Extractor causing bolt not to close?

[TonyBen]

Is it common for the extractor to not retract when chambering a round, stopping the bolt from closing? I think I'm having a problem with that. Once in maybe 5 to 10 rounds, the bolt will not close. I've tried 5 rounds, cycled through the chamber continuously. sometimes it closes on all the rounds and sometimes it will hang up on one of them. It's random and it doesn't isolate itself to a single round.

Never hangs up with an empty chamber. Headspace is good to go. I checked with a PTG GO gauge.

Tony.

[adammiddagh]

I have had that happen. Solved my issue by checking for burrs and rough spots on extractor, and cleaning / lubing extractor grooves / ball / spring.

[BillPa]

Is it common for the extractor to not retract when chambering a round, stopping the bolt from closing?
Tony.
Only with a 223 Ruger Americans:p
The usual culprit, using a 204-223 extractor for a cartridge with a larger diameter rim, 308, '06 and etc. They're longer on the tail end. and bottom out in the action before they can jump the larger rim.

Bill

[TonyBen]

This is in a Savage 110 flat-back 30-06 from the mid-80's. Original extractor, ball and spring. I also have weak ejection. Unfired rounds won't clear the action when the bolt is pulled back. It just lays on top of the next rounds in the magazine.

Also, sometimes when it hangs up. I can ease off pressure, wiggle the bolt handle, try again, and then I feel the extractor click over the rim. If I punch it forward as hard as I can, it will eventually close. Not a desirable situation with upcoming hunting season coming up.

Is it worth it to order the extractor/ejector upgrade from SSS? I may go that route.

Tony.

[Maine-iac]

Yes!!!! Order the ejector upgrade kit from SSS. $20 plus shipping. I emailed Lisa on a Friday morning and by Weds the following week I had two kits in my mail box. Less than 5 min to install and my rifles now eject like old CRF mausers!

[TonyBen]

Great to hear! I ordered the SSS kit this morning and I already got a response saying the order is being processed. Now I just need to figure out why my rounds sometimes unose-up in my magazine, causing the bolt to ride over the next round.

Tony.

[TonyBen]

I haven't received the SSS kit yet, but it occurred to me that I had a spare complete magnum bolt with a new, unused extractor. I swapped it in and the problem went away completely!

[RC20]

Its good to have spare parts.

Last Cabellas Savage partly serves that purpose, if anything goes wrong (mostly) with the 308 or 30-06 bulls barrel I can keep shooting.

Never want to waste a chance to go shooting.

[TonyBen]

Well, I'm still having the problem, regardless of the extractor or ejector. I installed the NSS extractor and ejector, but with the old style ball. The over-sized ball flew out when I was trying to install it and bounced right into the kitchen sink garbage disposal! It was gone!

I think the issue lies in my bolt face. I compared it to a short-action Savage 308 bolt face I have in the safe and the new bolt face has more of a chamfer around the case mouth where the case-head goes. My old one has more of a sharp mouth than the new style. I think I need a new bolt head.

Should I get a PTG bolt head?

What do you think?

Tony.

[drybean]

You really need the .140 detent ball

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Go to your local Bicycle Shop with pocket magnet in hand. They use those ball bearings as wheel bearings. Bins full of them. Last batch cost me $1.00.

[Maine-iac]

What problem are you still having? The.140 ball is pretty important. I had to forgo the NSS ejector pin. It was a tad too long and lifted the nose of my ammo a bit too high and feeding was not as good. Once I went back to the factory ejector combined with the stronger spring provided by NSS things were good. Strong ejection and consistently smooth feeding. I bought a 5 pack of detent balls off of Amazon. I believe they are 9/64 ball bearings. My local bike shop claimed to not have them and my 2 local Ace hardware's also didn't have them.

[TonyBen]

Thanks! I'll call the bike shops around me.

My problem is intermittent. From what I can tell, either the extractor won't always retract to allow the case to seat on the bolt head, or the case head catches on the mouth of the bolt face and won't allow case head to seat on the bolt face. This bolt head is from the mid-80's and I noticed that newer bolt heads have more of a chamfer on the bolt head mouth.

Some cases had dented rims where the extractor would not retract and where I forced the bolt closed on it anyways.

I removed the factory extractor and ejector last night and cleaned again thoroughly. I dropped some CLP in the holes and doused the springs, ball extractor and ejector in CLP and put it all back together. The cases I was trying before were now pretty beat up by now so I grabbed some new cases and I managed to cycle the bolt 10x without issue. Maybe this one is prone to binding with little brass residue. I had previously lubed the parts with XF-7 grease.

The SSS ejector spring was shorter and weaker than the factory one. For now, until I can locate the ball bearing, the bolt has factory guts.

Tony.