Tweaking a Savage LWH

[letrbuck]

I was recently able to pick up a Savage 16 LWH in 7mm-08 for a steal, and I have been looking at getting a light gun for backpack hunts, so I jumped on it.

This will be my first Savage, and it's definitely nothing special... My major gripe is the spiral fluted bolt seems to hang up and catch every so often when cycling the bolt. Something that could be super annoying if I ever need a quick follow up shot.

Is the bolt body and receiver something that I could polish to make this happen less? Anyone ever tried? I figured I could polish with some lapping compound and cycle the bolt a few hundred times? Thoughts?

 

[dsculley]

While I don't have any experience with that particular model, I have 110 and don't have any issues with the bolt. How much has this rifle been used? Perhaps you just need to cycle the bolt a bit and see if it gets better before adding abrasives to the mix. Or perhaps work the bolt slowly to see where it is hanging up then examine closely to see what might be causing it.

FWIW,

 

[letrbuck]

the rifle is brand new. I think the edges of the spiral bolt flutes is what it's hanging up on. I noticed the problem increases significantly if the bolt is not pushed 100% straight, which can be tricky when cycling the bolt quickly because there is a ton of play when the bolt is pulled all the way back

 

[can1010]

it is the ejector that causes it to hang up. solution is to replace with non fluted bolt body or older style bolt head with plunger style ejector