In 1980 I purchased a Savage 110C LH bolt, in 30-06, s/n D326430. From the beginning I had occasional failures to fire. The primer dents, but not hard, or not deep, enough to fire. I put up with the problem for around 20 years, using the rifle most every year. In 2000 I shipped the rifle to Savage to have a new 30-06 barrel installed, which they did. Unfortunately, the FTF problem was still there. Around that time I purchased another left hand Savage rifle, a model 11 in 300 WSM. I quit using the 110 for many years. Recently I became intersted in getting the old 110 working reliably and asked Savage to fix it. They refused, saying they do not offer services for firearms that old. I took the rifle to a local gunsmith but had no luck in making the rifle reliable. I asked him to reduce the headspace to the absolute minimum in hopes that would result in some change. He did so and that seemed to result in Federal ammo, and federal brass when reloaded working reliably. I realize that doesn't seem logical, but my tests with different ammo showed Federal to be reliable. I became interested in putting a 338-06 barrel on the rifle so ordered an ER Shaw barrel and had the same gunsmith install it. Again, he screwed the barrel in to the minimum head space. Unfortunately, recently trying some reloaded Federal brass shows the problem is worse. The 2 constants in this story is the action and the bolt. I am now assuming one or both of those are contributing to my FTF problems. The problem is always the same, dented primer but no fire.
Anyone got any ideas? I emailed Savage again, explaining the long term problem. We'll see if they offer any help.
Thanks
MT