I bought this rifle new earlier in the year and finally got around to shooting it. Using 130 grain Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips, after firing, the bolt is very difficult to open. It takes maybe 20 pounds of effort on my part to turn the bolt open, then a fair amount of effort to slide it back. The strange thing is that this did not happen on every cartridge but on each I noticed some tightness in the bolt when trying to eject a spent case. I have no problem closing the bolt on an unfired round or ejecting an unfired round.

Looking at the Winchester case after firing I see that the primer is flattened, there is a pronounced extractor mark inside the rim and there is a pronounced "wipe" mark in the case head stamp area.

I don't know if this is a problem with the ammunition or not. However, I just fired 2 rounds of a different brand (Federal Powershok 130gn) and had no difficulty opening the bolt with none of the aforementioned pressure signs, save for maybe a slight flattening of the primer.

Any ideas? I am thinking I should return the rifle to Savage. Unless Winchester has a problem with that particular ammunition.

Thank you,

Jack Adams