Bolt Camming Problems on Savage 12 VLP DBM Left Hand

Hello All,

I have a new Savage 12 VLP DBM left handed in .223 Rem. Loving it.

Recently I added a neck sizing die to my reloading. After firing some neck sized cases I found them really hard to retract. The bolt lift was fine. A rubber mallet would have been nice to have to tap the bolt rearward. Hand getting sore. Not the way I want them

These loads were not near max and velocities were reasonable and close to published, primers were normal so not excessive pressure. Later at home I was cycling the empties through the action and was still hard to retract. I then put a few unfired neck sized loaded round in and had the same problem retracting.

It's like my bolt isn't camming the case back. Upon closer inspection of the cam on the bolt handle and the cam surface (rear baffle) there is .047" slop between that surface (rear baffle) and the rear of the receiver. I reduced this to .027" by adding 5 layers of aluminum tape (.004-.005" thick per layer) to allow the cam to do more work.

This helped and the same cases that were trouble fire and eject like normal now.

Is this something I should be taking back to get repaired or is this a normal thing on these savages to have that much slop on the camming surfaces at the rear of the bolt. If so maybe I will epoxy some shim stock on to the camming piece (rear baffle) where is butts up to the rear of the receiver.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Never mind the slop in the bolt. You need to work on your brass.
Full length resize and see how they extract. If you're only neck sizing,the body needs to be resized and the shoulder bumped back. (like .001 or .002) A "body" die (once in a while) will do the job if you only want to neck size.
If the full length resized cases extract without any problem, start there. JMHO.

Hows the bolt feel with no brass in it?

Also try to loosen your front action screw and re-try it, just to make sure it isnt a hair too long and rubbing the bolt...Dont ask me how I know this will cause a problem like this...

Full length re sized cases no problem to extract after firing. Bolt easy to open and close without anything in the chamber. The brass that was neck sized only was originally full length sized and then only fired in this chamber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hifly78

Hello All,

I have a new Savage 12 VLP DBM left handed in .223 Rem. Loving it.

Upon closer inspection of the cam on the bolt handle and the cam surface (rear baffle) there is .047" slop between that surface (rear baffle) and the rear of the receiver. I reduced this to .027" by adding 5 layers of aluminum tape (.004-.005" thick per layer) to allow the cam to do more work.

This helped and the same cases that were trouble fire and eject like normal now.

Is this something I should be taking back to get repaired or is this a normal thing on these savages to have that much slop on the camming surfaces at the rear of the bolt. If so maybe I will epoxy some shim stock on to the camming piece (rear baffle) where is butts up to the rear of the receiver.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

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It sounds as though its bit short on the primary extraction since the addition of the tape on the face of the baffle made the brass extract normally. Generally something in the .070"-.080" range is about mid range and enough to compensate for differences in the cartridge extractor rim lengths. Usually anything less then about .055" will cause problems. The tape you added increased the amount of PE.

To actually measure it its best to have the barrel removed and take two measurements from the receiver ring to the boltface, one with the bolt closed and locked and one with the bolt rotated open and pushed fully forward. The difference between the measurements is the amount of PE.

You may be able to get a ballpark measurement rigging up a indicator between the action and bolt assembly.

Since its a new rifle give Savage a call.

Bill

Thanks All. I have it working nice now. I got out the feeler gauges and figured out what worked best. There was .047" slop between the rear baffle and the receiver when closed. Anything less than .005" and bolt would not operate.

I made a shim out of sheet metal thinned and trimmed to the contours of the baffle and it is .031" thick. This leaves and extra 0.011" slop to work. (0.047-.005=0.042"-.031" shim = .011" slop.) This is with my new tactical handle. The savage handle had even more slop.

Had it at the range and it works great. Used 3 drops of JB weld epoxy to hold it in place.

Just for curiosity what is the thickness of others rear baffles from the factory. Mine with the shim now is and even 0.400" inch from the flat part the bolt rides on to the flat part the receiver butts up against.

Close up of rear baffle with shim
[img width=463 height=450]http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx232/hifly78/Savage/CopyofDSC_2242.jpg[/img]

Overall of Bolt with Shim

[img width=600 height=390]http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx232/hifly78/Savage/CopyofDSC_2241.jpg[/img]

Here's an old thread on adjusting primary extraction --> http://savageshooters.com/SavageForu...c,15900.0.html But it sounds like your shim solution is working well. :)