22LB mag in a 1942 Savage No4 Mk1*

[Stigmata]

I am definetly heeding your words of wisdom Peter and am doing my best to "preserve" rather than "restore" this No.4. This rifle hung over a wood stove for a lot of its existance which dried out the wood but fortunately did not crack it. Following some of the fine posts in this forum, I lightly cleaned and applied linseed oil to the stock as directed. I prefer to keep the honest dings and scrapes as this is the character of a war-time firearm. The metal was in great shape with only light corrosion.

Besides the .22 magazine installed, the rifle appears to be in its original configuration as it would have been when it was retired from service.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[SpikeDD]

I am definitely heeding your words of wisdom Peter and am doing my best to "preserve" rather than "restore" this No.4. This rifle hung over a wood stove for a lot of its existence which dried out the wood but fortunately did not crack it. Following some of the fine posts in this forum, I lightly cleaned and applied linseed oil to the stock as directed. I prefer to keep the honest dings and scrapes as this is the character of a war-time firearm. The metal was in great shape with only light corrosion.

Besides the .22 magazine installed, the rifle appears to be in its original configuration as it would have been when it was retired from service.

I also do the same, in regard to Peter, and he is right about particular parts being collected up to "restore" a rifle that may have very well left the hands of it's last armorer that way. In most cases, it's impossible to tell what parts a rifle left a factory with on it's last visit. I've been extremely particular about the rifles I've collected over the last 25 years and apart from a couple of sporter rifles I bought and restored, I haven't had to many instances where I felt the need to change a rifles parts to "correctly" match. That's not to say that I wouldn't but I would use the knowledge acquired over many years to make an educated decision about it. I have been guilty of changing some handguards and buttstocks for a better color match along with a few bands hear and there but I wouldn't consider myself a "serial" restorer.