Bolt handle came loose?

Has anyone else had this problem? I emailed Savage about this but I doubt they will do anything since I've owned it for more than a year. Here is what I emailed them.

I was at the range today and started to have trouble ejecting spent cases. I took the bolt out to inspect what I could see with out taking the action from the stock. When I tried to insert the bolt back into the action I noticed that the bolt handle had come loose. When tightening the handle back up the square at the bolt body was not in the correct position to allow the bolt to be inserted back into the action. From my understanding, this is what controls the head space on these rifles.

I know that the front portion of the bolt needs to be in the correct orientation to be inserted back in the action, it's not that.

ehhhh.... Maybe it's me, but I don't understand whatever it was you observed. In any event, nothing controls head space. The head space is set when the barrel is installed. Unless you change bolts or bolt heads, or the barrel comes loose from the action, head space will not change.

I probably need a picture too.


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The bolt controls how far in the barrel the round goes, wouldn’t that be a contributing factor of head spacing? The receiver also shows peening on it where the bolt is when the action is locked. Either way it looks like I’m out of a rifle. Guess I’ll be stepping up to a CZ when the funds are right.

??? I wanna help, but I am not understanding what you are describing. I will go out on a limb, though, and say there is no way your rifle is ruined. I doubt there is anything wrong with it or ANY savage bolt action (short of twisting the action) that can't be easily fixed. Granted, I don't have any clue what the issue is, but if you can't send pics, feel free to send the rifle to me. I will be more than happy to look at it and possibly repair it free of charge. PM me for contact info. I'll take care of it. :)

I’ll take some pics when I get home. Hopefully that will help clarify what’s going on.

Basically, the bolt has to lock in place. And short of the bolt being damaged, head space is fixed when the bolt locks.

I think you’re suggesting the bolt isn’t locking or it’s damaged.

Thanks for persisting trying to explain what you are seeing.


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This is how the bolt is twisted/loose. It won't allow the bolt to close when it off like that. When I tighten it it is twisted the other way to it won't allow it to be closed either.

https://flic.kr/p/YNpLsG
https://flic.kr/p/CM6JDY

I got a flickr account so I could add more photos for more gooder goodness.

Shoot, IDK. Send more pics.... remove bolt from action, show more of everything. Use a pencil or something to point to the parts you were talking about before.

I got it. The bolt handle must screw on to a certain point in order for the bolt handle to fully drop into the slot. Your bolt handle is NOT screwing fully on to square up the handle with the slot. How much torque have you applied to the bolt handle?

If by torque you mean what am I doing with it, just shooting it. I pull it out of the safe, put it in a soft case and hit the range. When I go to tighten it I'll go until I feel like it's snug. I know the threads aren't gonna hold much so I don't put much on it at all. I added two more pics, this should be able to show the problem pretty well. I've found that other people have had this problem as well but were under warranty still and sent it back to Savage, I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

https://flic.kr/p/ZWjd3x

I don’t know this bolt, wondering if you could put thread locker on it to hold it in place


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I couldn’t tell you, I don’t want to really mess with it until I hear back from savage. I have tried to take it out but it gets tight and I don’t want to force it. If I hear back and they won’t do anything I’ll dig into it and see what can be done. Worst comes to worst I’ll tack weld it in place and see how it does.

Just a follow up on this. Savage got back to me and said they would look at it if I send it in on my dime. If it was something they would cover they would if not I would have to pay for repairs and return shipping. Deciding not to worry about it since I could get a new one for $150ish and since I ended up buying a 10/22 while waiting I decided to tear into it all the way and see what I could do myself. I took a wrench and put some force on it until it either broke or came loose. Well it came loose and messed up the threads. I then tore the bolt down and noticed I wouldn't have had any resistance if I had taken the bolt apart in the first place. I cleaned up the threads so it would go on with no resistance. I sprayed the bolt and handle down with brake clean and put a good amount of red thread locker on it and let it sit for a day. I aligned the bolt to sit straight with some thickness gauges between the bolt handle base and the relief cut in the side of the bolt. It seems to have worked so far although I haven't shot it.

So if your going to try to take your bolt handle off, I don't recommend, take the bolt completely apart first.

**I've read that not all of the bolt handles are threaded, I have no first hand knowledge of this, so participate at your own risk.