Rifle Basix Sav-2 problem

**ky-n** · 12-31-2013, 09:52 PM

Long time lurker, I am impressed with the wealth of knowledge you folks are willing to share and how you try to help each other with their problems and hope you will share some with me. I am recently disabled with lots of time and little income so purchasing parts to make changes to my rifles have to be carefully planned. This planned purchase may not have been a wise. All I do now days is punch paper with the occasional yote that gets to close and crows out of the neighbors corn field that I can get from my backyard range.

What I have is a 112 FVSS-S in 22-250 Remington 1-14 twist topped by a Weaver t-36 that I have had for a while now. I had traded a Remington 7400 for it thinking the single shot action would make a good target gun competing only against myself with maybe the odd local shoot and so far it reliably gives me minute of gum ball at 100 yards with a 52gr hp. I have restocked it with a Boyds Tacticool (not bedded yet or my first choice) that I like a LOT better than the tupperware it was wearing and I would like to someday re-barrel with a tighter twist 22-250 or 243.

Anyway I caught a sale on the SAV-2 trigger and thought it would give me a very light pull closer to my Anschutz 54, the problem i am having is the intermediate lever of the SAV-2 moves slightly down way from the sear when the bolt is fully seated. It will trip fire practically just looking at it unless, using the heavy spring, it is really set to put a very high load on the intermediate lever yet the lever still moves slightly away from the sear when cocking the rifle. I have followed the instructions carefully going over everything several times. I have ordered a replacement sear from Numrich (the only place I could find one) as I think the sear may be to short plus it does not sit square on the intermediate lever. Everything else, safety, over travel is perfect. So the questions are after letting out all this wind: 1. Am I possibly correct in thinking a short sear is (could be) the problem? 2. Is the single shot action really any better than the repeaters?

Thanks in advance for any help.
John

Westcliffe01 · 12-31-2013, 11:27 PM

John, in my opinion the Sav 2 trigger is a piece of junk. Perhaps I got a Friday afternoon or monday morning special, can't tell.

If you can, try to get a target accutrigger. For some reason my model 12 came with one standard. It will adjust lower than the regular trigger, but it comes with warnings that it is not safe for hunting or field use. It is the only trigger that I have ever adusted up near the max pull available. I have never owned any weapon with a hair trigger and it scared me to death when I first got it.

So far, I have swapped out 2 different Rifle Basix triggers, both traded straight up for take off accutriggers people had lying around. What I find interesting is that the majority of used rifles people are trading off happen to have aftermarket triggers in them.. Don't know quite how that is connected.

Jim at NSS and the folks at SSS might have accutriggers as take offs and one of them may happen to have a target accutrigger. I believe that if you want to order one from savage, you have to have your local gunsmith order it for you, since Savage will not sell it to us ordinary folk. Liability I guess, just like bolt heads.

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 10:15 AM

Did not think the accutrigger could be put on the older flat back 112. I thought from reading the SAV-2 was suppose to be one of the better choices for a replacement trigger. Would be just my luck.

**olddav** · 01-01-2014, 10:59 AM

You can install an Accu Trigger on a flat back action but it will require some milling of the action
Can you give some details about how you have the trigger set up? Which hole you have the pin in, which spring,
how light is the trigger set, etc...

**Texas Solo** · 01-01-2014, 11:03 AM

I have a Sav-2 trigger on a #10 action that was used to build an F-Class rifle. It's been a solid performer for about 1000 rounds.
It's set at 13oz, has never given a bit a trouble.
You could be correct about the older, non accutrigger action your using. Have you phoned Rifle Basix? That would be the best place to start before deciding that the Sav-2 trigger is somehow defective. Fair is fair.

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 03:54 PM

It doesn't matter which hole you put the pin in for the trigger the intermediate level still moves away from the sear, I have tried it in each of the holes using the heavy spring only, the light spring will not hold the sear at all. With the heavy spring tightened down almost to the point of it locking up the trigger it is giving 16oz of pull on my RCBS spring gage. My thinking is because the sear is not sitting square to the lever I am not getting full contact with the intermediate lever also the sear was polished on the face prior the trigger and I wonder if the angle on it may have been altered enough to not engage correctly with the lever. That is the reason I ordered another sear. Boy they are hard to find!

In all fairness I have not contacted Rifle Basix yet because of the holidays and I want to eliminate everything i possibly can before contacting them. If the replacement sear acts the same way I will definitely be giving them a shout. I just was hoping someone else had encountered this problem and had sorted it out.

**olddav** · 01-01-2014, 04:49 PM

I'm not seeing what you are seeing so I will yield. If someone has altered the sear as you suspect then I would think that is a problem.
When I installed my SAV-2 I did not experience any of the problems you are describing and that made me curious, please let us know what you find out.

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 06:06 PM

See if this will work , links to pics showing it with the bolt in but not locked and then locked. You can see how the sear has moved. Does this every time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps03e87579.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psb8168cbd.jpg

Westcliffe01 · 01-01-2014, 06:13 PM

I was unable to get my example to function (not release when the bolt was closed or the safety set to fire) unless the pin was in the position for the heaviest trigger pull. By that point, the advantage over an accutrigger was gone anyway. Now I will say that I did not buy it new myself, I did not get the documentation (which I believe is a DVD for the Sav 2) nor did I get any extra parts. It had been installed on a rifle that I bought as a "basket case" where about every mistake that could be made by someone with more $ than sense had been made.

The rifle, since its rebuild, now shoots 1/4MOA using a stock accutrigger and is completely safe.

**RP12** · 01-01-2014, 06:35 PM

I had that exact same condition with my Jard trigger. I never did get a reply back from them of why or if it was normal.

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 06:42 PM

Did you get your trigger sorted out or give up on it?

**RP12** · 01-01-2014, 06:47 PM

I sent it back to them. I haven't heard back on my refund though.

**olddav** · 01-01-2014, 07:39 PM

Again I could be wrong but that looks normal. My stock trigger moves the same way. The sear seats when the bolt closes. I reference my stock trigger to remove as many unknowns as I can.

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 08:02 PM

My old trigger did not move up the face like this one is doing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps9a268557.jpg

**Dennis** · 01-01-2014, 08:23 PM

Email me in the morning and I will compare the pictures with one I have, brand new.

info@mcgowenoutlet.com

Dennis

**ky-n** · 01-01-2014, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by Dennis

Email me in the morning and I will compare the pictures with one I have, brand new.

info@mcgowenoutlet.com

Dennis

Will do, thanks. Are there any other angles that would help?

**Dennis** · 01-02-2014, 07:52 PM

Looking at a new trigger, the area where the sear rest on your trigger looks like it's has a slight angle. My new trigger appears to be more of a 90deg angle. The nut is what's adjusted to allow how much of the sear you want riding on the lever.

I would hate tell you to take a file to the lever, but if you do, be super carefull and do a little at a time. Don't file the sear.

I have installed many with no issues and I don't remember any that had this much angle. The sematic picture shows the angle @ 90 degs.

Rifle Basix is good, give them a call and maybe email the pictures. Get the answer from them directly.

Dennis

**ky-n** · 01-02-2014, 09:33 PM

Thanks that is what I will do as I also see what appears to be a slant to the lever. Email with photos sent. I will let you know what happens.

**DanSavage** · 01-04-2014, 06:18 PM

The instructions DVD that came with mine wants you to round off the sharp edge of the sear. It wasn't clear on how to do that, I just used a file. Sounds like you may need to tighten the red color weight of pull spring. It's also not clear about adjusting the sear engagement screw. You simply turn sear screw in until it releases the sear, then back screw out about 1/8th turn with locknut tight.

**RP12** · 01-04-2014, 07:02 PM

[QUOTE=DanSavage;231787]The instructions DVD that came with mine wants you to round off the sharp edge of the sear.
I never understood that part.

**ky-n** · 01-04-2014, 09:41 PM

I ignored the rounding off part because my sear had been polished on the face already. I have tried the light spring and it will not hold the sear at all and the heavy spring barely will hold. Setting the sear screw on the intermediate lever is impossible because of the way the sear jumps up on the face of the lever. I still have not heard back from Rifle Basix, hope it is not a sign that this is going to be a company that does not stand behind their product and will be a hassle to get sorted out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...pscdfa6703.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps9a268557.jpg

**ky-n** · 01-06-2014, 09:27 PM

Still have not heard ANYTHING back from Rifle Basix, that speaks volumes about their customer service. Anyway I did receive the new sear I ordered in today's mail and there was a significant difference in the length of the arm that contacts the intermediate lever. I bought the sear from Numrich and noticed on the packing list the sear I ordered was canceled and they sent what they called a Super Sear. I have no idea what that means. Anybody??? Anyway I re-installed everything, played with the adjustments and it works exactly like it should. It finally adjusted out to 5 to 6 ounces, hard to be exact with the spring scale. Guess I need to break down and get a digital scale someday.

Back to the second part of my question, how good are these 112 single shot actions with a solid bottom for a platform to build on? I cannot find any specific information about them, everything I find refers to repeaters which I realize is the same except for the lack of a cutout on the bottom. I guess the what I am wanting to know is if this thing is something special or just different.

Westcliffe01 · 01-06-2014, 09:50 PM

Give us the part number of the sear that they supplied.

From what I have heard, all the Savage single shot actions are very good rigid actions compared to the magazine fed brothers which are substantially weaker due to the large cut outs.

I think it is fairly difficult getting the long target action, Savage certainly does not make them anymore. I think its a keeper.

**olddav** · 01-06-2014, 10:03 PM

Good call on the sear, glad you got it worked out.

redlabel · 01-06-2014, 10:04 PM

I have a single shot long action and it is a very good platform to build on. Mine started life as a 223, but I have had many different calibers on it and am getting ready to put a 220 swift on it.

Thanks, Wes