For the last several years, Savage has used a smaller diameter firing pin on their magnum caliber rifles. The reason behind this is the bolt head retaining pin can use a small diameter through hole which makes it stronger. The standard caliber firing pin measures .145" in the area it would pass through the cross pin, the magnum pins are .095" in that area. Because the firing pin diameter is smaller, the cross pin hole is smaller. So is the the diameter of the hole through the bolt head.
Starting in 2001, Savage firing pin diameters were reduced on ALL models. Therefore, when ordering bolt heads it is important to know what diameter firing pin you have to work around.
On the WSM and UltraMag calibers in staggered-feed actions, Savage changed to a controlled round feed bolt head in order to provide reliable feeding from the magazine. This bolt head differs from the rest by having the bottom lip cut away from the bolt face so that the cartridge rim can slide into the extractor instead of snapping over the extractor. Instead of a spring loaded ejector in the bolt face, this bolt head uses a standing ejector located at the rear of the receiver that pops up through a slot on the bottom left side of the bolt head to tip the case out. This is the only way to get the larger cases to feed from a staggered-feed magazine.
Submitted by SharpShooter
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