Scout .308 stuck cartridges

[Tonopah]

Brand new Savage Scout .308 throughly cleaned (bore and bolt) with bore and bolt pretty dry after cleaning.


Fresh loaded factory cartridges will chamber and extract/eject just fine. Action cycles fine with loaded factory ammo.


Fired cartridges stick in the chamber. Bolt can only be opened with the help of a mallet and sometimes a cleaning rod and WD-40 is needed to tap the fired cartridge and push the bolt open.


Once the fired cartridge is out and examined, the primer strike looks perfect and there are no striations, marks, cracks or dents on the fired brass. If I hand feed a fired cartridge into the chamber and close the bolt, the bolt once again does not want to open. The bolt handle comes up but I cannot pull it back without the help of a mallet.


Do you have any suggestions on how I can diagnose and fix the problem?

[Tonopah]

Must have been the ammo. I initially used (Hornady 150 grain which was new in the box but old in my ammo cabinet. The brass was somewhat discolored). I just shot it now with factory fresh Federal loads and it worked fine. Action is a little stiff and sticky but does work and also seems to be working in somewhat as I shoot it.

[Dave Hoback]

ALWAYS shoot more than one type of ammo before thinking the firearm has a problem.

[PhilC]

Nothing to offer on the ammo, but do your note interesting username. Is there a story behind it?

[Tonopah]

PhilC -- back in the days when it seemed many internet users were selecting user names and thereby avoiding posting under real names, I decided to come up with one. I lived in Southern California at the time and liked to go on an annual motorcycle ride from there to Tonopah, NV in the first week of February. Those rides were memorable as they took us from freeway, through desert winds, through old mining towns, and often ice covered roads. Very cold and somewhat dangerous rides. In picking out an internet name "Tonopah" just popped into my head and I have used it ever since.

[Tonopah]

I cleaned the heck out of the Savage Scout last night taking care to clean the chamber well too. I left the barrel and chamber dry but lightly lubed the bolt and receiver area with Ballistol and the bolt slides very easily in the receiver. Today I will try to zero the iron sights using quality .308 ammunition and see how that goes as far as function is concerned. By the way, I have the same problem everyone else does with the iron sights. In casual shooting it is apparent that they shoot high. I have lowered the rear sight all the way and then some. Hopefully, that will be adequate for accuracy if I hold a bit low. In the next several days I am going to mount a Burris 2x7x32mm scout scope but I am waiting for delivery of the Warne low rings right now (I have the scope) but I wanted to do what I could to make the iron sights workable before I switch to the scope.

[PhilC]

PhilC -- back in the days when it seemed many internet users were selecting user names and thereby avoiding posting under real names, I decided to come up with one. I lived in Southern California at the time and liked to go on an annual motorcycle ride from there to Tonopah, NV in the first week of February. Those rides were memorable as they took us from freeway, through desert winds, through old mining towns, and often ice covered roads. Very cold and somewhat dangerous rides. In picking out an internet name "Tonopah" just popped into my head and I have used it ever since.

That's really interesting! Have to agree with you on winding roads and old mining towns in NV. Group of guys I worked and hunted with did similar on the opposite side of the state SE of Ely.

My association with Tonopah comes from my 4yr tour at Tonopah Test Range supporting the F-117 program, the first 3 during the "black" years. Many fond memories.