savage hog hunter bolt issue

[jac091498]

I just installed a new choate tactical on my savage hog hunter today . To make sure everythingwas working, I dry fired the rifle once. The bolt would not open without a lot of force and the safety would not move until the bolt was completely pulled back. Without dry firing, everything cycled fine and the safety worked as usual. Is there any thing I can do to fix this. Am I missing something obvious? I made sure the action screws were not inserted to far through, and they are not.

[jonbearman]

My suspicion is the front bolt is too long,take your finger(pinky) and work it into the lug area and see if you can feel the bolt protruding at all? Did the bolt cycle ok in the original stock? If it di then the stock or bolts are the culprit.

[kevwil]

Does everything function OK, including dry firing, when the action is out of the stock?

[jac091498]

Actually, the front action screw that can't with the stock was too short. The screw from the original stock was long enough so I used that instead. I'll have to try dry firing out of the stock

[jac091498]

The rifle does the same thing out of the stock so it must be an issue with the rifle action or bolt itself. I just got my rifle back a couple weeks ago from savage after returning it due to a rusty bolt head and they said they inspected everything and test fired it to make sure everything worked properly. They appear to have extremely dissapointing quality control.

[olddav]

Maybe I not getting it but it sounds like a normal Savage bolt action. You can improve the bolt by disassembling it and polishing the cocking ramp, perhaps a lift kit if its availiable. Like I said, I may not be getting it.

[jac091498]

I understand savage rifles often have stiff bolts, but this is unusually stiff. I have owned several other savages but none near this bad.

[michaelnel]

Make sure the front screw that mounts the scope rail is not sticking through and binding on the bolt head. It's a common problem with Savages.