gun cleaning

Question
Hi,
Going through my father's storage I found a couple of old Savage semi-automatics, probably from the 30's or 40's.  They are spotty rusted--not deep, but maybe a little more than surface rust, but anyway not deep.  Other than removing the clip and pulling back the chamber just a bit to see if there was a bullet loaded I haven't done anything with them.  What should I do next?
Carl

Answer
First I would take off grips, spray entire gun with WD40 or other good lubricant, this will start the loosening of parts and stop the rust a bit. Put the gun with oil all over it in a zip lock baggie over night or a day or so.

Then take out and wipe down the entire gun. Then you want to start taking things apart, the mag, the gun.

Look of models and check youtube it may show how to disassemble them. Once you get everything apart, wipe down all parts and remove rust and oil, then respray all clean parts with lub again and put in clean zip lock baggie, let set overnight or a couple of days.  This will remove any other rust or debris you missed.

Then wipe down, put back together and you should be ready to test them out.

The more you take apart and clean the better.  You can either video tape yourself taking away so you can have a record or what you did to help put back together or you can take pictures of every step you take apart and then use them in reverse to put back together.

When you have it apart if their is any built up rust that the oil did not remove you can use fine sand paper to sand away rust or rough spots and then oil and put back together.

Hope that helps

I started a Gun and Tactics youtube channel where I address a lot of gun issues. Here are links:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsgkhimI0MthrMZo-F2zrTQ/videos


http://www.thinklikeahorse.org/All_About_Guns.html