Savage 99 Refinish...sacrilege?

[2dswamp]

I've got an older Savage 99 in .300 Savage. Bluing is no longer considered blue but gray. Some minor surface wear but no pitting.

It's been D&T and the furniture shows years of wear. It no longer holds any collector value.

I was considering having it parkerized or coted with one of the new "space technology" coatings and refinishing the furniture also.

Have any of ya'll done this to a Sav 99? If so, what did you use for coating/finishing?

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[rbernie]

I GunKoted my first Savage 99. It held up OK; no issues to report. I also refinished the furniture and the end result was very striking. I traded it for some HVAC work to my house, and the guy who got it seemed well pleased with how it shot.

The one caveat is that the bolt locks up into the top of the receiver; if you build up any real coating thickness there it may interfere with lockup.

If I had to do it again, I would simply have it bead-blased and dunked in a bluing tank. That is quite economical, since most of the cost of a good bluing job is in the laboir needed to polish the metal prior to dunking. My local gunsmith usually charges me $35 to beadblast and dunk a rifle action.

 

[phantomak47]

I would look it up and check out the codes to see how old it is and what exactly model it is before I refinished it.

Check out 24hourcampfireforum, as there are some real 99 guys over there.

 

[2dswamp]

rbernie...thanks for the insight.

phantom ak47...yeah, I used the Savage 99 guy's on 24hour campfire to originally research this rifle. That's where I learned it has no collectors value.
Being D&T for mounts and rings deteriorated the value. It's just a shooter now.

 

[phantomak47]

I would redo it then, but not make it look like "too new" if that makes any sense.

Those glossy last years of the 99 always looked cheesy to me.

 

[jerkface11]

I for one like the way they look with the bluing worn off.

 

[hossdaniels]

I'd have it completly refinished. Stock and new bluing. Maybe $200-$225 and you will have a nice looking rifle that you can actually use and not feel guilty about normal dings. Collectors aren't interested, might as well make it look good!

 

[2dswamp]

Thanks guy's...appreciate all the input!

I think I will keep it looking traditional (phantomak47). Think I'll have it professionally reblued and refinished!

 

[BADUNAME37]

Glass bead-blasted before blueing sounds like a great idea -- it would look like a matte finish as opposed to shiny!