i was in one of the small, local gunshops i frequent...picking up a matched pair of stainless taurus model 62's (can you actually believe i'm getting started on my christmas shopping in september?!?!).

some old gentleman walks in...he has a very bad limp.

harold, the shop owner, whispers to me that this guy was wounded on the last day of ww2...his jeep hit a mine in an area that was supposedly cleared of mines!

after being introduced to the gentleman (83 years old and very hard of hearing, in addition to the limp) he hands harold an old savage .410 bore, pump action scattergun...and a pile of parts!!!

it seems the gentleman's great, great grandson took the thing apart and they couldn't get it back together again.

well, harold knows i wrench on guns...and harold does not work on guns (he sends all his smith work out). so...he hands the gun and parts to me and says, "here, you fix it!".

aaarrrggghhhh! what do i know from 1950 savage shotguns!?!?!

well, out of respect for the old veteran...who kept saying what a great piece the old savage was...i decided to make an attempt at putting the old, worn friend of his back in one piece.

man! that savage was unlike anything i ever wrenched on...and yet the principles learned from other firearms kept me making steady progress. it took me 20 minutes to figue out how to get that damn ejector back in the receiver...AFTER i spent 20 minutes figuring out WHERE it fit in the puzzle!

action bar release...check.
tension spring and keeper spring...check.
safety bar...check.
magazine tube and action bar...check.
stone the hammer burr...check.
spray it down and wipe...oil and wipe...check.
drive the trigger group/housing pin back
in...check.
receiver screw...check.

i cycled the action and checked the safety function and tested the action bar release..

everything worked as it should (big sigh of relief!)!!!

the gentleman tried to pay me several times, but finally settled for a beer for me and one for him from harold.

as he drove away, i kept thinking how much pleasure that little .410 had given this guy for all those years after he came home the war.

i hope he gets to enjoy it for the remaining seasons he has left.

then i realized...i had been so into the workings of that savage, i had no clue that over two hours had passed since i set down at harold's bench!!!

sorry harold and crew...i gotta run!

i didn't get in the door to the house untill 7:30pm...expecting wifey to be a bit miffed that i eas late for supper. funny thing...for some odd reason and without an explanation, she wasn't the least bit irked at my poor timing.

You know Bob....if I had a nickel for every basket case gun I had put back together, I would be rich, but something about being about to put that older gentleman's gun back together would have made me feel better than money could describe.

There is something I have learned, for the most part gun owners as a whole(with the exception of the akdotnutz crew) are inheriently good people, who will bend over backwards to help a fellow gun owner.

Good Job!

The old Savage/Stevens pump guns aren't the easiest things to fiddle with. The ejector is much, much easier to deal with when the bolt/bolt carrier is out of the shotgun...but to remove them you have to remove the stock & trigger group...

riff, i'll wager you are light years ahead of me in the stevens/savage department! heheh!

this was a 67 model, thumb safety, fixed bbl.

call me stoopid, but i actually thought i could worm that damn ejector block into its' position with the bolt still in the receiver.

wrong!

another thing that was blowing my mind was that damn bolt was rotating as it went front to rear! i finally figured out that the ejector controlled the bolt's rotation and if the ejector was not installed...the damn bolt bound up in the receiver!!!

it didn't help matters that this particular weapon was filty inside! i kinda cleaned it piece-by-piece as i went thru it...after a couple of quick hose-downs with remoil.

after wrenching on winny 97's and 12's, i found the savage to be a different beast entirely...not 'bad' mind you...just different. it appears to be a pretty good design and i found the workmanship and materials on this example to be much, much better than a scattergun selling in the $500 range today.


you stevens/savage guys keep those old girls well oiled and cleaned! i think you'll be hunting with them for many years to come.

"here, you fix it!".

Oh nice work Bob!

yup...the savages are still a good buy. too bad steven's rifles are climbing in price as fast as they are...still a bargain in my book.

the longer i'm around shooting sports, the more i appreciate the older, 'common man's' firearms.

i got this thing for old winchesters, but the prices really limit the number of my purchases!

old stevens, savage, glenfield, western field, marlin and other lesser known brands...man, a fella can still find a good piece for a reasonable dollar!

now! if only ruger red labels would take a dive on the market!!! i need a good 20 gauge!

When I die I want to go to heaven and I want to see the following things there.  My dog and Campybob fixin scatterguns.

I have known you for a while and I new you where not in guns for the money.  

The only thing that makes this gun board work is the quality of people that run it and visit here.

Thank you Campy for going above and beyond to help a fellow gun owner.

Ken Roberts
RSA

if i've lived a good life and st. peter hands me that ticket that says, "admit one"...you can bet i'll be set up at a bench installing rsa trigger groups for the heavenly host rifle team.

odds are, i'll wake up in hell and be parked at a perpetual gun show at a table next to thorton...

Quoted: odds are, i'll wake up in hell and be parked at a perpetual gun show at a table next to thorton...

holy shiete!....I'm goin' to church in the am!...that would be hell!