Edge 223, bolt closed, not in battery

[Slim Jim]

Bought a 223 Edge a few months ago and am now getting ready to test. The bolt does not seem to close fully and is spongy. Pull the trigger and the bolt will finish closing approx. 1/8 inch. Any body else have this problem? Fix?

Slim Jim

[82boy]

Fix?
Slim Jim


Yup, send it back to Savage.

[craigr]

I sent mine back, they replaced the spring in it, works great now.

[Slim Jim]

I finally got some time to tinker. It was suggested to ship to savage for a new bolt mainspring. I figured I would take a look and dismantle the bolt myself to see if anything was obviously wrong. I stripped the bolt and immediately noticed that the cocking piece was/had been pinching the spring. It had distorted the shape and was only getting worse every time the trigger/bolt was cycled. I took some needle nose pliers and reshaped the spring to avoid the binding on the cocking piece. Reassembled the bolt and tried it again. The locking lugs sat better but still not perfect. Took the bolt back apart and reassembled it w/o the spring and firing pin. I took some black marker and colored the rear of the locking lugs and then reinserted the bolt. Worked the locking lugs a few times and then examined them for contact. The only contact I could see was an extremely small burnish mark on the left/top lug. Other than that both lugs still had the black still on them. I hunted around for some really fine clover paste that I had used some yrs ago on another project and applied a small amount on the lugs. Worked the bolt some more and began to get a more positive burnishing, this time on both lugs. Did this one more time and got really good burnishing on both lugs. Cleaned the bolt and action and then took some JB bore paste and polished the lugs. Cleaned everything back up and reassembled the bolt. Took the black marker and colored the back of the lugs again and tried it. The bolt closed and locked up in the cocked position where it was supposed to be. Pulled it out and checked the lugs and they showed the same burnishing. Sprayed everything off with Gun Scrub and then lubed lightly with some Miltec. A bit of Locking lug grease behind the lugs and the job was done. The "Go Gauge" did go a little deeper but the bolt would not shut. Took me about an hour and a few minutes and saved me the aggravation of sending it back to Savage. I also looked at the trigger, but that will be for another day when I get the time.

Slim

[Single Six]

I like reading about a guy who's got a brain in his noggin and knows what he's doing taking care of a problem himself. The trigger should be no problem for you, I don't think. Mine lightened right up with a little polishing.

[Slim Jim]

I like reading about a guy who's got a brain in his noggin and knows what he's doing taking care of a problem himself. The trigger should be no problem for you, I don't think. Mine lightened right up with a little polishing.


I've been checking the forum(s) for ideas and info on how others have lightened the triggers on their edges. I've got some good ideas on what I want to do. I did see a couple of ideas that concerned me regarding the potential for slam fires and hope that the guys are very careful. Right now I'm leaning towards just checking for any possible burr(s) on the trigger/sear and perhaps a spring change. I will not do anything that I will not be able to "undo", should it be found to be unsafe. If I can get it to approx. 4 or 4 1/2 lbs that will satisfy me. Now, finding the time to do it is the immediate task in front of me.

Slim

[Slim Jim]

Worked on the trigger this morning per the many posts about the slight polish and spring modification. Took about another hour. I could not readily locate any springs so I initially tried a trimmed Bic lighter spring and found that was too light. A fountain pen spring also was too light. Looked at the factory spring and decided to cautiously clip one(1) coil and tried it again. Took the pull down to a satisfactory 4 1/2 pounds. Several healthy slaps of the recoil pad on the basement floor proved the trigger to be safe at this level of modification. My next little project will be to determine the best way to eliminate the over travel that has become very obvious due to the much lighter pull. That will have to wait for another day ;)

Slim