trouble with my rifle, any suggestions?

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Well it's a savage 111 in 30-06. I bought it new 5 years ago. After a couple years I had several incidents where the gun did not go "bang" when i pulled the trigger. When I load the same cartridge a second time it would then go off. Happened on 6 or 7 rounds out of a box and I had enough, took it to Pritchard's. He took it out and told me everything was fine and that I must have had a bad box of ammo and I should stop buying the cheap stuff (Winchester). So I switched to the Winchester/Nosler Silvertip, at $50/box.

Never had a problem with it that year or in the 2 years of hunting to follow. Must have been defective ammo.

Fast forward to this year, things are working well, I have had about 10 rounds through it this year. Then I take my friend to do some shooting and when he pulls the trigger nothing happens! Again chamber the round and it goes this time.

Anyone have this experience or an opinion on what the problem might be? Is this normal?

[Resource Pimp 60]

Not normal. Instead of re chambering till it fires, compare how deep the firing pin strike is on the misfired shell and one that did fire. For what ever reason, it sounds like you are not getting a deep enough or hard enough strike on the primer from the firing pin. Show both rounds to the gunsmith. Odds of 2 bad boxes of ammo are slim to none in my opinion.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that Pritchard had tore down the bolt and cleaned it and although he didnt notice anything wrong, it worked great after that for a couple years and maybe now it just needs to be tore down and cleaned again. Because i was just reading that if there is gunk in there it will slow the firing pin. Hopefully it's not too difficult, I'm not even gonna bother with trying to find a gunsmith to do it before this weekend lol. Will have to do it myself. Unless someone wants to help me out with tearing down the bolt?

[levi64 72]

Sounds like you might have a weak firing pin spring or maybe its dirty but it should take a hell of alot of rounds to make it dirty enough to cause problems. Ammo now days doesn't misfire that frequently, it happens hardly at all unless its very, very old and the powder is cogaulated. If you are going to take it apart to clean it anyway,, replace the spring.

[Pro fisherman-Stud Muffin 420]

maybe post a pic of primer indent. should take a few years for firing pin to get dirty enough to not work. like 500+ rounds, i have never had a FTF (failure to fire) and have done 200 rounds on the bench in one session without cleaning firing pin.

Maybe fix it and look at upgrading, or just trade it in as is and put repair money towards a new piece. as the repair may be more complicated than just spring. barrel could be seated wrong or chamber out of spec bolf face bent etc etc .and not to knock your stuff but there is a reason savage sells theses for $350 with scope now. it would suck to spend days hunting only to miss a shot at an animal of a lifetime. with all the money we spend on hunting spending a few hundred on a nicer rifle isn't a big to deal in the long run since a good piece will out last its owner.

and with certain rifles the "they dont make them like they used to" applies. i have only purchased 2 new guns the rest out date me.

[BuckNut 4]

If after Pritchard cleaned it the gun worked fine it was probably gunked up a bit. Do you use any oil or lube on the bolt, sometimes this can be a bad thing because it can "thicken" over time. With some guns it is better to leave the innards dry. I found this out after having the same problem.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Hmm no, I always left the bolt dry. And hey I paid $550 for it lol! The scope was junk though but I really like the rest of the rifle. Don't really want to sell it because I have a new bushnell scope on it which I bought last year and also had a sweet Timney trigger installed as well. Not ready to give up just yet. Oh and I didn't save the one with the dent. i did show one to Pritchard before and he said it looked possibly like a somewhat light strike but should be good enough.

Fired 8 more rounds this weekend and no more misfires. I didn't take the bolt apart yet because I wanted to keep it intact before hunting this past weekend. I did spray some brake cleaner on the pin and let it soak then wiped it clean. I also tightened up the bolts under the receiver area last week as well but don't think that makes a difference. After watching some youtube videos i am planning on detail stripping the bolt myself and if I find it to be dirty, clean it up and replace the spring if I can get one. Then put a box or 2 of bullets through it. If theres no more misfires and I just have to clean it each year thats fine with me. If there is still misfires then I might have to get rid of it.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Pro fisherman-Stud Muffin 420]

fyi

a click when expecting a bang= bad gun

a bang when expecting a click= bad hunter

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

lmao, i'll have to remember that one!

[Guest Beamer]

Make sure the bolt is completely closed, my Savage does the same thing and it drove me nuts, the bolt has to be completely closed, mine will fire but not touch off the shell and it was because the bolt looked closed but it was slightly ajar, it allowed the trigger to go off but not enough to ignite the primer. I caught on after several misfires and it is very easy to do, seems to be a downside to the Savages.

[Guest Beamer]

Bad thing is when hunting it takes very little to jar the bolt enough to cause these guns to do this and once it it slightly open it causes a light strike. I am always checking mine and tend not to hunt with it much due to this fact hope it helps.

[levi64 72]

Bad thing is when hunting it takes very little to jar the bolt enough to cause these guns to do this and once it it slightly open it causes a light strike. I am always checking mine and tend not to hunt with it much due to this fact hope it helps.

Wow,, that could be very dangerous..I really don't think a bolt should be doing that. The locks on the weapon should be tight, thats just scary , I'd be worried about a breech explosion.

[SherpaJ 45]

I know what your problem is:

its a SAVAGE

I bought savage rifle about 8 years ago and I had the same problem within the first season. I had a friend with the same rifle and it was happening to him. I just dealt with it since I couldn't figure out why it was doing it. By the third season it wouldn't even eject any shells. I had to pry every single one out with my knife. Haven't touched that rifle since, won't touch another savage again lol. Unfortunately I have just given up faith in that company. I should just take it to a gunsmith and get it looked at too, but my Tikka works just wonderfully, so theres no need to. lol

just my two cents.

[dano 8]

As far as I'm concerned the only two things tikka has going for it is, Sako barrels and phuck all. Try firing any bolt action rifle with the bolt not all the way down and see what happens. It's funny how most people figure that its always the price of a rifle that determines the quality of the gun. its never the ammo or the overall condition of the rifle. Nothing wrong with the quality of Savage rifles, they still have the best lever action ever designed and one of the best bolt actions. To the original post, have Joe at moose hill sports look at it , only gunsmith in town ( maybe even in Ontario) you can trust.

Dan

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Hey guys thanks for the comments, I've been busy the past few weeks and haven't checked this thread (I was busy becoming a dad ). Thanks Beamer for that tip I will keep that in mind. That would make perfect sense since closing the bolt is what loads the spring which fires the pin! If the spring is not fully loaded you are not going to get a full power strike.

As for the brand, this rifle got good reviews all around and is very accurate. Also when you work the action it seems a lot more solid than other rifles like the remington I was looking at when I bought this one. Regardless, my next rifle won't have this problem because it's going to be semi auto lol.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Oh and Beamer, I just realized that's probably one reason why the safety also locks the bolt in place.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

I had to edit this post. I thought because I could repeatedly duplicate the problem by leaving the bolt slightly ajar that I must have found the problem. Well I found a problem but that's not it. 10 mins left in the season and the gun went click on a big buck. I wont be using that rifle ever again.

[randomheroj 16]

If anyone wants to get rid of savages pm me i love them

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Here's my lucky bullet.

[Hurketthunter 65]

Wow, ya that definitely looks like a light strike.

[levi64 72]

I agree with you Hurketthunter, looks like a light strike. I still say thats just a weak firing pin spring. I'd strip that bolt down and change it out and giver her a try, I doubt if its anything more than that. As far as the action being slightly ajar and still fire, i just can't see it.. Any action including a bolt has positive safety locks and if the bolt cams are not fully engaged the weapon should not fire at all. If it does ,,, junk it.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Well I think you're right about the light strike Levi but it's hard to test because you can put a lot of rounds through this gun with no issue. Also it seems to happen when the round has been chambered for a long time. or lets say it happens at the worst possible time! It has lost me a doe 3 years ago and now really nice buck this year. I will be stripping it down to see what I can see but it's hard to accept that the spring is shot after such a short life. If that's the case, I don't really want a new one.

As for the bolt it locks the chamber as soon as you start closing the bolt and allows the gun to fire..but when I was hunting last weekend I made sure it was closed before I went to take my shot ans it still didnt go bang.

If anyone wants to buy it's for sale or trade. It has a sweet Timney trigger installed at GMK which is adjustable and the Bushnell Legend Scope put on it last year may be included if the deal is right.

[Mr. Canoehead 69]

Well now I am confused. I was telling someone at DNR the story of my last deer hunt of the year today and he shoed me a box of similar winchester rounds which was returned because 6 of them looked just like mine. The question is if it's really bad ammo or just someone else with a gun behaving like mine. Mine was $50/box and the misfired ones behind the counter cost $65 I believe.