Savage ejector spring problems

[britz]

I have had nothing but headachs w/ my savage 12 22-250. The latest thing that happened was a damaged ejector spring. I was shooting a fairly hot load and the ejector spring apparently was thrown back deep into the bolt head and is stuck. I have tried to use a pick to "flip" it back into line with the hole, but no luck. I have disassembled the bolt head from the rest of the body and I'm not sure what I can do next asside from purchasing a new bolt head. Have any of you guys encountered this problem before and what do you reccomend doing to fix it (asside from backing off the powder lol)?

Thanks.

 

[acloco]

Will the ejector move at all? If so, a little bit of light oil and keep working it back and forth.

If that does not work, drill it with an undersized drill bit - they are aluminum, I believe.

 

[Joel Russo]

Britz,

Had the same problem with my custom .240 Wby on a Savage 110 single shot action.

Blew the primer and it sent the ejector back so hard it compressed the spring to failure. The spring stuck inside the bolt head.

I drilled it out and replaced it with a Remington unit.

Problem solved.

Many hot loads later and still no problem.

 

[britz]

what is the main difference between the savage ejector and the remington. I am a little skeptical of "altering" the bolt face because I am seriously considering trading the rifle in on a Tikka. I am still having a hard time getting it to group and I still have ejection malfunctions after sending the rifle back to Savage.

Thanks much for the reply's guys!
Mark.

btw guys, is it pretty common for savages to have an oversized fireing pin hole? on all loads fired, - factory, light handloads to heavy handloads - the primer shows serious signs of this. ON the ones where the primer blew out causing my main problems -> the primes crater sticks out close to a milimeter beyond where the bolt face was.

 

[Joel Russo]

Not sure what the exact dimensions are between the two without taking measurements, but the Rem is quite a bit larger. Sort of the way Savage should have made theirs.

 

[britz]

So, there is a small (approximately 3/32 inch) pin that holds the ejector in and I removed it. If I intend to simply replace it with another savage pin from Midway usa, I should then just be able to drill out the old ejector pin, fish the debris out and place in a new spring and pin? Just wondering if this is something I should attempt in my garage or if I would be better off having a smith do the work?

Thanks again guys!

 

[acloco]

What are your loads? Believe you are loading a bit too hot.

 

[britz]

happened on 34.5g varget and 60 gr Vmax's. I know the load was apparently too hot with soft remington brass (junk!), but I was well in the limits according to Hodgdon's data. Have you ever experinced this first hand with the savage?

 

[britz]

well, I got impatient and decided to give it a try to drill it out myself and I got the old pin out, but the spring still won't come yet. I'll probably just work on it with a drill for a while and order a new spring and ejector plug from Midway. Thanks for the information guys!!!

a side note: a local smith told me that he may have to send it in to the factory if they coldn't get it out and that gets kinda spendy cuz they have to send the whole rifle in. I suggested that it mab be cheaper to simply purchase a new bolt head from midway and he said that every bolt head has to be custom fit to the chamber???? I thought you could swopp those heads pretty easily without any costom work...?

 

[AJ Peacock]

well, I got impatient and decided to give it a try to drill it out myself and I got the old pin out, but the spring still won't come yet. I'll probably just work on it with a drill for a while and order a new spring and ejector plug from Midway. Thanks for the information guys!!!

a side note: a local smith told me that he may have to send it in to the factory if they coldn't get it out and that gets kinda spendy cuz they have to send the whole rifle in. I suggested that it mab be cheaper to simply purchase a new bolt head from midway and he said that every bolt head has to be custom fit to the chamber???? I thought you could swopp those heads pretty easily without any costom work...?

You just need to set the headspace on the barrel. This takes about 5 minutes.

AJ

 

[britz]

Thanks a lot for the information guys, Just got the bolt put back together with midwayUSA parts (@$15... not too bad) and I'm going to start putting 'er through the paces again lol!

 

[michael.mule66]

Britz,

Had the same problem with my custom .240 Wby on a Savage 110 single shot action.

Blew the primer and it sent the ejector back so hard it compressed the spring to failure. The spring stuck inside the bolt head.

I drilled it out and replaced it with a Remington unit.

Problem solved.

Many hot loads later and still no problem.

That is a fantastic idea. Is it really as simple a job as just drilling out to a larger diameter and using the REM spring and ejector? Does the original pin work to keep the ejector in place? Thanks!

 

[Joel Russo]

That is a fantastic idea. Is it really as simple a job as just drilling out to a larger diameter and using the REM spring and ejector? Does the original pin work to keep the ejector in place? Thanks!

Sent you an email with information on how I did it. I can't remember if I had to drill the retainer pin hole to accept the Remington pin. If so, that's an easy operation. Measure the outside diameter of the pin, and use an appropriate drill size.
Your pilot hole is already there...

 

[MagnumManiac]

In regard to your cratering problem, my last 2 factory Rem 700's had the same problem. I just went ahead and had them bushed. A customers rifle I have here, a VSSF II in 22-250 has a visible bevel, why they do this is beyond my comprehension! It craters badly and causes heavier bolt lift.
I will be bushing this also.

Cratering isn't a huge problem if tge cause is known, when the cause isn't known, it becomes an issue.

Cheers.
gun)