Trying to keep my old model 5 running...

I have a model 5 I grew up with that was my late fathers. It sports a stock from what I think was a model 6 that I took a pocket knife to carve a bolt notch out of when I was maybe 14 or 15 when it's old stock was cracked up and done. It probably isn't worth a nickel but probably over 1/2 of the untold thousands of .22 rounds I've fired through my life I've put through the gun, and I aim to have it outlast me.

It's always been a little finicky with ammo... firing federal ammo ok years ago... remingtons not so much. It had gotten more and more unreliable and, now-a-days, it won't light off a round even 1/2 the time. I've dunked the bolt in solvent and cleaned it as best as I can... but I think it's just done, be it in the firing pin or some spring inside. I've look online to see if I could just buy another bolt and swap, but all I've seen for sale are the disassembled bolts were you just buy the back end.

Anyone have any recommendations?

I'd actually thought of looking at one of those Marlin XT 22MTRs... as I think they're the last tube fed bolt guns on the market... but I'll never get rid of the model 5 and it seems wrong for it to sit in my gun cabinet unused for the last 1/2 of my life and for my kids to miss out on shooting it.

Thanks!

Numrich has all the parts in stock. https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-man...v/5-sav?page=3

Very helpful, thanks.

Eyeballing it (it seems more complicated than what videos jve seen of others)... there's a mainspring driving a striker, hitting a firing pin extension... hitting the firing pin itself which also has a small spring at it, which is providing the motive force to fire the round.

Not sure if the mainspring and firing pin spring resisting each other or what, to keep the pin from striking quite as hard...

At what it all costs, and my assumption the mainspring is providing most of the motive force and the firing pin, striker and extension possible all have worn a tiny bit... I suppose I can just replace them all and see what happens.

Hope you get it working properly, these old timers deserve to be preserved and used, not collect dust. I very seldom buy anything new, and I love old .22's, and the old ones shoot amazing and last forever with proper care.
I've picked up few dust collectors that just needed a little TLC!

Thanks. I'll sit down last night and order whatever is needed to refresh the bits inside the bolt.

It's been a good rifle and even if I couldn't make it better, I'd still hang on to to it and give it a go now and then... I just need to get more bangs than clicks! I'd pretty much given up on it for squirrel hunting as it was too inconsistent. I'd still bust it out to knock pine cones out of trees. They don't care how many clicks you get before a bang

It's been forever... but I've finally started tinkering with the rifle (work, college courses and family take their toll on hobby-time).

So while I didn't disassemble the bolt, but I did soak it overnight in solvent, then ran some through where the firing pin is until is ran pretty much clear (it came out black initially). So far as soaking anything, I think it's a good as it can get.

I did learn a few things... it looks like the top of the trigger has a pin going through it connecting to the rifle. There is a pretty decent amount of side-to-side play on it. Like with my Crosman airguns, it looks like a brass or vinyl washer could be put on either side of the trigger to fill in the gap... which is pretty noticeable and firm up the trigger substantially.

I'd had issues in the past getting shorts to load... and it seemed that the spring was weak. Well, I do see both where Numrich has both springs (if I can drive the old pin out of the old tube w/o damaging it) or you can actually get a whole new tube... so that should solve that problem.

Now... as to the light strikes... After a good hour of trying to clean the bolt, I tried to fire some more and it's still inconsistent... so a deep cleaning alone doesn't seem like it'll solve the problem. Over the last year, I've kept my eye out of a whole bolt... missed out on one on ebay, then almost bought a whole rifle at a pawn shop that was a Savage/Stevens, but a different model. The bolts were *so* similar... but just not quite the same. The pawn shop was was a single shot and there was just enough of a difference it wouldn't work. Looking back, I probably could have gotten to for parts, but at the non-budging $150 they were looking to get for a rifle in no better shape than mine... I walked.

I've looked all over the internet and just haven't come across a good video or photos on a bolt breakdown. I do have the link to the Numrich site with my rifle pulled up.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/savstevspgfld/rifles-sav/5-sav?page=2

...my assumption is the parts that would be best replaced would be the firing pin itself... as untold tens of thousands of rounds has been fired through it and I guess any but of wear could do it in. Then... there's the mainspring at the back of the bolt and the firing pin spring towards the front. I can get a new firing pin and new firing pin spring... and I think there's a pin towards the middle of the bolt to separate it in two. The mainspring and any back-of-the-bolt parts are pretty much used parts that they sell.

I'm leaning towards trying to drive out the front pin and doing the firing pin spring and firing pin alone... then getting a spring for the tube and seeing if I can replace that w/o breaking it. I've never troubleshot a bolt action rifle or disassembled a bolt so any feedback would be appreciated.

I just got an (seeming) unfired Savage 64 fv-sr (the magazine follower was completely clear of powder residue and the magazine itself had no wear either on the magazine and the gun white-glove clean with no wear in the magazine channel) a week or two ago for $125... but I was thinking of flipping it and buckling down to bring this old gun back to life. I handled a CZ 457 early this month as I was thinking of just going all in on a nice new bolt rifle (fathers day, wedding anniversary and birthday are w/in weeks of each other, so I usually just get 1 'big gift' mid-year)... and also have written Marlin about their tube magazine versions of a XT-22, which are *impossible* to find... and it's apparently impossible to get a reply to them as well.

Anyway... rambling. Any input on the repair? Thanks!

Also… I did take a picture of how much the firing pin presents. The springs feel strong. with a very loud click when firing. I'm wondering if the pin itself is just worn. There's a extension piece behind it... then a striker behind that. I guess any loss of length on anything would do it. I assume there's a channel this all run in as well. maybe if there's a little but of something in there, it could be affecting how far the firing pin can move... but I figure I'll have whatever parts that might be needed on hand before disassembling.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NW...ZYIimMgXvc53P4
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NWHTGcy2Mun_J7dA9TZYIimMgXvc53P4
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NW...ZYIimMgXvc53P4

Well... I think I figured it out on my own. I knocked the pin out on the front of the bolt. Out popped the firing pin and a small cylindrical piece that was flat on the striker side and peened a lot on the firing pin side that would have been between the firing pin and striker. I flipped it around so the flat side would be on the firing pin side and the peened side on the striker side and it looked like the firing pin presented probably twice as far. I figured I could just do that and I'd be fine (and probably still would be).

But... I went back to the schematic on numrich as I though it was some little extension piece... and it looks like my firing pin is actually broken into 2 pieces.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_HC59M8CMvUMryzOyOxvPpl_dxjhrIHt

So! I'll be ordering a new firing pin and the tube magazine follower spring as I was able to get it taken apart w/o breaking the old one as well. Fingers crossed! These 2 things should correct the poor loading when the tube is near empty and hopefully make it fire 100% reliably. Then I can shore up the trigger to get it tight side to side... maybe smooth it ever so slightly and keep it running.

Well, I got the new magazine spring in and managed to only fling it across the room once. The spring that was sent was roughly 2x the length of the old one... and it wasn't just because the old one was compressed. Way more coils. I used about 2/3-3/4 and it is very tight now.

As to the firing pin, it was installed w/o any issue. It now presents about as far out as he bolt face. Cost was about $20 plus shipping. The firing pin was a new production that was about $15. The long magazine spring was about $5.

Gun fires reliably now.

One thing I did notice that that, despite the new spring in the magazine tube... I still couldn't get rounds to load relaibly. Watching the gun operate for awhile, I noted that the lifter just wasn't resetting far enough back to allow the next round to clear it and 'engage' to be on deck to go in the chamber next. The spot on the bolt where the lifter engages showed no sign of wear. Really... I didn't notice much... other than a but of a polish on the lifter itself and noting else seemed to be misaligned. I had noticed over my childhood the gun requiring a firm chambering moreso to allow the next round to load properly. I ended up pulling it out and working on the part of the lifter where the bolt engages it gently with a hammer while it lay flat on my vice to get that portion to elongate slightly. I probably will go back and do a little more as you still can't be real gentle with chambering a round without the next round not loading... but with a deliberate bolt close, the rounds will load now. New lifters aren't available.. but a used one can be purchased and I may do so for the fun of it the next time I have to pay for shipping on another item. Perhaps a new one might have a little less wear and engage properly.

It's been interesting to say the least... and the rifle is pretty much functional once again.

My left my e-mail address in my profile. I doubt I'll frequent the website, but if you e-mail me with something about a Savage .22 in the subject, I'll be happy to respond with what little I learned. As the thread has been pretty one sided since I started back, I do see it had some views and I'd wanted to pass along my experience. I did see a youtube video of someone discussing issues with one of these rifles... saying they'd torn down the bolt but provided no information concerning it, despite a lot of requests in the comments section. Parts can still be had and if you gun isn't firing reliably... checking to see is the firing pin is broken might not be a bad idea as mine sheared right at one of the segments.