My family's first C/F rifle, Savage 340B .222 Rem

[Greg Langelius *]

It's been gathering dust since maybe the 1970's, when I last shot it (as a Scoutmaster with my first Troop) at a Scout Camp during the Summer of 1975. My Elder Brothers 10 and 11 years older than I used it in the 1950's and 1960's as their first centerfire Rifle, going Upstate from Long Island to hunt 'Chucks in the Kingston NY area.

About ten years ago, my Brother brought it up to me in Dundee, NY, figuring I should have it. It's had been neglected, and continued to be so while I worked on other projects. Not long after acquiring it, I went online and bought the Weaver #3 side mount base and Weaver #1 integral rings side mount with 1" rings.

Today, I brought it out and put on the side mount and base.

It is not pretty. The butt plate is gouged, the barrel is significantly rusted outside, the wood looks dry and starved. The blueing is worn from the bolt.

I see I can get original replica magazines from Brownell's and a replacement plastic butt plate, too.

I also fished out a set of 5 full boxes of Remington Express Rifle 50gr PSP ammunition, all the same lot.

I have an older Weaver T-24 in mint condition that looks to be about the right scope for finishing off the project.

I will be addressing this one, full on, upon our return from Hawaii two Fridays hence. I knew there was a good reason why I stocked up on Brownell's 44-40 Blue gel a couple of months back.

Greg

 

[fdkay]

I bought one that was pretty hacked up at a local pawn shop. Went out to shoot it and discovered someone had run a .223 reamer in it..
tried some .223, shot like shit. haven't touched it since.
Numrich arms usually has some parts for it.
Back when my son was in high school, we were going on a deer hunting trip. I decided that he needed his own rifle, went to the same pawn shop and they had a 340 in .30-30. I told them I wanted a guarantee this time, they obliged.
Thing shoots lights out, came with an old 3/4" Lyman Alaskan scope. paid 250 bones for the rifle and scope, the scope was easily worth that.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Greg, I bet it comes out beautifully. And it's a great caliber!

Definitely worth restoration! Post some pix and enjoy your time among the volcanoes and poi!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sandwarrior]

That is one of the two "big" rifles my dad owned when I grew up. Shooting 50 gr. Sierra Lightnings, I killed a ton of jackrabbits. He got the thing for $25 back in the mid sixties. He says he tried everything for powder, then one day he was talking to Wes Ugalde and he told him fill it up with 4985 (they didn't separate them then). Anyhow, it shot pretty good. For whatever reason, my dad said that rifle didn't like other powders, they worked just fine.

That rifle in .222 Rem should have a 1-14" twist. So, if you want to shoot surplus FMJBT bullets, they may not do so well. 50's is the ticket with that case, as it doesn't quite have the oomph to stabilize a 55 gr. FMJBT from that twist. The .223 has just enough more to do it. I found it worked but all the reports I got back from Nevada (family) said it didn't. And, cases stuck. So, load it down a smidge, use flat base 50 gr. bullets is my suggestion.

 

[Stevo86]

I bought one of these in 30-30 from a pawn shop when I was 18, it came with the side mount and a older tasco scope. Think I gave $200 for it. It was already zeroed when I got and I've never had to do anything to it. Rifle was in good shape, its claimed a few hogs and coyotes.

 

[260284]

I have one that came from the Rochester area, my wife is from south of Syracuse. It had a 4x15 Weaver in a side mount. It took me a week of foaming bore cleaner to get the copper and carbon out of the barrel. I put a cheap 2.5-10 Simmons in a 1" side mount, bought 500 winchester brass, and worked up a load with the 50 gr Midway dogtown bullets and H335. I took it to South Dakota and shot lots of p-dogs with it. I have shot a few yotes with it here in KS. I tried some 40 gr V-max in it with some CFE-223 and it shoots pretty good considering the trigger is pretty heavy. I did find another magazine for it at a pawn shop for $30. It has really nice wood for a Savage.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

We're back, everyone's taking naps but me. I've had basically 2 hours of sleep in the past 30 hours. What a fabulous experience; will talk details once I've had a night's rest. But one thing now, Pearl Harbor was the experience of a lifetime.

Just before we bolted out the door last week, I dug out a box and a half of Nosler 50gr Ballistic Tips, which I'll use once the Remmy stuff gets shot up and the brass is ready for reloading.

This rifle's so bad off, I am seriously considering giving it a complete tear down and using Orkan's idea about giving it a good soak in CLR, only the entire barrel, in and out. There's nearly nothing to lose at this point, and I have the tools needed to take off the Savage barrel; a nut wrench, a sturdy vise, and barrel blocks, Call it an experiment in the extreme.

More later, after a good night.

Greg

 

[Greg Langelius *]

OK, doing due diligence, I started researching the Savage 340 rifle, and found this especially helpful series of articles.

Also note that this site sources the existing replacement magazines, made by the author's (and son's) firm with their purchased original Savage tooling.

Greg

 

[sandwarrior]

Greg,

Thanks for posting back on this. I'm eagerly awaiting results of what you find. When I was last out in NV, factory ammo did not stick. But, the reloaded cases that were sticking popped out with just a touch of a cleaning rod. No banging or anything. So, it kind of sounds like a reloading sizing problem. It's hard to figure out from thousands of miles away. Not to mention, the rifle got traded to my sister who didn't like the bigger recoil of the rifle she got. She''s happier with the .222.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Doing more research, there appears to be a lot of interest in using phosphoric acid as a rust remover. A quart of 85% (food grade) (???) is affordable. I was thinking of getting some white plastic drain pipe and some caps then soaking the disassembled barrel for some time or so. Supposedly it only touches the rust and leaves bare metal alone. The rust on the barrel is pretty badly established.

Very curious about this. Any experience? Any advice?

Greg

 

[MarinePMI]

I suppose if you're willing to write off all the bluing and re do it, then naval jelly would do the job....

 

[Greg Langelius *]

The bluing is already largely disappeared with the surface rust, so, yes, naval jelly is a contender. I like the phosphoric acid because of its reduced toxicity and simple means of acquisition. Thank you for your response. I was just putting out a feeler to find out of anyone had experienced any results that might indicate a show-stopper for my project.

Greg

 

[fdkay]

Phosphoric acid works pretty well, it has been used for many years.
Let us know how it turns out.