Factory ammo showing pressure in new savage

[Kevins750]

Took the new savage FCP,-SR 308w to the range to clean up the barrel and put a few rounds down range and nearly every round was hard to extract. Have to smack the bolt handle. I thought it was my hand loads and cheap Lee dies(waiting for the Forster's to show up)I used pmc brass which appears to be thick. At any rate I switched over to some 175FGMM and still seeing pressure signs.

I have scrubbed the chamber and put a little grease on the bolt lugs and some on the area next to the cocking piece. And if time allows I will
Go out tomorrow and check the factory rounds and maybe load up some 175's at the lowest powder level in my virgin lapua brass.

FGMM 175's

That shot on the left is from some aguilla 150gr

 

[SIDS01]

Have to smack the bolt up, or back after it's lifted?

 

[Kevins750]

Smack it back. Lift and close are fine and not real heavy.

 

[SIDS01]

Might not be pressure, just a lack of primary extraction.

Bring a set of feeler gauges the next time you shoot it. Before you load it, experiment with how large a shim you can put between the rear of the receiver and the rear bolt baffle before it clicks on closing. It might take 0.020" - 0.040" of shim. After firing it, put that shim in before you try to extract the case.

It's a common problem with Savages and R700s. There is a cottage industry for unsoldering and moving the R700 bolt handle to fix it. With the Savage, it's fixed by shortening the bolt body on a mill. The home remedy is drilling the rear bolt baffle for a couple set screws and taking up the slack that way.

 

[Kevins750]

I have a half dozen savages and this truly is the first issue I have had.
I have heard of extraction issues before with savages, guess I been lucky.

 

[SIDS01]

I'm at about the same count, but none of them are stock. I've shortened the bolt bodies on all of them, but only one of them was bad enough to cause the problem you're describing.

If it takes less than 0.020" to take up the clearance, this isn't your problem.

If it's a new gun, Savage will make it right.

 

[BuildItYourSelf]

I wouldn't really call that an obvious over pressure sign. The primers look flat sure but the dent doesn't have any raise on it. And no marks on the ass of the brass.
Probably just thin primer cups.

Is there any indication on the fired case of a short neck on the chamber? What I mean is does anything show that the crimp is held tight? I had that happen with a used rifle I picked up. It would show super flat primers at random on a box of factory ammo I got with the rifle that I used to zero a freshly mounted scope.
What happened was some of the cases had a shorter shoulder and most likely a longer neck. So when struck they got pushed up and the short neck cut in the chamber held the very very end of the mouth tight to the bullet until the case expanded and pushed the base back pulling the neck away from the restricted area. The fired case had a normal shape but had very aggressive mark where the crimp would be. I didn't think nothing of it until I thought to compare with an unfired cartridge that should not mark at all.
So I stopped shooting it and took it to a guy I was friends with (this was in my early days of learning and just getting into reloading). He cast the chamber and sure enough the neck of the chamber was just a little short of proper and the factory trim leangth was right on the edge of max.
Obviously a freak occurrence but figured I share something I came across that started as a "Wtf" kinda moment.

 

[Kevins750]

Not sure about length but I shot 2 different types of factory ammo and freshly trimmed hand loads, 95% gave me problems.

 

[Kevins750]

Gouges on the cases?

 

[Tx_Aggie]

Might not be pressure, just a lack of primary extraction.

Bring a set of feeler gauges the next time you shoot it. Before you load it, experiment with how large a shim you can put between the rear of the receiver and the rear bolt baffle before it clicks on closing. It might take 0.020" - 0.040" of shim. After firing it, put that shim in before you try to extract the case.

It's a common problem with Savages and R700s. There is a cottage industry for unsoldering and moving the R700 bolt handle to fix it. With the Savage, it's fixed by shortening the bolt body on a mill. The home remedy is drilling the rear bolt baffle for a couple set screws and taking up the slack that way.

This is good advice. The bolt lifting easily but not wanting to come backwards does make it sound like a primary extraction issue.

OP, IIRC, Savage only has a 12 month warranty so keep that in mind if you think you might want them to have a look.

 

[Kevins750]

Just wanted to update everyone. Sent the gun back to savage, they reamed and polished the chamber.
Happy to report it is as smooth as a savage can be, throws the spent cases out nicely. Still shoots too.

 

[Kevins750]

 

[RUTGERS95]

nice!