Bushing Savage Bolt Head

[centershot]

I purchased a new bolt head for my .223 Savage. Seems as though a lot of people are doing this because the firing pin hole is too large. SO, there should be a lot of usable bolt heads laying around. Does anyone bush the bolt heads or would it cost as much as the new bolt head?

 

[gotcha]

Go to the gre-tan rifles site. Greg is our "go to" guy for bushing firing pins. He's an Ace on Savage bolts also.
His work is impeccable and prices are reasonable....................... Getting a new bolt head doesn't necessarily mean you'll solve your problem. A Gre-tan bushing job will

 

[KMart]

Carlsbad on this site did one for me and did an excellent job at a reasonable price. I don't remember the exact price, but was about the same as gre-tan.
I have had Greg at gre-tan do several other bolts for me also. He too, did excellent work.
For you, shipping time will be almost the same from AZ to Carlsbad, Ca or Rifle, Co.

 

[savagedasher]

Carlsbad on this site did one for me and did an excellent job at a reasonable price. I don't remember the exact price, but was about the same as gre-tan.
I have had Greg at gre-tan do several other bolts for me also. He too, did excellent work.
For you, shipping time will be almost the same from AZ to Carlsbad, Ca or Rifle, Co.

Just buy a kiff it's a billet not an investment casting Larry

 

[CharlieNC]

You didn't say if it is a Savage or aftermarket. Due to cratering I replaced mine with a PTG for $54 from bullets.com; no more cratering and clearly a higher precision part.

 

[centershot]

Thanks for the info. Looks as though he charges $80 per bolt/bolt head.Web siteis:

http://www.gretanrifles.com

 

[centershot]

I bought a PTG bolt head but may want to have the old head bushed to put on my other Savage.

 

[memilanuk]

You didn't say if it is a Savage or aftermarket. Due to cratering I replaced mine with a PTG for $54 from bullets.com; no more cratering and clearly a higher precision part.

A couple notes on this...

1) if the bolt head is not from a Target Action in the last few years, yeah, I'd get a new one for sure. The manufacturing process went something like: Savage machined the bolt head to spec, then a sub-contractor did the hardening, then Savage put them in a gigantic rock tumbler to polish them up, and then if applicable coated them. Problem is, thats why they tended to have rounded corners, edges... and sometimes dished bolt faces, in extreme examples (maybe someone left them in the tumbler too long? ). After a lot of prodding, they changed the process for the parts used on the 'precision' guns somewhat - they machined the original to rough dimension, and then *after* tumbling, they would remachine the critical surfaces like the bolt face, back of the lugs, etc. to final spec. Much better!

2) I like my PTG bolt heads... but they ain't always perfect either. I had one gun that I had fitted with a no-nut barrel (first mistake), with a PTG bolt head with no ejector. Then, decided I really, really wanted an ejector for team matches (coaches get grumpy if they're waiting on you to fumble around with cases when they're ready to send the next round). I 'knew' I needed to check the head space, so I tossed my GO gauge in... perfect. But then I found my seating depth was way off - like 6 thou. Started checking the new bolt head... everything was perfectly in spec, bolt face was 0.125" deep, etc. etc. Hmmm... went and checked the 'old' bolt face... ah-hah. Turns out *it* was out of spec - @ 0.119" deep. That little aw-$hit cost me a whole bunch of headaches. Everything worked out in the end, but the moral of the story (beside no-nut barrels are evil ) is that just because the part is aftermarket, doesn't mean there isn't the occasional screw-up that makes it thru to the end user.

 

[Texas10]

You may have an undersized firing pin, not an oversized bolt head. A much cheaper option is to order a few firing pins from Savage and pick the one that measures largest. Savage will ask you to sign a liability waiver before selling you these "restricted" parts.

If you own a good drill index and micrometer you can determine the clearance between your firing pin and bolt head. If it's more than .002 or .003 you'll tend to get more cratering/blanking.

 

[carlsbad]

Carlsbad on this site did one for me and did an excellent job at a reasonable price. I don't remember the exact price, but was about the same as gre-tan.
I have had Greg at gre-tan do several other bolts for me also. He too, did excellent work.
For you, shipping time will be almost the same from AZ to Carlsbad, Ca or Rifle, Co.

Thanks. Yes, bolt bushing is something I've got down. But I'm not looking for work right now. I recommend Gretan as well. If, for some reason, Gretan doesn't work for you, I'm glad to make time for forum members and my prices are the same.

--Jerry