Savage 12 .308 Palma Will Not Eject Unless Fired

[GunsBrokeMe]

Excuse me for my first post. Knowledge (and experience) is power, so this might be a simple fix for anyone that knows. So here goes...

Was out in the woods, truck was coming to pick me up and went to unload the round in the chamber and the bolt wouldn't come back and eject the shell. I had to fire it and then it ejected perfectly. I repeated this a few times just to be sure I wasn't going crazy. Same result each time - it WILL NOT eject unless fired.

Got back to the camp and chambered my dry-firing Snap-Cap and it ejected perfectly. I then chambered the spent brass, just fired in the woods an hour ago. Ejected perfectly.

A couple of days later, I took it to a local 'smith. I loaded the Snap-Cap and it ejected perfectly in his shop. I explained that when I had a live round in the chamber, the bolt would rotate to the up position, but will not move back unless fired. Then it would eject perfectly. He just shook his head and said he didn't want to touch it. I then called Savage and they said to send the gun in to them. I'd REALLY rather not send this gun back. So any help would be appreciated. FWIW, I've always shot the same ammo (see below) and never any reloads.

Model: Savage 12 .308 Palma
Ammo: Hornady 8095PM A-Max 155g
Shots Through Muzzle: approx. 650 rounds


Thanks!
Alan

[mudpig]

check to see if the bullet is contacting the lands and getting stuck in the barrel. That's the only explanation I've got

[darkker]

2 things to consider.
1) IF this is a 308 Palma chamber, that is NOT regular 308, the chamber is much different, and you may be jamming things. A Snap cap is in no way/shape/form a indicator of chamber dimensions/size. It's a great way to get you to spend money for a toy.
2) IF this is simply yet another of the short-chambered rifles put out by Savage, which has been VERY common lately, at least in Creedmoor; Then you better send it back, as it isn't safe to shoot.

[Robinhood]

You have 650 rounds down the pipe.
How long have you had this issue?
Are you reloading the Hornady brass or is it factory ammo?
Sounds like a head space issue but odd since you have so many rounds. I would talk to Hornady.

[CAPTBEACH]

My money is on out of spec ammo,new or reloads, a 308 mixed in with 308 Palma, a dirty chamber...with 650 (I am assuming trouble free rounds) something changed...look there first...

Snap Craps are good for one thing, maybe two...secretly loading into a students magazine to detect and fix flinch and dry firing/snapping in...

[geezerhood]

It took me a minute of reading to figure out that I believe you meant to say EXTRACT not EJECT. I imagined the bullet preventing it from ejecting or allowing you to manually remove the round from the bolt face because it was too long to clear the ejection port. (Probably too early in the morning for me.)

My guess is the reason for not being able to EXTRACT the sticking rounds has to do with the bullet or the neck clearance. Usually when I have encountered a round that was difficult to extract when loaded, it was still just as hard to extract, sometimes more so after being fired, unless the bullet was getting stuck in the throat.

As others have asked, Is this something that just recently started happening? Was there a change in ammo?

[Marine24]

Had the same issue on a Savage 10 in 223 Rem. Problem was the OAL of some reloads I was shooting were too long. It was noticeable chambering the round. Bolt closed but took a little more effort compared to my other reloads/production ammo.

Good questions above. If it just started happening, ammo would be the obvious culprit.