Project Deer Stalker Part 1

I am always on the look out for new projects and when I saw this Savage/Stevens model 325C for $100 I had to investigate further.
I already reload and keep 30-30 Win ammo as I have a Winchester model 94 in that caliber, so adding another rifle with the same chambering was an easy decision. 

See my Featured Gun post on this rifle here

I decided to name this Project Deer Stalker because it seems like the perfect deer gun for the woods or brush, areas where you need a lightweight, short, easy to handle rifle. The same reasons Ruger used the name for their .44 Carbine. Ruger was forced to drop the name because of a similar sounding name being used by Ithaca (Deer Slayer).



The first step is a thorough inspection....I had checked the bore before buying the gun and it was shiny and sharp.

Here are the before pictures:

The rear sight is a Marbles and the front one looks different than some of the others I have seen, this may be one of the changes made from the 325B or maybe from a model 340?

very light corrosion on the barrel

Here are the cracks in the wrist, they look pretty serious

The butt plate has seen better days

There is a large chunk missing from the grip cap area. 

When I removed the stock there was some rusting on the barrel where the barrel band rides.

Because I didn't have much in the gun and it needed a new stock, I took the plunge and bought a beautiful stock that was made for a model 340. The stock will fit, I may need to make room for my bolt handle (which is different than the model 340).

The butt pad looks like a correct reproduction unit, but the screws should be slotted. I'm pretty sure I have some correct ones in my stash. If not I can restore the originals. I am not going for a perfect restoration, I just like to have them look "period correct", meaning that the mods and parts match what was available when the gun was first purchased

  
I also have this nice Amish made 1" buffalo hide sling that I  purchased on ebay. It will look perfect on this rifle.

Plans:
First on the list is to shoot the gun and see how it runs.

Second would be to fit the new stock to the gun

Then I plan making this one of the nicest 325Cs ever by:

•  polishing to a high shine and rebluing the metal
•  polishing and nitre bluing the screws 
•  polish the bolt and bolt handle to a high shine
•  adding sling swivels and the leather sling.

The first step was to shoot the gun. I had a few boxes of 30-30 cartridges that I had loaded and some Hornady American Whitetail Ammunition, all where 150gr soft points. I had one box of my reloads that would not chamber completely, I think I might not have sized them fully or maybe with an older die set. The Hornadys and most of my other reloads worked just fine.
I took a box of reloads that chambered and took the gun out to shoot.
The gun chambered, fired and extracted the reloads without fail. I fired a couple of magazines full of ammo.

The empty cases showed no signs of an abnormal chamber, no scratches and no blow-by. The dimples in the primer, were not perfectly centered, but pretty close.

A picture of the bore, dirty, but no signs of rust when I cleaned it

All in all it showed to be a good investment. 

On with the refinishing.