front action bolt on savage moves the bolt face

[songdogslayer]

Just received my 26" (1 : 8) McGowen .243 Win barrel from Jim at NSS. Took my existing rig off the stock and was just fooling around with the front action bolt . . . noticed that as I tightened / loosened the front action bolt it caused the gap between the bolt (which was closed) and the surrounding chamber area to increase / decrease. Is this typical? I also noticed, a long time ago, I can tighten that front action bolt too tight, making it impossible to even open the bolt. Just some weird things I've noticed . . . not sure if this is a problem, but I don't really like the idea of my action bolt being capable of causing these conditions. Any input?

 

[fdshuster]

songdogslayer: Same thing happened to me when I changed over from the laminated wood stock of my Savage mdl 12BVSS to a Bell & Carlson Medalist Tactical. Take out the front receiver screw and "paint" it with magic marker and run it back in with the bolt closed, and you will probably see rub marks on it from contacting the bolt head. I used a Dremel tool with a fine grinding stone to shorten it. Only took about 1/32" to shorten it enough to clear the bolt. Just that much difference in the stock thickness.

 

[watercam]

Your action screw is contacting the bolt head for sure. This is not good! Consider grinding/filing a thread at a time off to relieve that pressure. Gun should shoot better for it!