Bolt firing when bolt closed

[bwiechman]

I have a Savage Lady Hunter in .308 with 21 rounds through it.

When I rotate the bolt closed if I apply more than very gentle pressure the firing pin drops. I have not adjusted the trigger. It is basically in the state it was in when I bought it. Sliding the bolt forward doesn't present a challenge. The firing pin is released when I rotate the bolt into battery.

A couple historical threads seem to indicate this may be the result of a very light trigger pull. I am trying to decide if I need to get this sent in and fixed or if this is simply an adjustment. Intended use is hunting and teaching my kids how to shoot so I absolutely do not want a rifle where the firing pin drops when the bolt is closed.

To clarify it is not slamfiring. If I slide the bolt closed and then carefully and gently rotate the bolt into battery the rifle remains cocked.

If I use any force to rotate the bolt the firing pin decocks. The rifle hasn't fired when this happened so far, so thank the Accutrigger for that.

This thread for example seems to suggest sear engagement related adjustment issues: http://www.savageshooters.com/showthread.php?10950-is-the-only-way-to-stop-slamfires-in-savages-is-to-make-the-trigger-crappy

Same notes again about sear engagement issues. Note that my rifle is NOT slamfirimg. http://www.savageshooters.com/archive/index.php/t-11982.html

Sadly after over a week of waiting Savage has yet to respond to my online support request which is a little disappointing.

[Robinhood]

As you close the bolt place a finger or thumb on the backside of the trigger and push forward(the opposite of pulling the trigger), close the bolt repeatedly to see if the trigger still trips/firing pin drops. If this works and it does not trip, all you need to do is adjust the trigger return spring to have more preload. If you bought it new, the adjustment tool came with it.


Edit: Youtube is your friend.

[RustyShackle]

Robinhood pretty well summed things up. I will add, if you are uncomfortable with it, contact savage and they should be able to get you sorted out.

[short round]

Could be a piece of foreign material in trigger/sear area, clean that area.

[Bunky-Shooter]

Sounds like its the tension on your accu-trigger needing to be raised a bit. Very simple process.

[J.Baker]

Classic case of the AccuTrigger being adjusted too low. The reason it's not firing when this happens is because the safety system built into the AccuTrigger is working as designed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahSwlK4oplY

[big honkin jeep]

The sear may be falling onto the accutrigger blade causing it to decock and I'm pretty sure that's what you are hearing, but I seriously doubt the firing pin is dropping. That's what the blade is there to prevent.

[bwiechman]

I tried what Robinhood suggested and cycled the bolt about 40 times without the rifle decocking. I will attempt to adjust as suggested.

Thank you

[J.Baker]

The sear may be falling onto the accutrigger blade causing it to decock and I'm pretty sure that's what you are hearing, but I seriously doubt the firing pin is dropping. That's what the blade is there to prevent.

Exactly! The blade of the Accutrigger prevents the sear from moving enough to allow the firing pin to fall fully, thus preventing it from igniting the primer if the trigger blade isn't pulled straight to the rear as in a normal trigger pull. The upper wing on the blade catches the leg of the sear which is what locks up the trigger requiring you to recock the bolt to reset it.

Here are two photo's showing the difference between when the sear is captured by the safety blade preventing firing and the position of the sear when the trigger is pulled and the sear is completely released to allow the rifle to fire.

This photo shows the leg of the sear in the normal cocked position.
http://www.gunblast.com/images/Savage_AccuTrigger/Mvc-006f.jpg



Here you can see the leg of the sear having been caught by the safety catch built into the blade of the AccuTrigger preventing it from falling disengaging and thus not allowing the firing pin to fall. If you were to get your rifle to trip as it has been with the barreled action out of the stock this is likely what you would see when it does so.
http://www.gunblast.com/images/Savage_AccuTrigger/Mvc-007f.jpg



This is the position the sear leg will be in when the trigger is pulled properly to allow the sear to filly release and fire the round in the chamber. Note that when the AccuBlade is pulled with the trigger the part of the blade that catches the sear is pulled downward into the slot in the trigger to allow the sear to travel fully.
http://www.gunblast.com/images/Savage_AccuTrigger/Mvc-008f.jpg


See this link for more details on how the AccuTrigger functions: http://www.gunblast.com/Savage_Accutrigger.htm

[Robinhood]

Wow, that is an early Accutrigger.

[J.Baker]

Yep! If you look at the copyright on the pic's it says 2002 which was when the article (link) was published (Dec. 28th, 2002).

[Ted_Feasel]

I have a Savage Lady Hunter in .308 with 21 rounds through it.

When I rotate the bolt closed if I apply more than very gentle pressure the firing pin drops. I have not adjusted the trigger. It is basically in the state it was in when I bought it. Sliding the bolt forward doesn't present a challenge. The firing pin is released when I rotate the bolt into battery.

A couple historical threads seem to indicate this may be the result of a very light trigger pull. I am trying to decide if I need to get this sent in and fixed or if this is simply an adjustment. Intended use is hunting and teaching my kids how to shoot so I absolutely do not want a rifle where the firing pin drops when the bolt is closed.

To clarify it is not slamfiring. If I slide the bolt closed and then carefully and gently rotate the bolt into battery the rifle remains cocked.

If I use any force to rotate the bolt the firing pin decocks. The rifle hasn't fired when this happened so far, so thank the Accutrigger for that.

This thread for example seems to suggest sear engagement related adjustment issues: http://www.savageshooters.com/showthread.php?10950-is-the-only-way-to-stop-slamfires-in-savages-is-to-make-the-trigger-crappy

Same notes again about sear engagement issues. Note that my rifle is NOT slamfirimg. http://www.savageshooters.com/archive/index.php/t-11982.html

Sadly after over a week of waiting Savage has yet to respond to my online support request which is a little disappointing.I would start with checking if there has been a factory recall of any kind. If no factory recall and your not sure it is something you can fix with 100% confidence, then take it to a gunsmith. Safety is nothing to take a chance on.
I have seen loose action screws cause this to happen, as it puts torque on the action, the action moves a little in the stock causing either trigger or sear movement. Any rate, if you are unsure in the slightest dont take a chance. I know it's a pain and a bummer but probably most of us in here have had to deal with either factory recalls or gunsmithing issues and it sucks to wait but you or your children's lives are far more important

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[jpdown]

Adjusting the Accutrigger spring should fix the problem as outlined above. If not, take the barreled action out of the stock to see if the problem still occurs when working the bolt. If not, then you also need to check the stock inlet area right above the rear trigger guard screw. Over the years I've had a couple of Savage wood stocks that were a little proud in this area or had some raise wood chips from putting too much torque on the rear TG screw. The rear arm of the Accutrigger was contacting the stock and causing it to trip into safe mode ever so often when working the bolt. Removed a few mm of wood from the shelf above the tip of the rear trigger guard screw so that the rear trigger arm does not contact the stock when you torque down the action screws. Another reason I always replace the plastic TG with a metal TG.

[bwiechman]

I adjusted the trigger to be somewhat heavier and haven't been able to recreate the problem. The original pull was rather light. Not sure how light as I don't have access to a meter. Pretty simple process once you find that screw under the bolt release...

It looks like that was the issue - just a very light trigger pull out of the factory. I will have to monitor a bit to ensure that it continues to function as expected. If not will probably have to send it in for a once over by Savage.

Still no response from Savage on my online request. Heh

Thanks for the help.

[bwiechman]

Side question. How many pounds of change do you typically see with one turn of the adjustment screw?

[South Prairie jim]

Do both safeties work now with more tension?