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Bolt hard to manipulate in bolt action savage, how to fix?

AZIROC

AZIROC

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 27, 2012
283
51
Avondale, AZ
Im not much of a bolt gun shooter and the gun in question is my g/f's Savage .243. Idk if u need more details of the gun but its just a real plain jane Savage .243 20" with a nice bushnell 6-18 scope (its 1 of her deer rifles). Anywho, she has a .300 weatherbye rifle and that bolt you can manipulate with EASE. My bolt action savage 223 takes alittle force to "unlock". Her .243, according to her, use to be like the weatherby, but when we took it out this last time it was rough. When you unlock the bolt (either after you fired a round or if no round is inthe chaimber) its REALLY stiff. pulling it back and forward its smooth, but locking it its stiff again. like, u have to use more then what u should. Is there a way to fix this? somethng I should be looking for? I cleaned the rifle(s) after we went to the range but it still does it. Do i need to take out the trigger group ?
 
Savages are notorious for having heavy bolt lifts. My advice is to disassemble the bolt and lightly polish the camming surfaces on the bolt body and the cam pin. Additionally, you can cut a couple links off of the firing pin spring, just make sure you know what you're doing. There's also a thread on the hide about making a bushing out of a .38 Special casing and a ball bearing that helps with smoothness. With a little work, the bolt lift can actually be pretty decent.
 
Thanks Temp9, i will check it out.

Stock, its her deer rifle and she said its never been that heavy of a lift. Shes happy with it so I aint going to tell her to sell it. Plus isnt Remington now in the same catagory as ArmaLite as far as "screw you citizens, cops can have it but yall cant?"
 
By your description, I'm guessing this is a problem that appeared after use.
Disassemble bolt, clean and lube, reassemble and see it that helps.
Check for corrosion while you're in there.
 
Yay Remington. U can get a rough bore, long throat, crooked recoil lug, and piss poor machined action. But the bolt lift and throw is so silky......until u try a tikka, and then the remmy feels like shit.
 
Call Kevin Rayhill and get his bolt lift kit (will help a little), or make your own using the 38 Special case & ball bearing as can be found here.

Disassemble bolt and polish the cocking pin & cam surfaces on the bolt, then apply a little grease or other lubrication to it.

Short of that...send it to Rayhill or Fred Moreo for a time & true job.
 
If it "used to be better", it sounds like something has changed to me? Savage bolt lift issues are there from day one, not something that increases over time. The bolt lift kits and oversized handles as mentioned will work, but it sounds like you have other issues with the 243.
 
Temp9 said:
There's also a thread on the hide about making a bushing out of a .38 Special casing and a ball bearing that helps with smoothness. With a little work, the bolt lift can actually be pretty decent.
Click to expand...

Does anyone have the above mentioned thread bookmarked?
 
If it all the sudden became hard to lift and/or put into battery then you have an obstruction somewhere. Either the front action screw is to tight or too long, there's other fod in the recoil lug area, there's something wrong with the extractor baffle.
Did you disassemble it at all when you cleaned it, or just remove the bolt?
The trigger assembly has nothing to do with bolt lift issues.
 
Loosen the front action screw a turn or so and see if it does it still. If it still does it remove the extractor ring and try again. If it still does it check to see if your bolt see if your bolt assembly screw is tightened all the way.
Beyond that, pictures would help.
 
ArmyJerry said:
OP try some grease on the cam area, youtube the disassembly of the bolt, takes a few minutes. I have both Remmy and Savages, the Savages will out shoot a Remmy any day out of the box.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You can spend more money on the Remington, but it really isnt going to buy you much of anything useful.
 
Hard to tell exactly what's happening from the OP. sounds like your working up a new load and now your having issues when chambering. (I'm assuming that's what you mean by locking) stock savage barrels have notoriously short throats. You may be jamming into the lands with your hand loads. This can also be the cause of your new found bolt lift issues as jamming into the lands can also cause an over pressure situation.
 
If you are developing a new handload you could have a host of issues. I won't delve into that mess until the OP bothers to tell us if that is what he is doing.

When I went through sniper school my M24 bolt got progressively harder to manipulate, to the point I was having to smack it to open. Turned out that sand was blowing into the action during the course of shooting, getting crushed, and filling up my action. I ended up having to go into the lug recess area with a dental pick to scrape everything out and function returned to normal.

Aside from that if you are not applying lube to the lugs (especially the contact surfaces on the backside) you need to as you may be developing galling on the lugs due to metal on metal contact plus heat, friction, and pressure.

Pics of your chamber area and lugs would help spot any damage or debris.
 
Last edited:
Action screw too tight?

Change scope mounts? (front mount can be put on with a screw too long and bind the bolt)

Brass needs the shoulder bumped back more?

There's a lot that could be going on here; more details would help.
 
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All i can think of that it likely is FOD in the lug area of the receiver, or if it is a wood stock it may have swollen up while it sat and the cutout for the bolt lever is interfering. Best guess from my without pics or video.
 
Disassemble the bolt, clean, and grease bolt lugs, baffle, shaft on cocking pin/cocking ramp, and the half moon in front of the bolt handle. There is a slight ramp on the rear left corner of this half moon, the bolt handle rides that ramp as the bolt is camming shut or opened. Also take a lug recess mop and clean all the shit out of the recess . My savages have just slightly more lift effort then my trued up remmy's, far from night and day. Tikka blows both away so bad it isn't funny...seriously. A buddy had a nice Remington built by a very popular smith on the hide, got it and we went shooting together. My savages had easier bolt lift then his, he was pissed too. He was shooting fgmm and my 2 savages had 500-2000 rds on them. He had always read on the Errornet how hard savage bolts were to open, never actually tried one that had more then a few rds through them. I still chuckle at the look on his face when he realized what a savage felt like that was broken in compared to his custom. He lives 6 hrs away so that was the first time he actually got to shoot a savage.
 
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Tear the bolt apart and clean it, but as others said with handloading lots of varables. Didn't run a hot load out of it,did you?
 
LRJammer said:
Agreed. You can spend more money on the Remington, but it really isnt going to buy you much of anything useful.
Click to expand...

it will buy you a follow up shot on that trophy deer , or actually eject the spent cartridge and chamber the next one.,,,,, everytime.
 
Sorry for the late update. I took the bolt apart and cleaned it, also cleaned the barrel just cause we did shoot it a decent amount. I did not see anything to obstruct it or excess dirtiness, but when i reassembled the bolt and put it back together it did improve alot. still alittle stiff imo, but when i had my g/f try it, she said it was almost how it was but she was fine with it.

thanks for the help guys. i try a few other things on here and see if it helps it out any more.
 
goody said:
it will buy you a follow up shot on that trophy deer , or actually eject the spent cartridge and chamber the next one.,,,,, everytime.
Click to expand...

Dont believe everything you read on the internet. Sheep feed on the greenest grass, and that is right over the septic tank.
 
Well it has to buy you a follow up shot, its a Remmy, no need for these things when you shoot a Savage, it only takes one shot.

To the op work the bolt and bit and grease it with some zippo fluid then clean it again, just a suggestion..

goody said:
it will buy you a follow up shot on that trophy deer , or actually eject the spent cartridge and chamber the next one.,,,,, everytime.
Click to expand...
 
LRJammer said:
Dont believe everything you read on the internet. Sheep feed on the greenest grass, and that is right over the septic tank.
Click to expand...

I believe none of what I hear and half of what I see. I have a couple friends I hunt with and have felt that sandpaper action and seen rounds not feeding properly,,,, or at all. and my rems only need a follow up shot if I screw up. ... actually,, I was just feeding off the first smart reply. all in fun. own what u want. I,ll still take my remys. stay safe. dan
 
Take the front action screw out and grind about one thread off it. The old stock may have compressed or shrank a bit over the years and the front guard screw is protruding up into the lug area. Fairly common problem.
 
Search online for the instructions for the nat lambeth bolt lift kit. Follow them. All of them.


If you have some mechanical aptitude you can make the lift kit by cutting the case head off a 357 or 38 special case and using a bb in the primer pocket. Be sure to shorten the bolt assembly screw for the thickness of the new assembly .

If you lack the mechanical aptitude to do that, sell the gun and buy a tikka.
 
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