Help With Bolt on Savage/McGowen BBL

[Talon1959]

Newbie here asking for some help.

I have my 6 BR Norma Savage put together and I'm having an issue with the bolt being hard to close,sticky) and open.

The background:

Took my Savage 11 in 204 Ruger and bought a new McGowen barrel, new bolt head, and BVSS stock. I also bought 60 rounds of Lapua loaded ammo to start with while I was getting the dies.

The Lapua ammo shot poorly and the bolt was a B**ch to close and open after firing. I then took 25 rounds and loaded up some 107 SMK, Varget 28.5 and CCI primers. The bolt was not sticky at all and the rifle shot a .4XX in a howling wind yesterday. So today I load up the rest of the brass and the hard to close bolt appeard again along with 1"-2" groups. There was 3 shells that felt "normal" and they all went into a bughole.

McGowen says the chamber is .271 and my loaded ammo is .270. I thought that I may have a seating depth issue with the SMK's at 2.375.

I have one of the Lapua 90 grain Scenars left and it chambers fine. I seated a 107 SMK to the same depth just to see if it would make a difference and the bolt is still sticky or tight when I chamber a round.

My first thought was to turn the necks,I need a tool), because the factory 90 grain Scenar mic's at .269 and it chambers ok.

I should also add that I have a redding bushing neck sizing die.

Any guidence would be greatly appreciated.

 

[memilanuk]

1. How did you set your headspace?

2. Are you F/L sizing your cases?

 

[Talon1959]

I bought a set of go-no-go gages from Midway and had my smith install the barrel.

No FL sizing, just neck sizing. I wanted to go with the same principle as the Lee Collet die by using brass fired the rifle and just neck sizing. Should I FL size as well?

 

[memilanuk]

Sounds like the 'smith set the headspace perhaps a tad on the tight side if factory ammo chambered hard. No biggie, but you may need to bump the shoulder back a bit on your cases to get them to chamber freely. The Lee die is fine, but I would suggest getting, if you don't already have it, a Hornady LnL case comparator w/ the appropriate inserts to measure headspace so you can bump the shoulders back a couple thou. If that doesn't do it, then you can start looking for other issues

 

[Talon1959]

You were correct on the headspace issue. I had him correct it this morning and the bolt operates smoothly.

Many thanks!

 

[memilanuk]

Good to hear it was a a simple fix. I might suggest getting a barrel nut wrench and a vise... since you've got the headspace gauges, no reason you can't do that kind of thing for yourself.

Take care,

Monte

 

[Hammer47]

next time you have a bbl spun up for the Savage, forget the nut and have the bbl shouldered like a conventional rifle and there wil be no more problem with incorrect headspace. That nut is about the only thing that Savage made a mistake in doing. I really respect the rest of their work.

 

[usngunner]

next time you have a bbl spun up for the Savage, forget the nut and have the bbl shouldered like a conventional rifle and there wil be no more problem with incorrect headspace. That nut is about the only thing that Savage made a mistake in doing. I really respect the rest of their work.

I have to take the complete opposite view on this one. I completely respect them for using the nut. If you're going to loose the barrel nut, you might as well buy a remchester.

That nut lets me order a custom pre-chambered barrel of my choice and install to what I want for headspace myself. It saves me from adding several hundred dollars to the cost of setting my rifles up as I don't have to pay for all that extra time and labor.

It really isn't hard if one pays a modicum of attention. One simply has to have a little spin on the ball to make it work right I guess.

 

[NorCalMikie]

One other thing about setting the headspace. If you set it on the "snug" side, your brass won't grow like it would on a "loose" SAMMI spec chamber. After 3 or 4 firings you might have to bump the shoulder back a taste. Sure beats "full length resizing" every time.
And that makes your brass last a "lot" longer! :thumb:

 

[rayjay]

forget the nut and there wil be no more problem with incorrect headspace. That nut is about the only thing that Savage made a mistake in doing. I really respect the rest of their work.

I don't agree with you. I use the Pacnor nut on my Remingtons. I also slot the front of the rec so I can use a Savage spec recoil lug and have converted one of my Rem bolts to use Savage bolt heads. The only place Savage screwed up was the trigger design. I gotta have my Jewels

 

[Talon1959]

After learning that the Lee press would not bump the shoulders of the brass, I got a RCBS RC press and re-sized al the brass I had. Now all the brass chambers very easily.

I bulit up some loads and went to the range yesterday. It was windy down here in Houston, but I was so jazzed about the problem being solved I was ready to see what the rifle could do.

The 105 A-Max and H4895 produced a .3XX 5 shot group. I also know that the barrel likes a bit of jump vs touching the lands. My goal now is to get into the .2's.