Savage 99 restification project

[Ian]

OK, Bill, I wasn't ignoring you but am short on sleep and brain cells ATM.

The bluing solution I used creates an instant, yellow rust on this particular receiver, not the deep red of normal, slow-rust blues. If you put it on too thick, or get a run, it eats through previous layers as we expect any rusting solution to do. I'm not sure it's quite as durable as the slow blues, but it withstands hard carding very well and is actually much easier to card to an even color and shine than the red rust methods. In the areas I only sanded to 320 (hidden by wood), the solution leveled the surface just the same as 400, meaning full shine. It didn't level the 220-grit scratches, though. Anyway, I know it's biting the metal pretty well. How hard/tough is the Express Blue #1 finish? Well, I haven't really tested directly to any of my slow-rust work, but based on the carding effort, it's durable enough.

 

[KeithB]

Do you know anybody that can do any thermal spraying? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_spraying) It's a process of spraying ionized metallic powder that is used to build up worn areas w/o doing any classic fusion welding processes (MIG, TIG, etc.) If you could mask off the areas that don't need build up you might could spray a harder layer onto the worn spots. The part doesn't heat up significantly so it won't effect heat treating.

 

[Ian]

Keith, I don't know anyone who does that, but it sounds like an outstanding solution!! Not too long ago I watched one of Adam Booth's videos (Abomb79) where he was building up a seal journal on a shaft using sprayed metal. He masked with some sort of liquid, pre-heated with a torch (checked with Tempilaq pen), and sprayed until he got sufficient build, then turned it back down to size and proper polish. I think he kept the part under 700 degrees, or at least that's about what the pre-heat was. The ability to use a liquid mask to control the deposits and low heat would be ideal. I'll do some checking.

 

[fiver]

the lever wasn't hitting the rifle preventing full lock up was it?
it wouldn't take much and would feel locked up but allow all kinds of mish mash pounding to take place.

 

[KeithB]

A friend of mine used metal spraying to build up worn bearing surfaces on shafting. He turned the worn areas a little to rough things up for good adhesion. No warping like you get with MIG/TIG/stick, plus you can deposit harder materials than the base metal.

 

[Ian]

Fiver, the lever is just shy of touching the tang when closed, and aligns perfectly with the sliding safety/bolt lock. The lever actually friction-locks in place like it's supposed to without aid of the bolt or anything else. When the lever is closed, the stripped bolt can flop up and down at the back end almost 1/8". This floppiness is masked by the striker loading against the sear when all that is installed. The striker spring actually pulls the bolt tight against the locking surfaces, but they're not fully engaged at that point. Good enough to shoot, but not good enough to make me happy.

I've looked at a lot of photos on the net and found the bolt angle/amount of lockup varies quite a bit, with some being near flush the top of the receiver as in the photo I posted on page 11 (of an original rifle), and some drooping significantly like mine does. I have to think this was a common problem with the early, square bolts because the later bolts were thicker on the bearing side of the groove.

I'll try to get a video up tonight.

 

[fiver]

I'm getting an idea of what's happening.
I'm just not at all familiar with the rifles inner workings like I am with the 92 and 94 rifles.
so I'm having to guess at things.
what lifts the bolt up into place?
I'm thinking the bolt comes forward, slides against the back of the barrel, and then something cam's the bolt up at the back aligning everything. [and locking the bolt lugs up]
I'm thinking you would be seeing some shallow or angled firing pin strikes from a sloppy bolt.

 

[Ian]

Skip to about 0:55 and again at 1:30 watch here:

The flag on the back of the striker, and the sear both sort of hide the works until the lever is fully closed.

There's a teat on the left side of the lever nose that rides in the angled channel on the rearward, rh side of the bolt, but it just acts as a loose hinge pin to keep the bolt and lever hooked together. The lever nose actually has an arched surface that tracks against the side of the bolt channel and cams the bolt both forward and up. Forward until the bolt reaches the stop pin/sear pivot pin (screw that passes clear through the back of the receiver slabs) and then up as the bolt rides the lever nose into lock.

 

[Ian]

Well, I got laughed at over the phone by two machine shop owners and one gunsmith. Looks like, once again, I'm on my own to implement a solution. My boss (master welder and one of three current ASE world-class technicians on the planet) studied it and suggested heat sinking, pre-purging with argon, and spotting with .024" MiG wire. Normally TiG would get the nod, but it puts in a lot of heat. The wire-feed welder is much better at quick spotting, provided you purge in advance to minimize bubbles and oxide inclusions. I'm pretty sure I can build a hard face one spot at a time, with cooling time in between, and not ruin the temper of the bolt.

 

[KeithB]

Some MIG welders have a stitch control that turns the wire feed and current on and off in settable increments, ie 1 second on, 2.5 seconds off, and so forth. The cycle continues as long as you hold down the switch. Maybe you or your guy can cycle the welder by fingerwork only. I can't. I'm a LOUSY welder, I have always been rather physically uncoordinated at my best and years of certain health issues haven't made my nerves any steadier and yet I have been able to MIG weld .031 thick mild steel with .023 wire without burnthroughs. Set the current high enough to get fusion and the off time long enough to prevent overheating. Solid parts might actually need a little preheat to ensure fusion during the short ON cycle, as long as the OFF time keeps the temperature constant. Think of it as a casting cycle, add heat, let it cool , add heat.....

If your welder has a stitch cycle I think you can do OK with wire.

 

[fiver]

I was wondering if you couldn't lift that little stud up higher easier than building up the bolt.
if you slightly re-triangulate the arm the stud is on, that could take up the slack without affecting operation or lock up.

 

[freebullet]

I'm no pro welder, did learn from one at about 8 yrs old & been practicing the craft since.
I weld steel & aluminum, even the thin stuff with .030 & larger wire. .035 being my favorite, put a quarter panel on the van with it.

There is a method this old timer showed me(R.I.P. Rex) where you take a similar practice piece & get the setting right with that thicker wire where it sticks out as long as the tiny section you want to build up & touch the trigger/let go & it will penetrate the length of wire right on the surface without the spatter stichting can. It's tough to do. Shielding the part is a good plan.

Micro welding is tough.

I'd be inclined to shim it some how, with harder material. Maybe solder Zink on. It's surface hardness is good & it might give a good service life to at least finish what your doing & test fixing the fittment in a less risky permanent way. Hefk you might find a used bolt before to fit or practice on before the Zink wore down. I dunno.

 

[Brad]

Yep, Ian opened it.

 

[freebullet]

Yeah, but it wasnt real usable before though.

If nothing else it will look really nice over the crib.

What baby doesn't want a savage 99 mobile..how else will she learn levering?

 

[fiver]

those are the cleanest neatest worms I have ever seen.

 

[Brad]

Ian is a bit fastidious about his bait.

 

[gman]

Ian if I wasn't offshore I would show this to my gunsmith. If you are still chewing on which way to go by the time I get in I'll drive over to his shop and see if he can help in any way.

 

[Ian]

The most intelligent option is lube it up, close my eyes, and put it back together just the way it is. I shot it about 35-40 times with mild loads (but hot enough to obturate the necks) and had no issues. I don't intend to put 2200 fps with it, but it does need to be safe with factory ammo for the next guy/girl. The problem with that is if it wears any more at all, the lever won't close fully, and as it is the breech face is a little out of square, heading toward more out of square as more wear occurs.

I studied the wear pattern on the bolt's upper locking surface under 20x magnification, then put on a little Sharpie and did a pattern test, forcing it fully into battery. There isn't really any "wear" there, just shiny spots. What I found is that the bolt was set up from the factory to only engage about 2/3 of the available receiver surface, not much more than it does now, but a little more anyway. If I set the bolt to go fully up into the receiver notch, two things get out of whack: The breech face gets out of square with the barrel by 3.5 thousandths rim edge to rim edge, and the angle of the receiver engagement pivots to where only the bottom edge of the receiver is touching the bolt.

If I put the bolt back where it was set at the factory, the breech face is perpendicular to the bore center line as it should be, and there is full surface contact of the upper locking surfaces of bolt/receiver where they do touch, meaning the bolt angle against the receiver is a good fit. It makes sense to just strive to put it back where it WAS, after all, it wasn't the upper locking surfaces that wore out, so obviously the amount of engagement that exists there is wholly adequate. It still bugs me, like having a bolt action where the bolt won't turn that last third into battery, but it seems to be good enough in this instance.

Just correcting for the bolt wear and lower receiver wear where each touches the lever nose might be possible by only stretching the nose of the lever and re-arching it a hair, I only need about .020" to put this thing right. Stretching the lever should be possible "cold", or at least just warm (400F), and won't require any welding. I'm going to attempt that, first.

 

[fiver]

if the bolt is straight and locking up properly leave it alone.
that's why I asked about the firing pin strikes.

 

[Ian]

I missed you asking about firing pin strikes. None of this really affects the nose of the bolt since the bolt nose is captured by the front of the receiver/back of barrel, so firing pin alignment has never been an issue.

Rather than try to make a video, I spent my time working on the rifle a bit more. I took some of the arch out of the lever so it doesn't bite the receiver quite so hard at lockup, and relieved a burr on the receiver in front of the lever nose where metal had pushed up in a wave, preventing the lever closing that last 1/16". Now it's back where it belongs, and riding the bolt a little farther puts the bolt almost back to factory position. The bolt face is pretty much square to the barrel now, so I'm going to quit on it right there, finish some other details, headspace it about two thousandths tight on a go gauge (ammo will still chamber due to rims being thinner than minimum headspace specs) and go shoot it. I'll record the bolt lockup height and watch it for settling as I shoot. After a bit it should settle back in and close on a go gauge.

Still have a long "to do" list.

Polish bolt, clean internal parts, lube, and reassemble. Skipping the jeweling for now.
Finish and polish extractor groove in barrel tenon.
Polish and re-blue small parts, screws, etc.
Face muzzle, turn thread shank, face thread shoulder, cut relief, cut threads, and crown muzzle.
D/T for front sight ramp screws.
Dovetail barrel for forearm stud.
Blue barrel.
Install barrel.
Assemble receiver and install/time magazine components.
Install stock and go shooting.

Then I still have to make the forearm and finish the wood finishing. BLO is taking about two weeks per coat to dry at this point, so it will be a while.