Unhappy with Accu Trigger

[leftoversalmon]

I recently purchased a model 12 FVSS in 22-250 to hunt ground hogs and shoot some 400 yard steels with a friend. So far I'm not very impressed with the trigger, it was fine for the first 15 or so rounds then it started locking the trigger up. Mind you this was shooting single shot from a bench and not slamming the bolt down, sometimes it would take three resets before it would fire. I have removed the barrel/action and added one turn to the trigger but it still does it, just not as bad. It will need to be adjusted again, in a hunting situation it will lock up when reloading. Once it didn't fire but I could hear the firing pin fall, after waiting for a minute I unbolted it, the primer didn't have a mark on it and fired the next time it was chambered.

Also if the bolt is drawn back slowly after firing it won't extract the case, it falls down on the magazine. The rifle shoots great, but all in all I'm not sold on the quality.


Sounds like your having the exact same issue with your rifle as I am. Both with the trigger and the bolt. But even when I draw the bolt back faster I get no eject about 60% of the time.

[leftoversalmon]

How light can you set it before it locks up on closing the bolt hard? What type of trigger pull gauge are you using to measure the pull weight?


I don't have a trigger pull gauge. But even if I set it to what I know would be way above 1.5 lbs the rifle will still lock up on hard bolt resets. Even if I set the trigger to like 6lbs. The rifle will lock up. Granted it doesn't happen as often as if I were to put it in the 2 lb range.

I understand that with a trigger gauge I would be better able to fine tune what lb of trigger weight im actually at. But like I said when setting it to high lb range it still acts up.

[sha-ul]

Sounds like your having the exact same issue with your rifle as I am. Both with the trigger and the bolt. But even when I draw the bolt back faster I get no eject about 60% of the time.

do a quick search for extractor detent balls, most times if you install a larger ball bearing that isn't as loose in the hole, it will cure the ejection problems, as it will hold the case more securely in the bolt when drawing back, there are also some minor tweaks on the ejector, but are more of a concern with shorter cases, like the 300 wtf (whisper/blackout)

[LabRat2k3]

Did you buy the rifle new or used? Has anyone worked on the sear? It don't take alot to change the sear engagement angle and cause this to happen. Have you talked to Savage about this? It is entirely possible with anything mechanical that a few bad ones get out. If it won't hold at any poundage that is a safety issue and they should be glad to fix it for you. Too many people have Accu-triggers that they can adjust to low pull weights for me to believe that the whole system is flawed.

[jonbearman]

The comp trigger has the orange/red center blade.The regular ones are black. I wouldnt hesitate changing that trigger out to an sss or a rifle basix and forget it.The sss is the most reasonable with the jard and rifle basix about the same.

[leftoversalmon]

Did you buy the rifle new or used? Has anyone worked on the sear? It don't take alot to change the sear engagement angle and cause this to happen. Have you talked to Savage about this? It is entirely possible with anything mechanical that a few bad ones get out. If it won't hold at any poundage that is a safety issue and they should be glad to fix it for you. Too many people have Accu-triggers that they can adjust to low pull weights for me to believe that the whole system is flawed.


Bought the rifle new. To my knowledge no one has touched the sear. I haven't talked to savage yet. I work the same hours as they do and don't want to get caught up in a 2 hour long conversation on my hour lunch. I don't want to call at work either because if I recieved any level of bad customer service or them making exsuses my language might get alittle to aggressive for work env. (not swearing, just frustrated and louder tone basically telling them everything I have said here.)

[leftoversalmon]

Sounds like your having the exact same issue with your rifle as I am. Both with the trigger and the bolt. But even when I draw the bolt back faster I get no eject about 60% of the time.

do a quick search for extractor detent balls, most times if you install a larger ball bearing that isn't as loose in the hole, it will cure the ejection problems, as it will hold the case more securely in the bolt when drawing back, there are also some minor tweaks on the ejector, but are more of a concern with shorter cases, like the 300 wtf (whisper/blackout)


Thank you for the bit of information. I will have to get the ball rolling on that.

[bowbrother]

Ok, Rifle Basix trigger for my 10 PC came today and was in in fifteen minutes. Set the trigger pull at 2.75 Lbs. and it stays within an ounce of that setting. No more lock ups with the accu trigger blade gone. Won't get time to shoot it until next week, muzzle loader opens tomorrow here. BTW the Rifle Basix SAV-1 is $85. A real bargin not to have to deal with a trigger lock up with a white tail in the cross hairs. Also the Rifle Basix SAV-2 won't fit with the new style bolt release.

[justinp61]

Sounds like your having the exact same issue with your rifle as I am. Both with the trigger and the bolt. But even when I draw the bolt back faster I get no eject about 60% of the time.

do a quick search for extractor detent balls, most times if you install a larger ball bearing that isn't as loose in the hole, it will cure the ejection problems, as it will hold the case more securely in the bolt when drawing back, there are also some minor tweaks on the ejector, but are more of a concern with shorter cases, like the 300 wtf (whisper/blackout)


It's a shame to have to change out parts on a brand new rifle, this will be my last Savage.

[jinx-)]

"But even when I draw the bolt back faster I get no eject about 60% of the time."

this is just like what I have in my LRPV nothing gets ejected I have to pick up every fired brass out of the receiver, it sort of drops from the bolt as soon as it exits chamber. I actually thought it was part of design since this is single shot target action and whole purpose is to load every shot by hand, so brass doesn't get ejected. Hmmm maybe I was wrong and it should be ejecting them out of the receiver...

[wbm]

It's a shame to have to change out parts on a brand new rifle, this will be my last Savage.

It is frustrating. But if you think Remington's, Winchester's, and Rugers etc. don't have problems then check out some of their websites! The last Remington 700 I had would not shoot less than 2 MOA no matter what I did. Looked like a copper mine inside the bore. After having the bore checked out, and finding it was not to specs I called Remington. The answer I got was "well we are not talking about an expensive rifle here." True story! You had a bad break for sure, but in over 30 years of shooting Savage rifles and building rifles on Savage platforms I can't find a good reason to avoid them.

As far as the rifle that won't eject...I have never had a Savage that wouldn't eject that I couldn't fix.

[justinp61]

It's a shame to have to change out parts on a brand new rifle, this will be my last Savage.



As far as the rifle that won't eject...I have never had a Savage that wouldn't eject that I couldn't fix.
[/quote]

It may be acceptable for you to have to "fix" a new rifle, it's not to me.

I have a 34 year old model 70 that I can ease the bolt back and it'll lay the empty brass in my hand, every time. It won't shoot dime size groops, but my diesel truck won't haul all the critters it's killed.

[keeki]

well since it is such a piece of junk you should just sell it and go buy you another model 70. How much?

[justinp61]

well since it is such a piece of junk you should just sell it and go buy you another model 70. How much?


Did I ever call it junk? No. Did I question the quality? Yes. It's one thing to buy a new rifle knowing your going to modify it, but it's a different animal when you have to modify it. Am I wrong to expect a new rifle to function correctly? Do you buy a new vehicle expecting to work on it as soon as you drive it?

[LabRat2k3]

I think it just comes down to there are two different types of people. One group expects everything to be perfect and the other understands that nothing is perfect. Any mass produced product is going to have flaws, humans are not perfect and machines can wear and get out of adjustment. If I have spent $600+ on a rifle I don't mind to spend a couple more to make everything work the way I want it to. New vehicles have recalls on them all the time, having to have a new car worked on is not unheard of.

[justinp61]

I agree to a point, this rifle was a touch over $700. I expected to have to replace the stock and I will, so no complaints there. Everything I have heard about the accuracy, trigger and action was great. The accuracy is great, a lot better than I am. I'm disappointed in the trigger and action though. We'll see after it gets some attention.

I'm not a perfectionist, but I do expect things that are supposed to be good to be that, good. I have a street/strip 69 Dart that runs high 6.50s in the 1/8 with a pump gas small
block. I have done everything to it except the machine work. So I'll get this rifle sorted out too.

[Pete K.]

Leftoversalmon,

After reading all the replys and the pros and cons about your problem I come to a couple of conclusions. I think the members here may have hundreds or thousands of Accu Trigger rifles that work as intended by design. I think there are a small percentage of Accu Trigger rifles that do not function as intended by design wether it is a flaw in manufacturing such as in your situation or in other cases inproper adjustment which makes the trigger go into "saftey/no fire mode" as it is designed to do.
You paid good money for what should be a very accurate rifle in good faith based on advertised statements and others results. You need to call the Savage Customer Service and explain in simple terms that the Accu Trigger can not be adjusted to the heaviest setting and function properly and that at lighter settings doesn't work at all. They will create a case report number. You should demand that they replace the trigger group and test it for proper function at both extremes of it's intended settings and give you a report as to the low and high limits they are getting with the replacement trigger.
I would be willing to bet that they wish to remedy your problem to maintain their customer service reputation as well as the reputation for producing fine firearms and standing behind them. It is just good buisness practice.
Make the time and call them. Get names and keep a record of date of purchase and conversations etc. They like all manufacturers can produce a bad one every once in a while although that percentage is very low. It's sad that you had to be one of the extremely few that had a bad first experience.
I don't want to make you feel worse but I purchased my first center fire rifle in 2008 based on member reviews and some research online. It is a Savage Varminter (VLP) single shot .223 with Accu Trigger set as low as I can get it without tripping the sear lock up and it has worked flawlessly in bench rest shooting from day one. The rifle is more accurate than I am as a shooter, and I have shot one hole, no clover leaf five round groups at 50 yards with my 1955 Winchester model 75T with very good ammunition so I do have some skills just haven't reached the levels yet that the VLP offers

Best wishes and get that thing fixed as you'll love it...

Pete K.

[lal357]

i think ya'll got a bad one i like my accu trigger so much i bought one to put on my older 110 i'm making into a ft\r gun yeah i could have gotten a sss or rifle basics but i like the feel of the blade. yes i did have some problems at first adjusted my lrpv to low and it would trip on bolt closing adjusted it so it wouldnt its set at 8 oz .my other is on my tigershark in 308 and i got it set at 1.2 lbs with not a problem .

[keeki]

justinp, I wasnt doggin you, just trying to get you to sell it to me for cheap.lol

[justinp61]

Not a problem :).