Axis Sear Engagement Point

[Mb1500]

Was wondering when the Axis is supposed to engage the sear? Mine does not engage until roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of downward bolt travel. It takes a significant amount of bolt lift effort to lift the cocking piece off of the sear and back into the cocked position. There is also a ~1.9mm difference between the firing pin sitting on the sear ready to fire and when the bolt is simply cocked (more compressed). I was thinking about modifying the ramp but I'm not entirely sure if there would be any problems having the sear (likely) engage at the end of the bolts forward travel, or how much a new bolt sleeve would cost if I booger mine up. :o Anyone know?

[RustyShackle]

So are you thinking your bolt body is too long? And that you want to move the relative position of the cocking ramp forward? Just trying to be sure I understand this correctly.

[Mb1500]

So are you thinking your bolt body is too long? And that you want to move the relative position of the cocking ramp forward? Just trying to be sure I understand this correctly.

Yes, essentially moving the cocking ramp forward.

[RustyShackle]

To answer your question if you want to buy another bolt body Savage will provide a replacement, you might have to sign a waiver to get that part, not sure.

The axis has a notoriously stiff bolt lift, although if it's out of time it only makes thing more difficult.

I dont know where your mechanical abilities and what tools you have at your disposal but this might be something to visit a gunsmith about. Possibly cheaper than replacing a bolt body.

[J.Baker]

The bolt body is not too long.

Pretty much every single Savage bolt action centerfire that leaves the factory over-cocks the firing pin when opening the bolt. As the OP noted, it has to do with how much travel there is in the cocking ramp that the cocking pin rides on. Over-cocking doesn't hurt anything, but as noted it makes the bolt lift heavier as you are having to compress the FP spring more. When you close the bolt that unnecessary additional tension is let off and the cocking pin moves forward slightly until it comes to rest on the sear.

Correcting the over-cocking issue is one of the processes Fred does when he trues and times a Savage action.

[Mb1500]

Thanks for the input guys, Ill probably give it a shot whenever I have some free time.

[Mb1500]

Learned a couple of things.

1. A smooth bolt lift and operation is possible with modification to the ramp.
2. Modifying the ramp removes the hard chrome exterior layer, with the underlying metal being too soft for operation. Hardening with a heat treat (if possible) or another hard coating (chrome, nitride, dlc, etc) is required.

Not it sure what direction to go personally. Will probably try to heat treat it, since it wouldn't cost me anything but my time. If (when) that doesn't work out, does anyone know of any cheap coating shops willing to do one piece orders?

[DrThunder88]

How significantly did you modify the ramp? I'm interested to know how low it can go. Like a lot of other people, I've polished the cocking ramp on my bolts and gently reprofiled the lip at the top of the ramp. But I have never played with the actual ramp angles.

Incidentally, I didn't realize the bolt body is actually chrome plated. I've etched one of mine with PCB etchant and left it a nice gray color I'd associate with steel. It also doesn't look like typical hard chrome plating.

[sharpshooter]

It's not chrome plated....it's case hardened.

[Mb1500]

Thanks for the input guys. I really appreciate it. I noticed chipping on the edge when grinding the ramp that I usually see with chrome. Shouldn't have assumed. Glad to know it's just case hardened.

[Mb1500]

While fiddling with this I wanted to keep shooting, called savage about a replacement bolt body and they said it was an FFL item? I didn't know that a non serialized item would require involving an FFL, and what is the process for ordering parts through an FFL?

[DrThunder88]

They gave me guff about that for some other part I tried to order. They restrict certain parts to licensed gunsmiths (probably for liability reasons). Rumor had it there is a waiver one could sign to get around that restriction, but when I asked about it the last time I tried to order, the guy said there was no such document.

[Mb1500]

Thanks for the input drthunder.

In response to your previous comment, I removed a little too much material to be honest. First, I started by removing material horizontally where the pin sits in the cocked position. Ideally you want this to be the same as when the rifle is cocked and bolt closed, pin sitting on the sear. On the axis this is easy because of firing pin sticking out of the back of the bolt handle. Sitting on the sear I want to say Stock was something around 0.70mm and bolt cocked and locked (handle lifted) was around 2.60mm. This is the brick wall that I was feeling when lifting the bolt when just cycling the action, unchambering a round without firing, etc. I goofed and forgot to shoot for .70 and went down to flush. This completely removed the brick wall, however the pin engaged the sear .70mm too soon in the travel, so you could feel the additional effort required to push that last .70mm in order to get the bolt fully forward in able to engage the lugs. This rifle has a short throat (30 rounds down range) so this wasn't really something I could feel when operating with live ammunition as I'm cramming rounds in the chamber anyways.

I then attempted to re-shape the ramp in order to line up with the new pin location. This was easy enough, except for the fact that the case hardening is critical. The metal is too soft, and the pin will dig into the metal as it is under a large amount of pressure. My attempts to harden the ramp were partially successful. I could get a hard feeling smooth surface, however I would "torture test" the ramp by holding down the trigger and lifting and dropping the bolt in a rapid fashion. Slow spaced out cycles might have been fine, but as soon as I started cycling the pin faster (say 1 lift/sec) the hardening would ether fail or be worn away after say a minute. Once the soft metal is exposed it digs in and can be very difficult to even get the bolt open in order to remove it. Unless you have a good knowledge of metal hardening/case hardening I would say that a electroless nickel, hard chrome, Tin, DLC, etc coating is an absolute must. I had a hard time getting a quote from anyone, and those I did receive were $75 and up, not including shipping, 5 week plus turn around, etc. not a very attractive option for me.

In other news, the fluted/stainless steel/DLC coated bolt sleeve from Glades Armory is an absolute steal for $100