by holding a Scotchbrite pad wrapped around the barrel and rotating the barrel while moving the pad from breech to muzzle slowly,

It sort of looks like a stainless Damascus barrel in some lights!

Looks OK from two metres away but any closer and you can still occasionally see the odd original longitudinal scratch from the 80 grit.

Then I gave the stock another go of linseed oil, it’s nice a dark, I now regret not taking a ‘before’ pic of this rifle.