anyone have any thoughts on this?

[briandg]

This was posted on a local page.

I've got a Savage 270 bolt action rifle that only fires about 50% of the time. The other 50% it will dent the primer. I've sent the rifle to savage who said they took the bolt apart, adjusted something, then test fired it with success. The rifle still only fires about 50% of the time. Any ideas on what I can do or a gun smith who can take a look at it?

here are my thoughts. I can't help thinking that it involves a sloppy chamber.

Was it warranty? send it back again, have the extractor checked, have springs and the actual length of the pin checked, and you personally should get a headspace gauge and check for proper headspace.

Your problem would have either been friction in the firing pin channel, or a severely defective spring, drag on the pin by a bad trigger assembly, or, improper headspace or other problem that prevented the pin from giving a solid blow.

Primers are not that darned hard. a rifle pin/spring hits like a hammer. The probability that it is caused by light strikes, to me, seems very unlikely. It seems to me that the headspace isn't right. a 270 case is supposed to butt against the shoulder, not hook up on the back, and if that ammo is not solidly against the chamber shoulder, you won't get a strike. If you take your fired ammunition and very carefuly measure the shoulder to rim dimensions, and try to get accurate overall dimensions of the shell to an unfired shell, you may find that the ones that fired are stretched quite a bit.

My thoughts are that your rifle is really messed up somewhere, and it sure isn't a simple thing that involved just a spring or dirt.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

If it was new and doing that, it could be a few things, but I doubt Savage letting one pass by with bad headspace. This, especially, if it was at a Gunsmith's bench at the factory, as they will most definitely check the headspace.

I would have to look at what the primers looked like on the ones that did and didn't fire. It could be a firing pin problem, either too short, or the nose not machined correctly. Maybe, even a firing pin spring that is out of spec, or something wrong with the firing pin holes in the bolt.

Differing ammo has differing types of primers, and some are harder than others, plus, some may be pressed in too low in the cartridge. That could cause a firing pin, that is really out of spec a little, to not work correctly.

One might tell him to try another brand of ammo.

 

[James K]

Savage probably adjusted the firing pin protrusion.

I also would look to the ammo; it is not easy to tell the difference between light strikes and dead primers.

Jim

 

[briandg]

I forgot to add the other points he made in later posts. He as had bad results with three brands. He said that they claimed to have worked on the bolt and successfully test fired it.

So many possible problems, most of them should be related to either bolt or ammo. Headspace I figured that they wouldn't check, and just a few hundredths could be enough to allow the case to slip forward without setting off the primer, jusike a short shell in a semiautomatic pistol can.

Not knowing anything else, it honestly could be a bunch of b.s.. tell the world that savage sucks, the guns are useless and they won't fix them. If he gives any more information, I'll pass it on.

 

[F. Guffey]

I also would look to the ammo; it is not easy to tell the difference between light strikes and dead primers.

It depends on who is looking, then there is the 'when they are looking'. I have killer firing pins, my primers are crushed by the firing pin before the bullet, case and powder know their little buddy, the primer, has been crushed. All other reloaders have firing pins that drive the case, bullet and powder to the shoulder of the chamber before the primer is crushed.

I have firing pins that crush the primer 'AND' the shoulder of the case never makes it to the shoulder of the chamber.

A shooter purchased a new rifle with two boxes of new R-P ammo. Out of the first 20 rounds 5 were 'failed' to fire. The 5 failed to fire rounds were chambered in 3 other 30/06 chambers, the 5 failed to fire rounds had at least 5 chances to fire. Long story, I suggested they call R-P, I suggested they save the box the ammo came in, I suggested they get the contact information for the proud new owner.

F. Guffey