Savage-soft recievers?

[KQguy]

I called my smith today to see how my rifle was coming along(rechambering my 300WM savage to a 7mm WSM,true action etc.),and he said he thought it had a soft reciever,but he will shoot it next week and see what's going on.He said if he doesn't like what he see's,he will have to put a new reciever on.Is this very common on Savage's,or did I just get a rare lemon?

 

[Coyboy]

If he trully thinks it's soft why would he shoot it?

If I were him I would take it to a local tech school or cnc shop or heat treater and ask to use a hardness tester. It might save him some pain, and you some money.

 

[specweldtom]

Good advice. If the rifle has been shot a lot, it may show some bolt setback and maybe excessive wear at the cocking ramp on the receiver bridge, but the locking lug area in particular should be Rockwell or Brinell hardness tested. Strength directly correlates to hardness.

Since the question has been raised, I would want to know more before either finishing the project or replacing the receiver. A call to Savage would be in order. They should tell you either their design hardness (or design yield strength). They may even want it back to test themselves.

I would like to know how it comes out.

Good luck, Tom

 

[NesikaChad]

The problem with trying to hardness test a finished action is that it is a rather challenging task to fixture the thing. If you lay it in a "V" block and "ding it" you will get a false reading every time. It's going to read harder than what it really is. The reason is the receiver is going to flex and this will absorb some of the pressure exerted during the test. The diamond won't penetrate as far and it'll indicate being harder than what it really is. The best answer to mitigate this is to saw a ring off, grind it flat, and then test it on edge. Of course this is a bad idea when it's your action since its destroyed in the process.

This was a problem we faced at Nesika and the only way to really mitigate it is to alter the manufacturing order of operations a bit. It's a little more of a challenge to machine this way since the hardness goes up, but with SS it kinda works to your advantage because the material leaves a better finish as long as you use sharp tools and are a little conservative with speeds/feeds.


The only possible way I can think of that might work is to machine a slug from the same material as the receiver and thread it into the action. What your trying to do is fool the action into thinking its a solid piece of material again. I don't know if it'll work or not and the only way to really know is to again ruin the receiver by cutting the ring, grinding, and testing.

When in doubt, send the thing back to the manufacturer. I'd advise you tell the GS to just stop and send it back.

 

[KQguy]

Thanks for th replies!My smith told me he will take it out next week and test fire it,he will start with a mild load,then throw the onion to it(I guess he meant a hot load).He said he would not send it out if he thought it was bad.What would shooting it show,as far as being soft?He also said during our conversation,that the reciever was really straight,which could be why it seemed soft,because the tooling didn't have to work as hard.I know nothing about gunsmithing,I am just trying to replay our conversation.Any more opinions and input would be appreciated.

 

[J E Custom]

Thanks for th replies!My smith told me he will take it out next week and test fire it,he will start with a mild load,then throw the onion to it(I guess he meant a hot load).He said he would not send it out if he thought it was bad.What would shooting it show,as far as being soft?He also said during our conversation,that the reciever was really straight,which could be why it seemed soft,because the tooling didn't have to work as hard.I know nothing about gunsmithing,I am just trying to replay our conversation.Any more opinions and input would be appreciated.

I would do as specweldtom said and at least call savage to get as much information
as possible on materal used on this action and proper test procedures to verify that
nothing is wrong.

I am not a metallurgist but there are FREE MACHINING STEELS that have alloys added to
improve machineability. they are not good for welding but that is not an issue with a recever

Some actions are very tough to machine and some are case hardened and only carbide
tools will work on them.

It would not supprise me to find out that savage uses free machining steel on there recevers
because it reduces production cost without sacrificing strength.

And I would join the ranks of "find out first" group before I fired any rifle that was suspect.

You will never know if it is good, but you WILL know if it's bad.

If you call savage and give them the serial number they can look back at there MTRs (material
test reports) and verify the material used in your action.

Peace of mind is worth more than the cost of any action !!!!!!!

Just my 2 cents
J E CUSTOM

 

[KQguy]

I just got off the phone with Savage,and they said there is nothing they can do over the phone.They told me I would have to send it in,but they have never had a problem with soft recievers,and they all go through the same heat treated processes.I guess I will just wait and see what my smith say's after he spends more time with it.Hopefully he is right about the reciever being exceptionally straight,and maybe that is why it machined so easily.

 

[edge]

IMO, Joe from Savage is a great guy. He will check it out for you and if it is wrong he will make it right. If in doubt, send it to him

edge.

 

[KQguy]

IMO, Joe from Savage is a great guy. He will check it out for you and if it is wrong he will make it right. If in doubt, send it to him

edge.

I talked to Joe today,and told him about the situation.He is more than willing to take care of any problems,he said he will stand behind anything that needs to be taken care of.He said he will even cover the shipping both way's,so my smith can send it to them for inspection.It doesn't get any better than that for customer support.