I bought a new Savage 10P. A .308 with a heavy barrel (Savage told me it has a 5R barrel that is supposed to be for accuracy). I gave it a light cleaning. Not many posts on this model, so I am giving a few random notes for anyone that might be thinking of getting one. I shot it for the first time last Saturday using factory PMC and Federal .308 ammunition. Shot great, but it was very difficult to extract. I had to pull very hard on the bolt to get it out. I tried a couple of different 7.62 NATO military surplus rounds (Spain, Argentina and British) with the same problem. This is important as I recently married into a large cache of 7.62 NATO and I need them for practice. Savage is closed for two weeks so I cannot ask them. Internet posts suggest:

1. “new” guns need to be broken in,
2. Chamber needs to be polished and
3. Gunk in chamber.

I cleaned it again, very thoroughly, including the chamber. I shot again with no problem with factory .308, but some sticking with the 7.62. I cleaned it thoroughly again and shot a third time on the 4th with the factory .308 and most of the 7.62 working great. Action feels smoother. The British linked 7.62 still sticks and about every other round will not chamber (I did not shoot these) so I may have to sell them off. I also shined the brass of the 7.62 with steel wool thinking the gunk on the military brass was contributing to the sticking. I am not going to send it in to Savage now as it appears to be shooting well. Do I need to clean the gunk off the brass? It is a lot of work.

There are many discussions about using 7.62 in a .308 rifles including Savage’s. My impression is that it is OK. I bought a .308 to use my cache of 7.62. I am going to need alot of practice. I just went through the Savage website and found they state to not use 7.62 in their .308 rifles. New factory .308 ammo is really high (if you can find it) so I want to keep shooting the 7.62 as long as it works in the rifle. The military ammo appears to be accurate. I like the heavy barrel. Does not heat up fast and I think has lower felt recoil. It will be heavy to carry hunting, but easier for the kids to shoot.