Savage 111 .243 Hard to open bolt after firing

**longdude17** · 11-04-2021, 12:31 PM

Hello gents, first post here. I have a Savage 111 in .243 that I just picked up for my son, the rifle doesn't appear to have been fired much, is super clean and topped with a Leupold 3-9x40 scope....perfect or my 11yr old son!

We brought it to the range after his birthday this past Sunday, and I took the lead on sighting it in (I have numerous other rifles I was sighting in as well on the lead sled). All went normal with loading the rifle, cycling the round in and actually firing, but good GRIEF it was hard to extract the spent casing. Thinking it was a fluke I repeated this 4 more times until the rifle was zero'd at 100yds. Each round was a beast to extract, bolt will rotate / lift and square up, but took alot of umph to pull the bolt rear ward (Im 6'3" 220lbs....Im no weakling)

Once the bolt is moving, it extracts and flings the cartridge just as it should without any damage to the base of the spent cartridge, thus rules out weak extractor. Looking at the casings, there is some minor scratching, and a small black ring around the tip of the spent casing. We were shooting Remington Core lok ammo, as that was the only thing we could find locally. Needless to say, the last round (6th shot, 3rd by my son) stuck so bad we had to bring the gun home from the range and tap the bolt with a hammer to get the casing out.

Has anyone ever seen this or experienced this? Perhaps I have a burr in the action? Is the barrel set too tight and the casing expanding into the throat? Perhaps a good polish of the action?

Gun shoots wonderfully, but just cant get the spent casings out.

**longdude17** · 11-13-2021, 04:09 PM

Spent casing pics

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**olddav** · 11-13-2021, 05:09 PM

If the scratches are on the same spot (relatively) then I would think there is a burr in the chamber. If not then perhaps there may be some trash in the chamber.
But I’m just guessing here.

**Dave Hoback** · 11-14-2021, 12:18 AM

Yeah, you have a sticky chamber. You said it’s “super clean”, but did you give it a SUPER cleaning yet? Get yourself a really heavy duty copper/lead/fouling cleaning solution and have at it with a brush & patches. Your spent case doesn’t look bad; no over pressure signs. Primer still rounded, no flattening. I think what olddav said is worth checking and I’m willing to bet you have some metal deposits... lead/copper.

I’ve fixed a sticky chamber or two using a chamber brush on a cordless drill.

**Texas10** · 11-20-2021, 08:33 AM

You may have a primary extraction issue. Take a good look at the rear baffle where it contacts the ramp on the bolt handle. Sometimes an out of spec. bolt handle, or rear baffle can team up to cause hard extraction. This assumes the issue is not a cruddy chamber too but your statement that the bolt handle raises normally suggests it's not a fouled chamber, but an extraction issue.

I bought a Savage 12 action that had an aftermarket bolt handle, but was very hard to open the bolt with an empty chamber. The primary extraction ramp was contacting the bolt handle ramp too early and trying to move the bolt rearward before the bolt lugs had rotated enough to clear the bolt supports (I can't recall the name for that part of the action).

A little work with a grinder and it was soon working smooth as glass. But in your case, you may not be getting enough contact and therefore little or no extraction effort.

A close up pic of the rear baffle primary extraction ramp would reveal wear marks. To remove the rear baffle, remove the bolt from the action and then rotate the rear baffle so that the ball comes out of the groove and aligns with cocking ramp cut out in the bolt body. Slide it forward over the cut out and it'll come clear of the bolt body.

In case you are missing a rear baffle, it's C shaped and sits between the bolt handle and rear of the action body. If you have a large gap there, you're missing a rear baffle and that would explain your extraction issues.

**Txhillbilly** · 11-20-2021, 12:07 PM

Looks like you need to polish the chamber of the barrel. The case looks OK in relation to the barrel being head spaced correctly, so it sounds like you just have a rough chamber.

**Robinhood** · 11-20-2021, 10:56 PM

A lot of good suggestions. I didn't read if that was reloaded or not but I will throw in anneal your brass. It looks to me like the neck split in the picture. It also looks like you need to trim your brass. I can't be completely certain but it looks like there is brass flaring out at the mouth of the brass.

**longdude17** · 12-18-2021, 03:21 PM

These were factory loads (rem core lok)

Here is a pic of the bolt of anyone is interested… a fresh round loads and ejects fine. Bore scope didn’t reveal anything that my un trained eye found…

Still on the hunt for a different type of ammunition, my small town doesn’t have many options.

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**Dave Hoback** · 12-18-2021, 04:29 PM

Well, a picture of the bolt doesn’t tell us anything. Ok, AFTER firing, if the bolt handle LIFTS normally, but just hard to pull back, than your problem is primary extraction. Which requires measuring, FIRST. Not something a typical person would do, instead taking it to a smith. Now, you MAY want to try installing a new rear baffle. It’s an inexpensive “try”. Ya know? You can get one here. https://www.gunshack.com/savage-part...roduct_id=1988 If that doesn’t fix it, I believe your bolt body will need shortened. Not something I’d recommend doing unless you know exactly what you are doing. (Can’t just take a hacksaw to. It, LOL!)

**Dave Hoback** · 12-18-2021, 04:45 PM

Read this. It explains Primary Extraction and includes a video.
https://www.savageshooters.com/conte...ion-What-is-it

**South Prairie jim** · 12-19-2021, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by longdude17

These were factory loads (rem core lok)

Here is a pic of the bolt of anyone is interested… a fresh round loads and ejects fine. Bore scope didn’t reveal anything that my un trained eye found…

Still on the hunt for a different type of ammunition, my small town doesn’t have many options.

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looks like you have a burr of some type in the chamber, if you have a local guy with a bore scope to check it out or get a Teslong for small money and have a look.
you could call savage and perhaps send it back because once fired brass shouldn’t do that

**Dave Hoback** · 12-19-2021, 12:07 PM

It’s not once fired brass. The OP said is Remington Core Lok (Factory) ammo.

**South Prairie jim** · 12-19-2021, 03:58 PM

Yes seen that’ and forgive the confusion but once you pull the trigger on factory brass it becomes once fired right ? Regardless of once fired or once reloaded you should not record enough radial expansion at the .200 or the case shoulder junction to create those marks, now after a couple more reloading and depending on how hot of a load you could notice clickers at the top of the bolt lift however I don’t believe that’s what we are seeing in this case.

just my take on it.

**Maztech89** · 12-20-2021, 12:04 AM

What's your cocking pin/ramp and locking lug greasing routine? Not running it dry are you? If all the fired cases have those marks I'd absolutely smooth that chamber up.