I picked up a Savage model 12 FV in .223 at Cabelas yesterday, it was the last one they had at that store, and during the initial clean up I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of rust looking material in the chamber. I chamber brushed it, cleaned and re-examined but it still didn't look near as good as my BVSS chamber. The first half to three quarters inch is pretty rough looking when using my Snap-On video inspection tool.

I chambered several unfired Hornaday brass and each time the bolt was stiff in closing as well as opening. The brass came out with half a dozen deep scratches/gouges that also left brass streaks imbedded in the chamber in several places. The gouges in the brass were deep enough to easily catch my fingernail making it questionable for safely reloading.

Any thoughts or suggestions?