I bought a used Savage a while back chambered in 223AI. It is a blued long action single shot (solid bottom) action. I do not see any numbers stamped on it but was told it was a 116 by a guy at the range. A year ago I bought a 6BR barrel from Jim at NSS and a bolt head (308) and barrel nut wrench from a member on this site. I finally got some free time and started my very first barrel swap project.

I got the barrel nut off and the action free from the barrel without too much trouble and was pretty excited. I then took the bolt apart and was getting excited about how well I was doing. That's when things went south.

Problem #1: The original bolt head (223) is longer, although the length difference between the bolt heads does not seem to be a hindering factor as the distance from the back of the lugs to the center of the retaining pin is the same on both bolt heads. It also has a notch cut into the part that inserts into the bolt body. There is a small indention on the outside of the bolt body that looks like it was done with a mechanical punch. This caused an protrusion on the inside of the bolt body. The notch in the 223 bolt head allows it to get past the protrusion on the inside of the bolt body. The 308 bolt head does not have a notch cut into it so it will not fit into the bolt body.

Problem #2: The firing pin will not fit into the new (308) bolt head. The part that strikes the firing pin fits but the step-up section is not even close. The measurements on my firing pin are .067 on the small end and .140 on the step-up section.

Anyone know off the top of their head what I've got here? I want to have the option of switching barrels back and forth in the future. What do I need to be able to do so? Sorry for the long post, I just want to make sure I don't end up with something I don't need or with something I don't. Thanks in advance for any help.

Jason