Savage Rifle Issue

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I posted this in gunsmithing, but I think it will get more looks here. :)

I need some 'advices' as Arnold Schwarzenegger put it on Pumping Iron.

I have a Savage 116FSS. I bought it new. I took it apart to clean and inspect as I always do with new rifles. It does not have the floorplate, so it is top load/unload only.

When I put it back together, The bolt was very hard to close and open. It seems I tightened the screws on the stock a little too much, and the 'lips' on the top of the magazine were pushed up a little into the area where the bolt travels. When I backed the screws out a little, the bolt traveled fine. I'm used to Remingtons and Winchesters where you tighten the screws fairly tight(Not sure of the torque values offhand).

The screws are not loose to the point where they will wobble out, but in my mind they should be tighter. It takes no effort at all to do one or 2 more full turns, but if I do I have the bolt travel issue.

Is this a normal thing with this model of rifle? Is there anything defective? Should I take the Dremel to the lip and hone a little off so I can tighten the screws a little more? Call Savage and send to factory maybe?

Any 'advices' or help would be appreciated.
 
Is it one of the new centerfeed Savages? And are you sure one of the screws isn't too long, and interfering with the bolt?
 
Pretty sure, they don't go near the bolt. I watched what happened as I screwed them in tighter, and it did indeed push the magazine in a little bit. The interference was the bolt catching on the top of the mag. With the bolt starting from all the way back, it would actually get stuck on the end of the mag lip if I had the screws tightened enough.
 
Get some plastic washers and put between your action and the stock. This should allow you to tighten the screws the way you want without smashing the mag lips into the bolt.
 
Check your mag box. You may have not installed it correctly. It's possible you have damaged it at this point. As you said it was fine before you took it appart.
t001.gif
Cheers
MJ
 
MJ:

I did not remove the magbox. I removed the bolt, stock, and mag spring. I doublechecked and made sure the mag spring was oriented properly per the schematic.

The magbox doesn't move. I know how to remove it, but I didn't.

I should have been more clear about how detailed I got with the rifle disassembly. I also didn't take the bolt apart yet.
 
Watch out as the 2 screws that hold the stock on are NOT the same length. One is a touch longer than the other.
 
Watch out as the 2 screws that hold the stock on are NOT the same length. One is a touch longer than the other.
Click to expand...

Roger that.

I lay everything out like it's an exploded view, so I know I didn't do that. Did it on a Winchester years ago, but it was pretty obvious right as I did it.
 
I have a Stevens and they are much the same, and you might want to check the finger guard. If it is plastic, you may have split the plastic, thus letting the screw go too deep. I just cut down the front hole so it would clear the torque bolt and two washers. I put that in first, torqued to 30 and put the finger guard on with the back screw for a quick fix. You need the metal finger guard. Don't force nothing.
 
I agree with the washer bit, also , if this is a synth stock, you are just begging for trouble, with a Savage stock. Deff begs for washers, or if you feel froggy, a new stock.
 
if it has no type of bedding, ie pillar or full length, then i can see where screw torque could cause problems. i am not familiar with Savage but have seen the same thing on Weatherby Vanguard & Howas. the easiest cure is a stock with pillar bedding or full length. it will shoot better too.
 
Folks are giving good clues here.

Is it one of the new centerfeed Savages? And are you sure one of the screws isn't too long, and interfering with the bolt?
Click to expand...

Watch out as the 2 screws that hold the stock on are NOT the same length. One is a touch longer than the other.
Click to expand...

I've done this. The problem is the action screw by the chamber.

It's in too deep. A few possible causes:
- Perhaps you compressed the bedding
- Perhaps the or the chamber-side screw was tightened first and the action see-sawed a bit, you'll see this in how well the barrel is floated. It this is the case, it will look less-free floated than before. (Glass bedding will help overall, but by carefully tightening the action screws and looking for the action tilting, you'll see this.)
- Or the two screws were swapped (longer and shorter) and are in the wrong spots.

Try this, loosen the action screw by the chamber, and work the action. My bet is that is slightly protruding.
 
Pics would still help. It sounds like one of the new centefeeds, and i've never seen one. I have had to trim some action screws when I changed stocks.
 
Savage can use the wrong screw. Mine came with one so short it only grabbed a thread and a half. Ordered one from Brownell's, problem fixed.
 
The pillars will not compress (as far as I know, all synthetic Savage stocks are pillar bedded). With that in mind, it is hard to imagine how the stock would compress with the pillars in place. The whole point is that the pillars take the force of the screws (on mine, the pillars were obvious from the bottom, so that there was no plastic over them, so that when you tightened, the stock took no direct force). I don't mean to sound condescending, but have you tried switching the screws around to see what happens? There could be a magazine issue, but that is just hard to imagine because the mag box is not intended to touch the stock at the bottom (there should be some free space down there). And with pillars, I don't see how the stock can compress at all. I would be really surprised if the 116 lacked pillars.

Ash
 
Ash said:
The pillars will not compress (as far as I know, all synthetic Savage stocks are pillar bedded). With that in mind, it is hard to imagine how the stock would compress with the pillars in place. The whole point is that the pillars take the force of the screws (on mine, the pillars were obvious from the bottom, so that there was no plastic over them, so that when you tightened, the stock took no direct force). I don't mean to sound condescending, but have you tried switching the screws around to see what happens? There could be a magazine issue, but that is just hard to imagine because the mag box is not intended to touch the stock at the bottom (there should be some free space down there). And with pillars, I don't see how the stock can compress at all. I would be really surprised if the 116 lacked pillars.

Ash
Click to expand...

I have not tried switching the screws yet. I am 99.9% sure I put the screws back in the right place as I laid them out on the table in the correct order along with the trigger guard.

skinewmexico said:
Pics would still help. It sounds like one of the new centefeeds, and i've never seen one. I have had to trim some action screws when I changed stocks.
Click to expand...

I will try and get some pictures this weekend.

RugerOldArmy said:
I've done this. The problem is the action screw by the chamber.

It's in too deep. A few possible causes:
- Perhaps you compressed the bedding
- Perhaps the or the chamber-side screw was tightened first and the action see-sawed a bit, you'll see this in how well the barrel is floated. It this is the case, it will look less-free floated than before. (Glass bedding will help overall, but by carefully tightening the action screws and looking for the action tilting, you'll see this.)
- Or the two screws were swapped (longer and shorter) and are in the wrong spots.

Try this, loosen the action screw by the chamber, and work the action. My bet is that is slightly protruding.
Click to expand...

When I loosen the screws a little, the action cycles fine. The 2 screws in question are the one under the chamber and the one in front of the trigger guard. If either of them is tightened too much, the bolt hangs on the mag. When I put it back together for the last time, I went back and forth between the screws giving each a little turn much like you would do when changing a tire. I should think this would secure it without any see-sawing.

As I stated earlier, I called Savage, and they said that these 2 screws should be tightened to 25 inch - lbs. That is roughly 2.1 ft - lbs. Not much at all. I do a lot of work on my truck, and I know I went way past 25 inch - lbs with my allen wrench.

I'm going to pick up a torque wrench that reads that low along with an allen head socket set. I should have one of those anyway.

I did not overtighten the screw behind the trigger guard. It's one of those self-tapping type screws and it goes directly into plastic. The consequences of overtightening that one would be a split in the plastic.

All the advice is much appreciated. I will tinker with it again tonight and post what, if anything else, I find.
 
Yeah, the rear trigger guard screw is meaningless to the action. It only secures the rear of the guard on blind magazine models.

Ash
 
AS for taking the bolt apart all you need is either the correct allen wrench or a large screwdriver. I've taken mine apart several times with nothing more than either of these tools. The new Savages use a allen wrench and the older ones use a screwdriver. NO SPECIAL TOOLS NEEDED.
 
I've taken mine apart several times with nothing more than either of these tools. The new Savages use a allen wrench and the older ones use a screwdriver. NO SPECIAL TOOLS NEEDED.
Click to expand...

+1. This ain't a Remchester.
 
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