Savage light strike, again..

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Shanghai McCoy

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I thought I had this problem solved after the last time but, no, this evening I had a coon dead to rights and it was "click". No bang and just a small dimple on the primer. It's an 11 Trophy Predator Hunter in 223 and very accurate. (When it goes off.. )

This happened a while back and I took apart the bolt and found a bit of crud in the firing pin channel. Cleaned it up and reassembled and it shot fine. I've been keeping it upstairs for varmint duty but it rests with the bolt de-cocked and unloaded.
Any suggestions?
 
EMC45 said:
Factory ammo or reloads? Has the barrel been off?
Click to expand...
Reloads and no the barrel has not been off. I'm going to dig up some of my factory ammo and try it with that.
Had a talk with a friend who does gun smith work and we're going to look at it together.
He also thinks headspace or the firing pin protrusion are the places to start.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Oh, I did not know that. It was something that I was wondering about but had not seen/read anything on the subject. Guess I need to look that up next.
Mahalo LoonWulf. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
To be clear I don't think it was meant to be adjusted, but because of the way though the firing pin assembly is designed screwing that back sleeve piece in and out changes the amount of force applied.

I haven't had a savage for a couple years now but I tried turning mine out until they would start misfiring then crank them back in. That did help reduce the bolt lift a little bit but generally I found it probably wasn't worth it, especially if dealing with hard primers.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Reloads and no the barrel has not been off. I'm going to dig up some of my factory ammo and try it with that.
Click to expand...

Definitely try some factory ammo and see if that makes a difference. I also suggest checking the primer seating depth on your reloads to make sure they aren't too deep. I have seen where people have had issues like yours depending on what brass and primers they are using. Stick with the KISS method and check the easy stuff first.
 
12Bravo20 said:
Definitely try some factory ammo and see if that makes a difference. I also suggest checking the primer seating depth on your reloads to make sure they aren't too deep. I have seen where people have had issues like yours depending on what brass and primers they are using. Stick with the KISS method and check the easy stuff first.
Click to expand...

The "KISS method" is my approach to pretty much everything. :thumbup:
What gets me about this is that it happened before and, after checking and cleaning the bolt, I test fired with my reloads and all went fine so I figured that the problem was solved.
I have always hated dealing with intermittent "faults" in equipment... :cuss:
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
I have always hated dealing with intermittent "faults" in equipment... :cuss:
Click to expand...

Intermittent faults are the worse to deal with. I hated getting called to work on a machine only for it to not mess up while I was standing around watching it.

I still say try some factory ammo and also check your reloads. Are all of the reloads that have light strikes the same brand of brass? And I would still follow others suggestions about checking the bolt and firing pin too.
 
Between work and weather it'll be a bit before I can test it.
I'm holding back from cleaning the bolt until I can run a factory round test then we'll go from there.

(Maybe I actually Do need a backup bolt action 223...? ) o_O
 
12Bravo20 said:
Definitely try some factory ammo and see if that makes a difference. I also suggest checking the primer seating depth on your reloads to make sure they aren't too deep. I have seen where people have had issues like yours depending on what brass and primers they are using. Stick with the KISS method and check the easy stuff first.
Click to expand...

Checked the rifle with three different factory rounds and they all worked fine. o_O
Going to test with some reloads next. :scrutiny:
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Checked the rifle with three different factory rounds and they all worked fine. o_O
Going to test with some reloads next. :scrutiny:
Click to expand...

What primers and brass are you using when you have problems?

Are you using 5.56/223 brass with a crimped primer? And if so, how are you removing the crimp?

Are you reloading to OAL called out in your manuals or are you reloading them long?

Let's see if we can narrow it down.
 
12Bravo20 said:
What primers and brass are you using when you have problems?

Are you using 5.56/223 brass with a crimped primer? And if so, how are you removing the crimp?

Are you reloading to OAL called out in your manuals or are you reloading them long?

Let's see if we can narrow it down.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your interest in my dilemma. :thumbup:

223 RP new brass cases. No crimp. R 7 1/2 Bench Rest primers. 2.20 OAL.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
Thanks for your interest in my dilemma. :thumbup:

223 RP new brass cases. No crimp. R 7 1/2 Bench Rest primers. 2.20 OAL.
Click to expand...

Have you tried shooting your reloads again? And if so how did they do?

With new brass properly sized and good primers, I wouldn't think you would have problems. How are the bench rest primers sitting in the new Rem brass compared to factory ammo?

And did you check head space and firing pin is extended correctly?
 
12Bravo20 said:
Have you tried shooting your reloads again? And if so how did they do?

With new brass properly sized and good primers, I wouldn't think you would have problems. How are the bench rest primers sitting in the new Rem brass compared to factory ammo?

And did you check head space and firing pin is extended correctly?
Click to expand...

Yeah, new brass,etc., I didn't think there would be problems either. And most of the time there haven't been... o_O
I seated the primers with my RCBS hand primer and they are as close as I can tell to the factory.
Weather looks good today so I plan on checking with an assortment of my reloads today and will see how that goes.

Firing pin extension and headspace check will follow.
 
I know how that goes when I was a machinist in the Army and worked industrial maintenance. Get called to look at equipment that is messing up and it works fine the whole time I am watching.

Well if you haven't checked already, check the headspace and firing pin extension if it messes up again.
 
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