Savage Model 12FV bolt dragging, help please.

[hboothe]

Hello, All. I have a Savage model 12 in .22-250 Remington I got at Cabela's a few years ago (it's a Cabela's *exclusive*, has a sticker on the stock to prove it...no you may not have an autograph). It's my first bolt-action centerfire rifle (i.e. I have bupkis for experience w/ BA rifles). Skipping the part where I drone on about me, here's the problem I've got: the bolt drags on the feed lips of the internal, fixed magazine. I've finally got a use for the rifle and started load development for it and, to that end, fired a few rounds through it over the chronograph today and the bolt cycling sucks. With the action removed from the stock (where the magazine resides), the action is smooth. In the stock, with the magazine in play, it drags pretty awfully. I can see skid marks on the bottom of the bolt, so contact is definitely being made.

My first instinct is to grind the feed lips back a bit. If you've seen The Italian Job, Left Ear said, "I HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE." I've "had a bad experience" with that kind of shenanigans.

I'd like to ask for advice as to what, if anything, I should do to correct this. No, it doesn't keep the firearm from functioning. Yes, it's a cheap rifle. I'd still like to make it better.

Thanks for your time.

--HC

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Its meant to feed from that magazine. It doesnt do that with cases in the magazine. If you modify the magazine it wont be reliable when you need it.

 

[Ggmac]

Does it have a blind magazine ? If so I've seen this before with aftermarket stocks that were not cut deep enough in the mag well . Easy fix is to find where it's hitting the stock . Remove the wood not the metal . Again if it's a blind mag . Coffee time

 

[centershot]

Take it back to Cabela's and see if they can help. The stock is Tupperware.

 

[sawcarver]

Pull the mag out of the stock and see if there is any plastic sticking up from molding that is keeping the mag from seating in the stock. You could also remove plastic pretty easy.

On other thought its probably the outside of the lips hitting the bolt, could take a tiny bit off the lips (like the corner of the steel) that wouldnt be where the cartridge touches the lips and see what that does

 

[hboothe]

Thanks to you all for the replies, they got me thinking. I tore into this just a short bit ago.

I found that the magazine was riding high in the (factory) stock at the front (muzzle end). Pushing it down with a screwdriver through the open action allowed the bolt to cycle smoothly. All this while the rifle was assembled.

I removed the blind mag. There is a silver metal clip that's trapped by the rearward lug to the action when assembled and which remains in place when the action is removed. I found some instructions online which showed prying it up which I did to remove the magazine. I probably shouldn't have as there is a barb on it and it knicked up the plastic (factory) stock where it's supposed to hold. Meh. I should have tapped it towards the muzzle end and disengaged the bottom of the metal clip from the magazine body (maybe that would have worked). There appeared to be a surface machined on the action to suppress the muzzle end of the magazine but it wasn't engaging. After dinking around a bit I finally cut a small square from a hotel room plastic key card and wedged it under the folded-over magazine rear tab, letting it hang down a bit so that it was pinched between the magazine body and the metal clip when it was all assembled back in the stock. This appears to force the magazine body forward just enough to engage the surface of the action which appears intended to hold it down.

Now the front of the magazine appears to engage the intended (?) surface of the action and the feed lips aren't dragged across by the bolt and it functions smoothly.

Thanks again for the replies.

--HC

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Good work. Sometimes you just gotta jump in and do it