Cleaned & lubed my bolt today.

[fgw_in_fla]

Geez... That heading almost sounds personal

Anyway, today I officially lost my cherry & I'm an official Savage bolt service tech.
I stripped down 3 old bolts from 110 models (w/ .473" head) to make up one good bolt. I had some defective Winchester primers burn thru the rolled edge & burn / pit the bolt face on my .270. By the way, Winchester had me Fed Ex the old brass with burned primers, along with photos of the damaged bolt face & they're sending a few certificates to replace the primers & bolt head. Rather nice of them, I think...

Breaking down a bolt for the first time is quite interesting. It appears I have one bolt with a smaller (thinner diam.) firing pin than the other two which made it very interesting putting things back together. Boy, is it hard to get that fat firing pin in that small hole bolt head.... ::)

Advice to any virgin bolt rebuilders.... When breaking down more than one bolt at a time, make sure you lay out the parts & keep the parts together for each bolt. You never know what you're going to find inside.

Lastly, thanks to all who posted previous info & photos on the fine art of bolt repair. It was most helpful.

[stangfish]

did you get that protrusion deep enough ? ;D

[thomae]

::) Hey Mods, shouldn't this be moved to the "adult humor" section? ;D

[fgw_in_fla]

Joke if you must... The important thing to always remember is to keep your bolt well lubricated & a regular service will keep it in good working condition. ;D ;D ;D

[GaCop]

Joke if you must... The important thing to always remember is to keep your bolt well lubricated & a regular service will keep it in good working condition. ;D ;D ;D

Doesn't hurt to polish it occassionally either........... ;D

[bluealtered]

Thanks guys, it's always great to start the day with a smile!

[fgw_in_fla]

Somehow I had a feeling this thread would go in this direction...

By the way, Where's the best place to buy a new bolt head? I need a .473" head to make a spare bolt. I'd prefer not to have to take out a mortgage on one so, "best place" = Cheapest place...

I usually use Midway & it appears they replenished their stock of Savage parts... except for .270 / 30.06 bolt heads.

Who else carries Savage goodies? ???

[jhelmuth]

Just keep an eye open around here and post a WTB for it. I doubt it'd take too long for you to dig up a bolt head that suits your needs....

[lal357]

there is a post on here where they tell you to use a #25 drill bit to drill out the bolthead for the larger firing pin i was about to do it to mine then midway sends me 2 small firing pin assemblies i ordered back in oct. last year. i see that they still have the firing pin assemblies available. if you get the small firing pin also get the smaller head retaining pin holder .100 to keep the pin straight.

[MikeCTX]

No one has mentioned this yet and you probably know this already, but when you change the bolt head you will need to headspace your barrel.

That is the reason your bolt head has a number on it that matches the barrel.

[fgw_in_fla]

Hey Mike- Whaddya think we're a bunch of rookies here?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check the headspace on my '06.... ::)

Just yanking your chain. I checked the HS right after I finished playing with my bolt.

[fgw_in_fla]

I forgot to ask the general consensus...

What do you think is better? The thinner firing pin or the fat pin? Considering the weight & mass of the heavy firing pin, I kinda think bigger is better in this case?

What say ye 'o knowledgeable shooters of the switch barrel thunder stick?

[stangfish]

The misses concurs. Bigger is better so use the large pin.

[thirty06]

Use the small firing pin. The reason Savage changed is the lg. retaining pin was breaking.

[fgw_in_fla]

Thirty06 - You say the large pin breaks easier? I would think it would be the other way around...

[thirty06]

No, the firing pin dose'nt break, the bolthead retaining pin with the lg. hole breaks.
They made the firing pin smaller so they could make a smaller hole in the retaining pin.

[fgw_in_fla]

Ahhhhh Sooooo... Then that would most likely be why the retaining pin in my other rifle broke. It was the large pin type & it snapped right at the hole where the pin passes thru. This happened about 3 - 4 months ago & triggered the whole chain of events starting with buying a new bolt from Savage for $140, then primers burning thru the back & so on....


Anyway, thanks for the heads up on that. Good info to keep handy. This is why I like this site so much. I can't recall a single time I didn't come away from this site without another tid - bit of knowledge about the mighty Switch Barrel Thunder Stick.

[gotcha]

FGW, When you're finished lubing your bolt ( a time consuming operation) You could check w/ Numrich Arms for the bolt head & stuff. I'll let you interpret "stuff" ;D

[fgw_in_fla]

Thanks, gotcha...
Funny you should mention Numrich... WHen I went to the range this afternoon, they had Numrich catalog sitting there on the end of the counter. That's a pretty thick mother of a catalog. I'll check them out online.

Now, if you'll excuse me... I'll be away from my desk the rest of the evening as I'd like to finish servicing & lubing my bolt