I'm 64 years old and this is my first Savage. I Just purchased this rifle online from Reeds and I discovered that the bolt face has gouging and heavy power residue. The gun looks new except the bolt face. I emailed Savage CS. Nick with Savage responded to my email stating "Your firearm was made 04/21/2022. It shipped 4 days later to a distributor, brand new. All firearms are proof fired and test fired before shipment, and it is not uncommon to find signs of that remaining. The pictures you sent look within normal expectations. Savage Technical Services"

I responded back to Savage with the following:

Nick,
Please see my attached photos. You replied to my email stating that my new bolt face was “within normal expectations”. Please see the photo with red arrows denoting the gouging/grooves cut into the new bolt face of the gun I purchased new from Reeds. I understand that I should expect powder residue from test firing the gun before shipping it out. However, it should not have gouging, or any other kind of marring in the steel. A brass casing would not cause these marks in steel. My fingernail actually gets caught on the metal burring of these gouges. The 2nd photo is from a brand new 110 from the FFL gun shop that my gun was shipped to. As you can see there is no gouging or any other damage in the face. Please let me know when this manufacturing defect will be corrected under warranty.

I'm waiting for his response. Anyone know if this is an issue with Savage? Thanks