Hello,
Just got a Savage Axis 1 in .223 got it to take advantage of the cheap .223 barnaull (steel casings) ammunition and practice some paper shooting with a fairly budget friendly rifle. I took it out over the weekend shot about 50 rounds, so the rifle was hot, after firing another shot the bolt seized. The bolt could be lifted up but not driven rearward to eject the casing, took a few palm strikes to eventually unstuck the bolt. Casing was ejected normally once the bolt was freed, Inspected the casing it had split maybe 2mm down the neck. Let the barrel cool for 10-15 mins. About 10 rounds later exact same issue, barrel hot again as well. Also, throughout shooting maybe 4 separate times after firing the bolt seemed harder to bring rearward, but not requiring hard palm strikes (no casing damage these times). I'm no expert but the all of the other casings besides those 2 looked normal to me.
Looking through various forums and google regarding sticking bolts etc, most people said to send it to savage before filing or doing too much work to it as it could likely void any warrantee if I go down that route.
Some have said excessive pressure (using factory 223 barnaul 55g), scope mount bolts (have not touched them, wouldn't think scope mounts would be that intermittent 2/80 shots fired), heat (well it was hot on those occasions, but most of my other rifles seem to take that abuse alright), maybe a factory defect or bur (will likely send to Savage as it's brand new, would have to look into that though, hope the process isn't to painful or costly).
I will be taking it out again soon to test with brass case ammunition, possibly why it was sticking and or splitting being steel cased. Could be the tolerances of the steel cased cartridges cause the splitting with a hot barrel, and then the split casing causing the bolt to stick. A few mentioned the tolerances of modern guns can be quite slim, so involving heat and all that could be the problem. I'm just spit balling here. Would kind of suck if that is the issue, why I bought it in the first place was for cheap steel cased, but suppose I should've looked into it more.
Just wondering what you guys think about the steel casings splitting and if you have any knowledge on the Savage axis bolt getting stuck?
According to other threads and forums some people aren't to keen on the steel cases, I don't mind about getting a bit more dirty or metal deterioration (some people are saying it, I don't know) just want the bolt to operate normally and not seize up.
Will probably test it out with brass casings and then figure out sending it in if it's still an issue. I would like to continue using this steel cased baranul though, bought a bunch of it. Maybe someone here can tell me something,
Anyways, thanks for reading.
Just got a Savage Axis 1 in .223 got it to take advantage of the cheap .223 barnaull (steel casings) ammunition and practice some paper shooting with a fairly budget friendly rifle. I took it out over the weekend shot about 50 rounds, so the rifle was hot, after firing another shot the bolt seized. The bolt could be lifted up but not driven rearward to eject the casing, took a few palm strikes to eventually unstuck the bolt. Casing was ejected normally once the bolt was freed, Inspected the casing it had split maybe 2mm down the neck. Let the barrel cool for 10-15 mins. About 10 rounds later exact same issue, barrel hot again as well. Also, throughout shooting maybe 4 separate times after firing the bolt seemed harder to bring rearward, but not requiring hard palm strikes (no casing damage these times). I'm no expert but the all of the other casings besides those 2 looked normal to me.
Looking through various forums and google regarding sticking bolts etc, most people said to send it to savage before filing or doing too much work to it as it could likely void any warrantee if I go down that route.
Some have said excessive pressure (using factory 223 barnaul 55g), scope mount bolts (have not touched them, wouldn't think scope mounts would be that intermittent 2/80 shots fired), heat (well it was hot on those occasions, but most of my other rifles seem to take that abuse alright), maybe a factory defect or bur (will likely send to Savage as it's brand new, would have to look into that though, hope the process isn't to painful or costly).
I will be taking it out again soon to test with brass case ammunition, possibly why it was sticking and or splitting being steel cased. Could be the tolerances of the steel cased cartridges cause the splitting with a hot barrel, and then the split casing causing the bolt to stick. A few mentioned the tolerances of modern guns can be quite slim, so involving heat and all that could be the problem. I'm just spit balling here. Would kind of suck if that is the issue, why I bought it in the first place was for cheap steel cased, but suppose I should've looked into it more.
Just wondering what you guys think about the steel casings splitting and if you have any knowledge on the Savage axis bolt getting stuck?
According to other threads and forums some people aren't to keen on the steel cases, I don't mind about getting a bit more dirty or metal deterioration (some people are saying it, I don't know) just want the bolt to operate normally and not seize up.
Will probably test it out with brass casings and then figure out sending it in if it's still an issue. I would like to continue using this steel cased baranul though, bought a bunch of it. Maybe someone here can tell me something,
Anyways, thanks for reading.
