HELP!!! hard safety!

All...my wife's savage has a very hard safety and it isn't positive at all when cocked. I have to really press back on the thing to slide it in safe. The funny thing is when you remove the bolt...the safety is very nice and positive. You can feel all 3 positions. This is a top bolt release blind magazine model. Please help. I would like this safety to be easier for her to slide and more positive. Thank you!

P.S. it is an accutrigger with the lighter spring meant for the target gun that everyone buys on here. It appears when we crank the spring down the safety works much better but then we get a 6lb trigger pull instead of 2.5

Have you tried udjusting the trigger over travel screw in 1/16th turn increments.

Welcome to savage QC

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Originally Posted by Robinhood

Have you tried udjusting the trigger over travel screw in 1/16th turn increments.

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I have not tried adjusting that. Although I'm not sure how much it would help because it goes away if you tighten the trigger weight pull spring down...not sure what the over travel would do?

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Originally Posted by darkker

Welcome to savage QC

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It appears when I put the stock spring in the safety is almost perfect and trigger weight is 3lb9oz 8 ounces which is good enough for her. Wished we could use the target spring though at 2lbs but better the safety functions smooth

I had a similar issue when I put my action in a new stock. My issue is that the bolt wasn't fully closing due to excess material in the bolt cut-out in the stock. I removed a little material and it's fine. Remove the stock, and see if you're having the same issue. If not carve out a little material on the stock.

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Originally Posted by Robinhood

Have you tried udjusting the trigger over travel screw in 1/16th turn increments.

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There is no "over travel" screw on an accutrigger, only a safety engagement screw. And it sounds like it needs to be backed off some. The screw is usually hidden under a plastic ball that is jammed into the threads to make it non accessible. Drill out the plastic and /or use a dental pick to remove it. then you can access the screw with a 5/64 allen wrench.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

There is no "over travel" screw on an accutrigger, only a safety engagement screw. And it sounds like it needs to be backed off some. The screw is usually hidden under a plastic ball that is jammed into the threads to make it non accessible. Drill out the plastic and /or use a dental pick to remove it. then you can access the screw with a 5/64 allen wrench.

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Thanks! I will look into that. What does screwing it in or out do just so I know where my adjustments are? Thanks!

The screw just blocks the trigger from being able to "tip up" / "teeter-totter" and clear the sear. If you turn the screw out so that less screw is being pushed up against the safety bar, the trigger will have more play in it. If it is too long, it rides that bar too tight / hard and keeps it from sliding freely.

The screw needs to be just short enough to allow the bar to slide under it, but long enough to prevent the trigger from tipping up when the bar is slid back to the safe position. Sometimes, when adjusting the trigger spring tension down, the screw will ride against the safety bar with more pressure, making it hard to slide the safety bar back and forth. It's all a matter of adjusting one part so as to counter the effects of the other. It's not something that can be measured, (or worth the effort to determine how long it should be), it's just a matter of adjusting them by trial and error till each operate smoothly in conjunction with the other. When doing so, it's sometimes just a matter of turning a screw in or out as little as maybe 1/16 or 1/32 or even 1/100 of a full turn.

When tuning a guitar string, how much should you turn those screws that the strings wrap around? IDK, but just enough till it sounds good, no more. :)

Probably an un-needed word of warning. The savage safety only blocks the trigger, not the firing pin. It is like the Rem. 700. If you have the trigger set light and pull it with the safety on, THE GUN MAY FIRE when you push the safety off (a slam fire). I instruct all the novices that use my rifles (all light triggers) to never trust the safety and to learn to close the bolt just before shooting rather than use the safety.

That is right, too. Whenever adjusting these, test this way:

1. Put on safe.
2. Pull trigger hard.
3. Put o half-safe.
4. Pull trigger hard.
5. Slide safety all the way forward.

Sometimes if not adjusted correctly, it will fire when pushing safety foward after pulling hard on trigger before taking safe off. If adjusted properly for all positions, it wont, but things change/move/loosen.

Once all works together properly, apply some fingernail polisg on the screws to help hold.

Have you tried limiting your possible causes down by removing the trigger? Pull the pin with the c clip that holds the trigger in. Still hard? Remove the position spring. Still hard? Remove the trigger group entirely and then remove the bottom half of the safety. If you got the far there is a bind some where. If you had a smooth safety at the first step, then at least you know your safety isn't the problem.

Maybe you already know. I'm on my phone so it's hard to read every post so if it's been discussed, I didn't see it.

Edit: I didn't see the thing about the bolt. Make sure your trigger is engaging the sear correctly. I could see the sear being malformed and that could cause bolt pressure to push the sear into the safety when it shouldn't be. Just an idea.

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Originally Posted by lrshooting

Have you tried limiting your possible causes down by removing the trigger? Pull the pin with the c clip that holds the trigger in. Still hard? Remove the position spring. Still hard? Remove the trigger group entirely and then remove the bottom half of the safety. If you got the far there is a bind some where. If you had a smooth safety at the first step, then at least you know your safety isn't the problem.

Maybe you already know. I'm on my phone so it's hard to read every post so if it's been discussed, I didn't see it.

Edit: I didn't see the thing about the bolt. Make sure your trigger is engaging the sear correctly. I could see the sear being malformed and that could cause bolt pressure to push the sear into the safety when it shouldn't be. Just an idea.

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I'm pretty confident it has to do with the trigger weight adjustment. Once I switch back to the older spring (higher weighted spring) and set it all the way light...the safety is still smooth. The trigger pull is now 3lbs 8 or so ounces. Which is fine. We were hoping to go to about 2.5lbs with the competition spring in which we did get but then that is when we get the sticky safety issue which sounds like I'd have to mess with the safety engagement screw. I think I will leave her rifle as is for this season to ensure safety. Then mess with it next summer.