Savage Axis .30-06 fired while cycling bolt

[Gatorman]

Hello all, I know that there have been posts about this kind of thing before, but I haven't come across an instance where this occurred with the stock trigger. A couple of months ago I bought an axis .30-06 and have since put about a hundred rounds through it without incident. He barrel appears to be broken in well, and I'm quite happy with the way it shoots. That being said, I was putting some rounds down range and cycling the bolt with my left hand on the forward part of the stock and my right hand cycling the bolt (hence not near the trigger). Before the bolt handle was even all the way down in the saddle, the rifle fired. Thankfully the rifle was pointed safely down range, but obviously it is a huge concern especially since I got the rifle for big game hunting. Again, the trigger on the rifle is 100% stock and overall I think the trigger design, while simple, seems quite poor and prone to wear. The bolt moves a little black plate into a notch on the trigger level and I suspect it may have a propensity to slip if either the plate or the notch wear at all, which is practically a guarantee with any use at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the rifle went off even with the safety on once that plate and/or notch on the trigger level wears. At this point I'm planning on taking the rifle to a gun smith, but I was wondering if anyone else has come across this particular problem and if there are any ideas as to the cause? Thanks!

[Rosco]

I am curious as well, I mean if the bolt was not fully engaged how did the firing pin ignite the primer?

[jimbo88mm]

Yikes! Glad it was pointed in a safe direction.

So...

Finger away from the trigger.
Stock trigger.


Couple of questions:

1) Did you do any trigger work or modify it at all like cut coils from the spring or polish anything up?
2) What kind of ammo? Factory new, surplus, reloads? If reloads maybe the primer was not seated below flush?
3) Can you reproduce the problem without live ammo (empty chamber, snapcap, dummy round, etc)?
4) Do you have photos of the case that fired, maybe it could yield some clues.

[DrThunder88]

I don't suspect wear unless the metal got a bad heat treatment at the factory. Even then, however, we're talking about a gun that can't be more than five years old. Furthermore, I don't think the wear we're talking about would manifest itself as metal removed so much as steel displaced, leaving some obvious burrs on the edges. With the proper factory heat treat, it should last a few lifetimes.

Unintended firing upon slamming the bolt shut is possible if there is too little sear engagement caused by an obstruction or too little spring compression. This is one of the chief concerns I have when shimming a trigger. However, what you've described is not a slam fire in that sense. If the rifle fired before the bolt was fully closed, it sounds like the sear dropped the firing pin as the cocking cam pin as it was being lifted from the notch on the cocking ramp.

It's a mystery for sure. My money is on an obstruction somewhere on the sear. Detail strip and clean the entire trigger assembly. Look for the aforementioned wear on the trigger contact surfaces, but really I suspect the problem is one of debris. Re-assemble the rifle and try duplicating the discharge (with no ammo, of course!) If it doesn't reliably discharge on closing, try slamming the bolt handle down when you shut the bolt. If it doesn't let go when you really close the bolt with gusto, your engagement and spring compression are probably good.

[Gatorman]

Thanks for the feedback!

I am curious as well, I mean if the bolt was not fully engaged how did the firing pin ignite the primer?

The firing pin is cocked back as soon as the bolt is lifted out of the saddle and can be dry-fired once the bolt is about 1/4 the way backdown into the saddle.

As far as Jimbo88mm's questions:

1: I have not modified the stock trigger at all
2: I was using factory new ammo. I have switched brands three times since I got the rifle, and was finally settling on really cheap stuff because it produced the best groups.
3: I have not been able to reproduce the problem as of yet, and that was prior to any cleaning the trigger assembly.
4: Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the fired case, but I did inspect it afterwards and didn't find anything that seemed out of place.

I haven't really tried to duplicate the problem since cleaning the trigger assembly (which is definitely the easiest of any rifle I have ever had), and the smear plate did have a dirty glob of grease with very fine metal shavings in it on both sides of the plate. I will probably try to really set down and reproduce the problem tomorrow.

[mech1369dlw]

Any oil or grease or any other type of lube on any of the trigger parts? Any metal shavings or particles of metal any place on any of the trigger parts? Just wondering.

[MAN - GA]

My guess is there was a piece of debris of some kind in the black sticky anti-seize type compound Savage puts on the sear from the factory - I have always removed this stuff upon initial cleaning before ever firing. It could be anything that collected in this goo and only ever happens 1x since it got down in the sear engagement area and may never happen again - with as much sear engagement as I have seen in Axis guns even a bad heat treat I cannot imagine less than 100rds could wear down this contact area enough to see this as the fault. Good luck and please report findings if you ever come up with anything

[Gatorman]

Sorry for such a delayed response, but in short I took it to my local gunsmith who couldn't find anything that caught his eye as seeming out of place which made him more concerned than he initially was, because as of now there is no reason why it shouldn't happen again. He reccomends sending the rifle into Savage which makes a whole new hastle although it may be worth it for the peace of mind and this I will likely do, I would like to avoid if there is an easier explanation, so if there are any other thoughts, please feel free to share. Thanks!