Model 10 MLSS-II Let Me Down Again!

[Chizzy]

Hello:

I purchased a Savage Model 10 MLSS-II back in the fall of 2008. Since that time I have experienced 3 misfires while hunting game animals. Today being the third time has me wondering what to do with this gun. I can't take this thing into the field any longer and wonder if it is going to go "Bang". One of these days it is going to cost me "My Buck Of A Lifetime". :-)

I shoot the following configuration 42 Grains - VihtaVuori N110 under a 250 Grain Hornady SST ignited by a Winchester 209 shotgun primer. It is to the point that I do not trust this gun any longer. Thompson Center or do I try a different set of components?????

Looking back at the misfire history it has always been in the month of December (In Ontario, Canada).

What do you do with a gun you that has failed you so often?????

Are there better "sure-fire" primer / powder combos out there that could solve this issue? Is it a cold weather issue. (It never does this to me during my summer practice sessions.) What other factors should I be looking at? Do I just have a "dud" gun? I couldn't even sell this thing to another hunter and sleep well at night. :-(

Feeling pretty discouraged.

Regards,

Chizzy

[huntted]

That is the same load I use in FLA. Works great for me, especially the Win primers. Tryed others but Win works best. If you think cold may be your problem, I would take the bolt out and flush it very good with brake cleaner. May have some factory grease in there slowing things down.

[Stockrex]

Chizzy,
From What I read on doug's forums the following were attributed to FTF:
1. are your bullet/sabot pair hard to load? if it is easy to push in then you will probably have failure to fire.
2. check the vent liner and breech plug, clean/change

[MIKE243]

I have shot 3 deer this season with 43g of vn110 and a 250g sst. I use a federal primer and have had no problems, not sure if temps and storage of the rifle might be causing your problems or not

[bootsmcguire]

Something I have had trouble with when using ML'ers in the past is if you are hunting in cold weather, and take the rifle in and out of the truck a few times, the barrel sweats when exposed to the heat from the heater of the truck and wets the powder while its in the bore.

If you are in a colder climate, this could just be it.

[45omega]

I would pull the breech plug, remove the vent liner and run a 5/32 bit thru the plug to remove all the carbon fouling. I put the bit in a vise and hand turn the plug into the bit. If your vent liner has eroded past .035 its time for a replacement. Since you hunt in more extreme cold weather then some I would switch from the Win 209's to either Fed209A or CCI209M. They are a hotter primer.

[bythebook]

Also like Stockrex says, If I remember right when I got mine the factory book says it takes 38lbs to press the bullet and sabot down the barrel or you will have ignition problems.

[epanzella]

1. Make sure your flash channel & vent liner are cleared of carbon.
2. Make sure your bullet/sabot combination fits the bore tightly. Too loose a fit will cause cold weather misfires.
3. Check your fired primers. If there's black running up the sides they're not sealing against the plug well enough and some of the fire is leaking away.

Both my sons use n110 and W209 primers in their Savages with no cold weather issues.

[Alleycat72]

Same problem. Just pushes the bullet and charge out of the barrel.

[Corey Schwanz]

As said, check the vent liner to make sure its clear. I always fire just a primer through my gun before I load it to go hunting (I'm sure my neighbors love hearing that snap out the back door at 4am) to make sure its clear. I also don't leave mine loaded for an extended period of time. I'll load up for a weekend hunt and if I don't shoot a deer during the couple days, ill discharge it in the field and reload the following weekend. The longest I've gone this year with the same charge in the gun was 4 days over thanksgiving weekend.

[bythebook]

As said, check the vent liner to make sure its clear. I always fire just a primer through my gun before I load it to go hunting (I'm sure my neighbors love hearing that snap out the back door at 4am) to make sure its clear. I also don't leave mine loaded for an extended period of time. I'll load up for a weekend hunt and if I don't shoot a deer during the couple days, ill discharge it in the field and reload the following weekend. The longest I've gone this year with the same charge in the gun was 4 days over thanksgiving weekend.

A couple of times my Son has left his loaded from one year to the next and we put a new primer in it and bang it was right on target. I don't recomend doing this although I don't think that is causing this problem. It sounds to me that he needs a tighter Sabot.

[J.Baker]

If you're going to sell it now's the time! Since Savage has discontinued it and no more will be made people are paying a premium price for them. I've seen a few used plain-Jane blued/synthetic models sell for upwards of $700 on GunBroker lately.

[Andy k]

Is the primer igniting? My BIL had issues with his setting off primers. Adjust firing pin depth and it seems to be fixed.

[langenc]

1. Make sure your flash channel & vent liner are cleared of carbon.
2. Make sure your bullet/sabot combination fits the bore tightly. Too loose a fit will cause cold weather misfires.
3. Check your fired primers. If there's black running up the sides they're not sealing against the plug well enough and some of the fire is leaking away.

Both my sons use n110 and W209 primers in their Savages with no cold weather issues.

Ive just begun to investigate MLs. I don't understand what a tighter sabot would have to do w/ the powder lighting?? or I guess I really don't understand.

Now I have looked on Savages site and have not seen the MLII listed but just read -discontinued.. I guess I just stick w/ the 30-06.

[rpe290]

Ive just begun to investigate MLs. I don't understand what a tighter sabot would have to do w/ the powder lighting?? or I guess I really don't understand.

Now I have looked on Savages site and have not seen the MLII listed but just read -discontinued.. I guess I just stick w/ the 30-06.

Smokeless powder needs backpressure to work correctly...

I love my ML-II but mostly because IL forces you to use shotgun/ML only--I would use a good centerfire if I could :)

I use N110 and SST 250 gr--book load data says about 1900 fps.

[jpdown]

I had problems with Winchester 209 primers and misfires. Switched to Federal's and the problem went away. Remove the carbon from the breach plug and vent liner as already mentioned. Also, you must have a tight fitting sabot/bullet combination to create back pressure in order to get smokeless powder to properly ignite and burn, especially in cold weather. AA 5744 is easier to ignite than other recommended powders. Since I use N-120 powder which is harder to ignite, I always discharge and reload my Savage ML each day when hunting in cold or moist weather to reduce the chance of a misfire. I started doing this after an unsuccessful 3-day, cold and wet late ML hunt when I could not get my ML to discharge at the end of the hunt.