Question about cooking and bolt lift on elite precision 338LM

**Andrew863** · 04-29-2023, 10:08 PM

So I'll start by saying this is my first new savage and really my first ever since I have got into long range precision, or anything other then deer hunting with bolt guns. I have a few reminton 700s and a couple custom actions. I work on guns quite often but this is my first time on a Savage and I hope I can get more help other then send it to xyz and he can do that work. So I measured the cocking distance and it is right around .205 in the back of the bolt in the forward position. When I lift the bolt it protrudes.060 out of the BAS. Then on close it falls to right around flush. My question is there any way to limit the amount of rearward travle of the firing pin,where I'm not pulling the firing pin back a extra .050 for it then to come forward and be caught by the sear? I have had a little time to study the action the last few days but I'm still not 100 percent sure on the function of the action yet. My guess is the cooking ramp would be the only way to control this? Tell me if I'm out in left field.

**Robinhood** · 04-29-2023, 10:22 PM

Hello Andrew. Savage has had a couple of different firing pins on their 110/10 models. The cocking indicator moves with the firing pin. So if you get .205" cocking distance at the cocking piece, you should get the same at the rear of the bolt.

Digging in a little deeper, is there a specific reason to reduce your cocking distance? What are you looking to change? Bolt lift? The first thing you will notice is, depending on the amount you reduce the rearward travel, will be a lighter impact on the primer. You might impact primer ignition. It depends on how you go about it.

I am guessing the question that you want to concentrate on is the bolt lift? What or which type firing pin and spring do you have? The new type has a decent usable bolt lift. The older style often needs to be refined and can be worked to a much improved lift.

So, what do you have and how bad is it?

**Andrew863** · 04-29-2023, 11:52 PM

I have the newest style, I just picked this gun up a couple days ago. Mainly wanting to lighten bolt lift if possible. The firing pin when fully cooked is right around .205 to maybe .215. But when I open or lift the bolt the firing pin goes back to around .265. Then when I close the bolt it drops to where it is caught by the sear, and is at the .205 when the bolt is closed and the gun is ready to fire. So when I lift the bolt I am moving the firing pin a extra .050 and that is also the point to where the bolt handle is at the most stiff point. Just want to see if there is anyway to get rid of the over travel of the firing pin.

**Robinhood** · 04-30-2023, 12:20 AM

Gotcha. That is a tough one. You definitely understand the problem. As you stated, you loose some of that stroke on the hand off.

You would either have to move the Trigger(or the trigger sear catch) forward or change the ramp at the top of the stroke. I would give Fred Moreo at Sharp Shooter supply a call. I don't know if there are any user mods that you can use without risking damage. Unless you are well versed in annealing and tempering, I don't think I would mess with bending the sear.

**Robinhood** · 04-30-2023, 12:23 AM

I have never measured the affect after installing and aftermarket trigger. It could help if they altered the location of the trigger sear catch. Very interested to hear others responses.

**Andrew863** · 04-30-2023, 01:47 PM

The way I see it, and again I'm very new to the savage action, there are two ways to go. Lengthen the sear to the point where when the handoff happens its taking full advantage of the amount the cocking cam ramp is pulling the pin back. Or the other route would be to reshape the cocking cam ramp where the cocking cam or pin ( I'm not sure what it is called ) doesn't have as much reward travle. Or maybe both and meet in the middle. I would like to know if there are optimal numbers for how far the firing pin needs to move rearward for proper, accurate ignition. I had decided to just leave this thing alone and just shoot it, but once I got it in my hands I realize how spoiled I am with my custom actions I have been shooting. Getting the raceways smoothed out on the action and working over the trigger helped alot, but I just want to learn more about it even if I don't go any further. Im going to go send some rounds down range with it today. I was amazed how coppered up the barrel was when I got it. It took alot of work to get ithe bore down to bare metal.

**Andrew863** · 04-30-2023, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Robinhood

I have never measured the affect after installing and aftermarket trigger. It could help if they altered the location of the trigger sear catch. Very interested to hear others responses.

I would also like to know if the Jard trigger for example, with replacing the sear messes with this. I have a friend that has one, I may have to try and get my hands on it.

**charlie b** · 04-30-2023, 04:58 PM

If your goal is reduced bolt lift force, then playing with the sear location won't do anything. You would still be moving the FP back that same amount, it just would not 'fall' as far before the sear engaged it.

What you would need to do is work on the cocking ramp in the bolt. I would try it on a spare bolt first, cause if you over do it you have a non-functioning rifle, ie, it won't move the FP back far enough for the sear to catch it.

I would first just polish the ramp in the bolt and then polish the bolt pin that pulls the FP. There was a 'kit' for reducing the cocking force that involved using a mall bearing or thrust washer in the BAS. Here is a description of how well each of those work.

https://www.savageshooters.com/conte...Bolt-Lift-Kits