Ok, I appreciate the feedback on this thread.. here's update for what its worth.. bear with me..
I went back several weeks ago to retest. I had loaded some various Speer bullets and thought I'd start with 45.0 grains and back way off the lands (2.660" oal ogive). Long story short, it failed miserably. Stuck case froze bolt. I cannot believe its still excessive pressure.
Nonetheless, I sent it back to Savage and received back last week. Bolt head was not replaced but the invoice said they repaired redrilled the ejector and fixed extractor which was not really damaged but could tell they replaced parts.
Anyway, I decided to (retest again)scrap the Speer bullets and go with what worked in past. Sierra 117-gr SBT, and started low (44.0-gr H4831sc), note this is almost the starting load in the manual; and since I had success with 48.8 grains in the past, I would test in 1 grain increments to see if I could work back up to it.. Well, the three 44.0 grains shot good, then I got the 45.0 gr. ..and blown primer/stuck case again. I could get bolt open, however the extractor and detent ball were blown out and the ejector was blown in. At this point I'm totally at odds with this gun, I cant get proper bolt operation with any constency and I cant believe I'm getting over-pressures/stuck cases now with only 45 grains. This may just be the rifles max but I'm finding that very hard to believe.
Has anyone had similar experiences ? I'm brainstorming every possible culprit but can only think the powder is bad or it just doesn't like H4831. RE-22 has worked well .. however I've only been using H4831sc recently, and maybe it cant stand this powder which is hard to believe. I'm thinking switching back to RE22 or getting some Retumbo. I'm even thinking there is some sort of head clearance problem or ejector is just problematic, as I've had past issues come up when the ejector is functioning. I may just switch powders and see what happens.. thanks for any further thoughts.
Signed,
Truckin along.. in full reverse
