Savage Hunter XP will not shoot

[crespoh69]

Hello, I went to go pick up my rifle at Bass Pro last Thursday and cleaned it up to get ready for the hunt opener yesterday in my area. Well, it turned out we couldn't find anything yesterday and started heading back to camp. On the way there I decided I'd at least give my rifle a try before heading back. I aim at a trunk at the bottom of a mountain while my father looks on with his bino's. I shoot thinking I'll mess it up as this is the 2nd time I've ever shot a rifle in my life, the first being when I was pretty young...and my dad says it hit the left of the knot I was aiming for! Pretty good I thought.

I then let him have a shot at it, he gets ready, pulls the trigger and...click. The rifle just clicks, I take out the bullet from the chamber thinking maybe it was just that, he gives it another go and another click. I leave the bullet in, put on the safety, take off the safety and he tries again, and it shoots this time. I try the rifle again myself about 15 more times, each time it's just clicking.

Can anyone point me in the right direction or should I just send it up to Savage? Bass Pro is an hour away from me and they won't take it back as far as I know but they're willing to ship it to them for me, but I'd have to drive all the way out again to pick it up.

Is this a common problem? My brother is thinking of getting one too to replace his Mosin Nagant that he also couldn't fire because of a stuck bolt, but big 5 is ok with taking his rifle back.

Needless to say, two unusable rifles meant the hunting trip was cut short :(

[drybean]

tighten the trigger up

drybean

[Admin]

Couple things to check...

1. When you got the failure to fires, did you bother to ever look to see if the firing pin was leaving a mark on the primer? That will help narrow it down a lot.
2. If no then it sounds like you're probably not pulling the trigger straight back. Any sideways pressure will trip the safetly and prevent it from firing.
3. Possibly (but unlikely) it could be due to the Accutrigger being adjusted to too low of a pull weight. I say unlikely because usually when this is the case the safety mechanism will trip when you close the bolt, not when you pull the trigger. Still wouldn't hurt to dial it up a bit just to rule it out as a possible issue.
4. If the firing pin had an indentation on it then you could have an improperly adjusted firing pin assembly or a headspace issue. In either case I would recommend sending it back to Savage to be inspected/repaired.

[crespoh69]

tighten the trigger up

drybean

How would I go about doing that? Sorry, this is actually my first rifle I've actually owned. I see there's two bolts at the bottom of the trigger, would these be what I have to tighten? Besides the bolt, the rifle came assembled out of the box so I figured I wouldn't have to touch any of the screws, are there any more I would have to adjust?

[crespoh69]

Couple things to check...

1. When you got the failure to fires, did you bother to ever look to see if the firing pin was leaving a mark on the primer? That will help narrow it down a lot.
2. If no then it sounds like you're probably not pulling the trigger straight back. Any sideways pressure will trip the safetly and prevent it from firing.
3. Possibly (but unlikely) it could be due to the Accutrigger being adjusted to too low of a pull weight. I say unlikely because usually when this is the case the safety mechanism will trip when you close the bolt, not when you pull the trigger. Still wouldn't hurt to dial it up a bit just to rule it out as a possible issue.
4. If the firing pin had an indentation on it then you could have an improperly adjusted firing pin assembly or a headspace issue. In either case I would recommend sending it back to Savage to be inspected/repaired.

I actually put all my bullets back so not sure which is which but I'll check the back of them all to see if I notice anything. As for the accutrigger, I'm sure I don't have one, its only a Hunter XP not a Trophy.

If it's the trigger being pulled to the side and tripping the safety, wouldn't the safety switch move? In all cases the safety switch stayed where I had set it, to off.

Also if I'm pulling the trigger incorrectly why did it shoot those two rounds?

[Admin]

I actually put all my bullets back so not sure which is which but I'll check the back of them all to see if I notice anything. As for the accutrigger, I'm sure I don't have one, its only a Hunter XP not a Trophy.

If it's the trigger being pulled to the side and tripping the safety, wouldn't the safety switch move? In all cases the safety switch stayed where I had set it, to off.

Also if I'm pulling the trigger incorrectly why did it shoot those two rounds?

Ok, if you don't have the accutrigger you can eliminate #2 and #3 listed above from the equation. When I said "tripping the safety" I was referring to the safety mechanism built into the Accutrigger, not the actual safety button on the rifle.

Given your lack of experience or knowledge with Savage (or any) rifles I would highly recommend you have a local gunsmith check the gun over or send it back to Savage under warranty.

[crespoh69]

Thanks, will do. Thanks to both of you for all the help, God Bless.