PSA: Some info on barrel swaps...
This may be old news to some of you, but it caught me out. So I recently swapped barrels on my Savage 12 FV. It was a .223, now it's a 6.5 Creedmoor. The actual swap was easy and straight forward, shout out to NSS for their action wrench. Got a take off barrel from a forum member, an OEM .308 bolt head, and just reused everything else, this started as a budget long range (hopefully) gun, and will stay that way. If I ever get the chance to actually do any long range shooting, and get serious about it, I'll build an entirely new rifle. Or maybe not, it shot really well as a .223, and it's showing promise as a Creedmoor.
Got it to the range 2 days ago, shot fine but getting the bolt to close was a real chore. I KNEW the headspace was good, and when I did get a round chambered, everything was fine, so I decided it had to be an issue with the extractor not jumping the case rim. Got it home and pulled the extractor, everything looked fine and it seemed to be working properly. Did a Google search, and it turns out that Savage extractors are NOT all the same, even though new extractors are sold to fit anything. Apparently the .223 extractors are slightly longer than the .308, this causes the "tail" of the extractor to hit the receiver wall, thus preventing it from snapping over the case rim. A couple minutes with a Dremel and some diamond laps and all is well, the bolt closes easily on a fired case, and extracts just like it's supposed to. I eliminated the ejector while doing the swap, this is strictly a bench gun, and I hate chasing brass all over the place. Just thought I'd pass along my experience, hope it helps someone else out sometime. Later.
Dave
