Ok, new to this form...just bought a new ML10-11. Took it to the range to test fire, still need to buy a scope.
Gun shop where I bought the gun recommended using SR4759 (42 grains) and the Hornady #4500, 300 grain bullet with the MMP orange sabot.. it was his preferred load, and what he uses in his ML10-11... ..

Notice that Savage recommended SR 4759 (43 grains) and a 250 grain bullet with the MMP short black sabot

Ok went to the range with Winchester 209 primers... loaded 42 grains of SR4759, and the 250 grian bullet and short black sabot that Savage supplies with the rifle... ok, excited nervous... ready to fire. Safety off, squeeze the trigger, hear a small tap ... nothing. Wait over a minute, open bolt, remove primer, see slight dent in primer...what going on? Replace primer, close bolt...try again... boom.. shot down range.. no, didn't hit taget...iron sights .... but it fired... first shot.

Ok, repeated load and fired another time... everything is fine... threw away primer with slight dent

Reloaded for third time, this time friend is shooting... same load...pulls trigger, hear a small tap again... nothing. Again remove primer and it has a very small dent, hardly hit. Replace primer, try again...everything works, sends a shot down range

Had difficult time removing primer after third shot...what's going on

Reloaded rifle with 42 grains of SR4759, except this time I used the MMP orange sabot with the 300 grain Hornady bullet (.458 dia)... reused the primer with the slight dent... boom, everything worked fine

So fired the rifle 4 times and had 2 misfires... not happy.... change primer and it fired ...reused one primer and it fired... all components and rifle are brand new

Friend though maybe I hadn't closed the bolt completely ... dry fired and found that the rifle wouldn't allow the trigger to be pulled unless the bolt is completely closed ( as you would expect), thus don't believe that

when I looked at the fired primers, they had major dents from being hit... so know the firing pin hit them hard, but had two primers with slight hits.. reused one and it worked fine... on third shot, primer was difficult to remove

What am I doing wrong... ever hear of something like this...like something is wrong with the firing pin?
Plan to shoot again next week to see if this was a one time thing or not...very concerned after spending the money for this rifle... sure don't want this to happen when hunting

Help / recommendations would be appreciated

Thanks, Tom