New savage model 12 in 6mm benchrest

[Porsche904]

Hi everyone,
I just registered because I had just ordered my first Savage rifle on-line and went and picked it up from my local FFL . We opened the box and said to each other looks like what I had ordered, a model 12 benchrest in 6br, since it was a new rifle, I thought I wasn’t going to open all the boxes and make a mess, so I took it home. When I opened the box the plastic bag it was in looked a little grungy, I took look down the barrel and it looked pretty bad, and thought they meaning Savage didn’t clean the barrel after a lot testing.
after that I took the bolt out of its box to take a look at it, I couldn’t believe what I saw, the bolt face was covered in carbon and it was starting to rust! I had already started to clean the barrel, but after seeing that bolt face NO this is going back to Savage!
they have so far been good about e-mailing a call tag. But what I really want to know how it gout of factory, and what caused it!
i was hoping to get an early start on working up a load for it, but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen! I cannot believe I am the only one who got a rifle this!

If anyone has seen one like this Please contact me,
Porsche 904

[6mmBR_Shooter]

Who knows how long it has been sitting at the distributor, and in what condition.

[J.Baker]

They all arrive with a dirty bore - because every single rifle Savage builds is both proof and function tested with live ammunition. This is also why there's usually some carbon fouling on the bolt face, and I would suspect what you perceive as rust is actually just brass or possibly could simply be dirty ink from the proof load as Savage colors them red on proof loads to indicate it's a proof load so they don't get mixed up with standard pressure loads.

As 6mmBR Shooter noted above, there's also no telling how long that rifle sat on the shelf in the distributor's website - especially a very specialized model like this one. The bolt head should be stainless steel so it's not exactly prone to rusting easily.

Personally I would just give it a good cleaning (something you should do with ANY newly acquired firearm before shooting it) and hit the range.

[Porsche904]

I think there is more to it than that, it is back at Savage in line in service department waiting for someone to look at it and make a decision! Can I post a picture of the bolt face? Or can I e-mail you one?

[kcb38]

...there's usually some carbon fouling on the bolt face, and I would suspect what you perceive as rust is actually just brass...

That's exactly what I was thinking. Every new Savage I've ever bought has had brass on the bolt face from test firing.

[Bigstone]

Three years ago I bought a Axis for my grandson for an upcoming hunt. Couldn't bring a round to battery without using extreme force. If they test fired that rifle Hercules was working there... I'd have to see the documentation that this rifle was test fired. It went back for warranty work. Took about 4 weeks to get it back and was fixed but no mention of what was found or did to fix the issue.

Just so you know I did take same shells and chambered fine in a Remington. I'm also a Savage fan and own a few.

Dave