Calling all Savage guru's

It sounds like either a problem with the follower in the mag, or possibly the internal mag has been bent at some time.

Edited to add: I am not a Savage Guru.

More info

I think I understand, When the mag is full, it is not correctly feeding the round. It will not close completely until you with draw the bolt a little and push it home.



It could be the feed angle of the round with the mag full. The Savage is a push feed in that the extractor snaps over the cartridge. The bottom of the bolt face it not cut out to allow the cartridge to slide up into alignment. Like a Rem. This eliminates some problems and can cause problems.

I have not had this problem on any of my Savages specifically, but I have seen the same thing on about all bolts. The top round has to loaded all the way to the back of the mag like the first one. Often, the last one is not positioned correctly because the mag is getting full. This causes this problem.

Also, this round strips harder and can enter the chamber at a different angle due the pressure in the mag. This can cause this problem.

Just watch the angles as the rounds feed. It should tell you what is wrong. Some guns just don't want that last round in the mag.

Are you trying to put one too many in the mag? When I hunt, I put 3 mag (or 4 std) in the mag, then I drop the last round in the chamber. Wth the rifle mag area in the palm of my left hand, I us my finger tips to depress the rounds in the mag enough for the bolt to pass over the top round. I nudge the bolt forward over the base of the round in the mag, and then close the rifle. This way the mag is fully charged without trying to feed one too many out of the mag and binding it up. I do this with all put feed bolt guns (not Mausers or pre-64 Wins). Control feed guns must strip from the mag and cannot be loaded mag +1

I just fibbed a little. Where I hunt in the woods, I put about 2 in the mag (one less than it holds) and load the chamber as noted. This keeps lead tipped bullets from being nicked up from always going up the ramp. In the woods around here, you can wear out a bullet before you need to shoot it.

Take it to a local smith and put some headspace gauges to it. Since it doesn't look stock, someone may have not been to careful when they put the barrel on.

Also make sure if you are chambering reloads that they are sized correctly.

Follower

You mean the follower does not sit level?

Being plastic, the follower is not going to bend.

It is easy to work on. Pull the stock and the spring and follower falls out.

It should have good tension to the rear, and be softer to the front. There is a simple v spring in it that puts more pressure on the rear when installed properly. There is also a bevel on the rear for the bolt to ride over. This indicates if it in correctly. It could be in backwards or it was messed with. the spring can be bent a little wider to add tension.

Just as importantly, there are two "lips" in the action that act exactly like the lips of clip mag. These may be bent (most likely too wide) and allowing the cartridge to angle up at too great of an angle. Look carefully for these to be even on both sides. If the action end of one is bent, you have your problem. If the cartidges are releasing too soon, a little nudge by twisting a small flat tip screw driver between the recever and lip should move the feed lips a little bit and fix the problem. I can send a pic if you think it would help.

When you find them problem, you find it is actually simple. I wish I could get may hands on it; I would take care of it for you. The Savage is a good rifle.

How does yours shoot? My HB .223 thinks its is bench rest rifle some days. Best part, Savage put a 1:9 twist in these guns. Shoots the 75gr AMax or 69 match REALLY well.

Hope this helps