"Unissued" Savage No.4MkI*

Picked up this little gem as a Christmas present from me to me. This looks to be one of the unissued Savage No.4MkI*'s that surfaced in Canada about 20 years ago in the original cardboard shipping boxes with the bolt in a separate waxed carton inside the box. Bore looks unfired since the factory, and when I got it the bore and action still had plenty of packing grease in it. It's now been detail stripped, de-greased, oiled, and re-assembled. It will get some light range use.

Of course, it's not all rosey, there's a small down side to the rifle. It looks to have come from a large estate sale that was being liquidated locally. Somewhere between it's last owner and the shop, the matching (usually un-numbered) bayonet, the Savage sling and the shipping boxes disappeared. (yes, I've asked, they are permanently gone, but apparently were recently with the rifle at one point according to the family friend that was brokering the sale). Also, it was apparently stored in an unheated building with a concrete floor for a year or two after the previous owner last cared for it, so there was the odd light surface rust bloom on the exposed metal. Some very careful application of a brass scraper and oiled steel wool took it all off and the finish is pretty much intact - thank goodness. Had it been left out another Canadian winter, I expect it would have started to get pitted up and been reduced to a beater/shooter. The concrete floor also added a little wear to the tang end of the buttplate. Nothing bad, but it's no longer "mint" in that spot.

The wood, of course, is basically spotless. Nice dark metal that is sand-blasted and finished (action, bottom metal, and muzzle area) - non-blasted barrel from Nock's form to just behind the front sight assembly (i.e. smooth off the lathe, but with the same finish as the rest of the rifle).

This would be a later-production Savage with 2 groove barrel, high side-shelf stock, slab-type cocking piece, 2-position flip sight.

Anyhow, these don't pop up that often anymore, so figured I'd share some pics now that it's cleaned up and preserved.

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Nice and clean, just like we like them. A friend of mine has a few rifles stored much like you just described. They're in a basement(cellar) in Alberta and they've long since furred over with rust. The bore of the #4 is black and the outside is red. The '98K is the same...there's a 1906 Winchester and a bit more...all the same. All coming to me in time...depressing.

I purchased one of those Savage No 4s in the sealed box probably 30 or so years ago. As I recall, I was the first to open the box and I don't recall a bayonet or sling being in the box.

Bayonets and slings (or cleaning kits etc etc) were not issued with rifles from Ordnance either

ok, well perhaps those bits are not missing then? The last couple I saw had bayonets and slings, but had been opened before, so people could have added them...?

Very nice example of a Savage No4 Mk1* & what a nice Xmas present!

Thanks for these pics. A great find.

For dating purposes, I'd estimate it's production ~ June 1943. (For those interested in Production Dates for Savage Enfields, see my post at Savage Enfield )

From a restorer's perspective, the pics show the original color of the wood before being exposed to Cosmoline or oxidized by Boiled Linseed Oil, or whatever bubba would have done with sandpaper and stain. Could you tell me the wood in the stock? (it looks like birch, not walnut, from the pics)

Does anyone have good advice on how to treat the wood on a gun like this? BLO may have been great in the battlefield, but it yellows then darkens with age. I have been using BRIWAX (clear), which I learned from my antique furniture restorations is also known as "museum wax." It's manufactured "by Appointment of the Queen" in the UK and available in the US in Ace Hardware stores. Is there anything more appropriate for gun wood? Thanks
Robert

Raw linseed oil is the authentic "treatment" and applying it is rather enjoyable- rare to work with a substance that is totally safe and you don't mind getting covered with it. For serious treatment I cut a large PVC pipe to the right length and let forends sit in it for an hour or two. RLO seems to leave a very nice finish on most everything I have tried it on, walnut, of course, but also beech, birch and arctic birch. Claven2- I have a Savage much like yours that may have come throught the same surplus route but was then taken and converted to a fake No.4T by someone with Homer Simpson level skills. Seeing yours makes me wish it could all be undone.

Ridolpho

I had it pegged as a summer '43 gun as well. The wood on this one is birch. Under the woodline, it's been oiled from the factory, but is much lighter yellowy-orange in color - likely a total heated RLO dip like the other manufacturers used. The exterior of the stock is much darker.

I honestly don't know if all the un-messed-with savages have simply oxidized in the areas that see more oxygen over these last 70 years, or if the factory applied reddish pigment of some sort. It's something I've wondered a long time, but never saw a definitive answer.

For this one, I used Ethyl alcohol on a toothbrush to clean those areas that were either dirty or had cosmolene over-smear. It did not affect the finish in any way - after 70 years, the original patina is pretty stable.

I hand-rubbed a very light coat of RLO into the wood before re-assembling and taking these photos.

To be honest though, over the years, I have found that the visual differences between RLO and BLO are really only evident after MANY applications. On factory-sanded wood, it's never that dramatic for a normal owner's level of effort. Now if the wood were sanded past 400 grit, the BLO would look shinier and Tru-Oil-like much sooner. That's a great look for a WW1 era No.1MkIII, but RLO is more period-correct for a No.4 IMHO.

Nice find! I bought one last year -- 43Cxxxxx -- from a bloke on this board. What a gem.