I'm thinking of sending my Savage 12BR bolt to Gretan to get it bushed. This rifle shoots good for the money but I get badly cratered and pierced primers quite low on charge weight. With 105 VLD hunters I got pierced primers as low as 29.7 and nearly pierced as low as 29.3, the brass shows no signs of pressure from the ejector. I see guys on here running similar loads up to 31-32 grains, I'm sure a lot of these guys are running custom actions that have much tighter firing pin channels. Just curious how much it will help.
How much did getting your bolt bushed help catering/piercing?
- Thread starter zanemoseley
- Start date
My Savage varmint gun does the same thing. They say a new bolt head from PT&G will solve the problem (and fix the crappy Savage ejection problems). But I have not bought one yet. Bullets dot com has the best price on them I have found. After reading the Remington sucks thread, maybe we should start a Savage sucks thread!
I think those pictures seal the deal. My cratered primers are much worse than the first picture. The primers on the second picture with the bushed bolt are amazing. Ill report back when I get the bolt back.
jonbearman
I live in new york state,how unfortunate !
If it were a remington my answer is it works perfect and wished I had done it sooner. For the price get the PTG bolt head.
So is the PTG bolt head going to give as good or better results as getting the original bushed? The PTG bolt head would be about $30 cheaper and no waiting compared to the bush job.
IMOP, it's not practical to bush a Savage Bolt head for the simple reason its easily replaceable. Furthermore, you may find that if you ordered a new firing pin, you may fix your cratering issue. If it were me, I'd order a new bolt head and firing pin directly from Savage. You'd have to sign a waiver to purchase those parts, but it's the cheapest and quickest way to get the job done.
The drawback to replacing your bolt head is that you might have to set your headspace again. In the least, you'll need to re-adjust your dies, and your OAL if you're holding a close distance to lands.
That's why I'd start with a new firing pin. Nothing to change if that fixes the issue. It did for me.
The drawback to replacing your bolt head is that you might have to set your headspace again. In the least, you'll need to re-adjust your dies, and your OAL if you're holding a close distance to lands.
That's why I'd start with a new firing pin. Nothing to change if that fixes the issue. It did for me.
timeout
Silver $$ Contributor
I've never owned a Savage and am not bashing them. I'm curious to understand how buying replacement factory parts solves the issue. Has Savage realized that there was a problem and changed these parts dimensions? If not, sounds like a crap shoot to get anything better than what one already has. Again, I'm questioning, not bashing.
If your (and mine) factory bolt head and firing pin craters the primer, why in the world would you want to buy another? Cratered primers are pretty common on Savage rifles. Lets face it, PT&G would not make replacement bolt heads if the factory heads were any good in the first place.
Best money spent was getting most all my bolts bushed in these calibers, 17 fireball, 6br and 30br and 6.5X47 using factory savage or rem actions.
Well I think I'm gonna go the route of bushing the original bolt head. I like the idea of getting the PTG bolt head but bushing the original head seems to be less hassle and much cheaper. I still need lots of tools like a barrel vise, barrel nut wrench and GO/NO GO gauges. I also have to remove my scope and rail to adjust headspace, that on top of $225 in tools makes $90 for the bushing look quite attractive.
Grimstod
Machinist, Designer, and Shooter.
I have bushed the Bolts in every rifle I have now. It is really worth it. You can also lighten your firing pin spring and that makes opening the bolt easier. I bolt bush for savages exclusively for friends now at 39.99 ea. Its an easy thing to do so I see no reason to charge big $$. I can usually true up the lugs if they are dong a barrel swap and much more. I just did tonight for a friend of mine.
After and
Before.
His started at .074 and I finished it at .062
After and
Before.
His started at .074 and I finished it at .062
Last edited:
Yup mine is measuring .075" now.
6.5x47L the center 2 and the 2 on the right are before and after from a R700P and the 2 on left are from a Tac 30,,130VLDs with 42 grs H4350 and CCI450`s
Correct, the firing pin hole in the bolt face is .075" ID.
The issue is tolerance stack. IIRC, the firing pin dimensions are .068 to .070 and the bolt head firing pin hole is .071 to .073
So if you have a slightly undersized firing pin and a max dimension bolt head, you can end up with .006 to .007 clearance (WAY too much ) between the bolt head hole and firing pin. This is the scenario I encountered and was piercing primers with light hand loads and many factory loads.
I fixed this by ordering several firing pins from Savage and cherry picking the one that fit best. No more issues and the total cost was like $18.00 shipped to my door. Savage Customer Service was tops by me, and I was out of action for less than a week.
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