Savage MarkII and 93/305 bolts interchangable to test after light strikes?

[dand883]

I tried in the rimfire section, but didn't get any replies, so maybe the gunsmithing section might have been the more appropriate place to post.

I was out having some fun knocking over some steel with my dads old 22mag (stevens 305) and I kept getting a lot of light strikes. I was getting a click about 1/3 of the rounds, but re cocking and firing again usually shot it on the second attempt.

I didn't have any different brands of ammo with me to see if it was the ammo, but it was two different boxes of fairly new hornady stuff that hasn't been wet, dropped, abused, etc, so I'm fairly confident that is isn't the ammos fault.

From what I've read the most common things would be dirt/crud/dried lube/grease slowing things down, the firing pin geometry being slightly off and needing adjustment, a weakened firing pin spring or possibly a headspace issue.

I plan to take it apart and eliminating the dirty bolt first off, but as I did some reading there was a mention that since they're so common and much easier to find that you can swap the bolt out from a MarkII that you know is working properly and see if it is light striking as well or if it fire them all without a hitch.

This would supposedly let you eliminate the ammo as the problem and bring your focus to the bolt assembly, but it also got me quite curious about it.

Is this something that would work? Is it safe or even recommended? Would it cause head spacing problems with the markII bolt? Just from a quick google search on the dimensions I know the rim diameter and thickness aren't exactly the same, but is it close enough to not matter?

I don't normally shoot a lot of 22 mag, but the extra bit of thump it has made for a fun time knocking over some smaller steel plates.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[timglayn]

I tried in the rimfire section, but didn't get any replies, so maybe the gunsmithing section might have been the more appropriate place to post.

I was out having some fun knocking over some steel with my dads old 22mag (stevens 305) and I kept getting a lot of light strikes. I was getting a click about 1/3 of the rounds, but re cocking and firing again usually shot it on the second attempt.

I didn't have any different brands of ammo with me to see if it was the ammo, but it was two different boxes of fairly new hornady stuff that hasn't been wet, dropped, abused, etc, so I'm fairly confident that is isn't the ammos fault.

From what I've read the most common things would be dirt/crud/dried lube/grease slowing things down, the firing pin geometry being slightly off and needing adjustment, a weakened firing pin spring or possibly a headspace issue.

I don't normally shoot a lot of 22 mag, but the extra bit of thump it has made for a fun time knocking over some smaller steel plates.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Ran into that myself 2 weeks ago...

Try CCI ammo, I find Winchester and probably others have harder brass alloy in mine. I ordered a new firing pin spring anyways but that may help.

I wouldn't suggest using a 22LR bolt but u might be able to swap springs. A gunsmith once told me the pressures could damage the bolt handle as that's the only lock-up, although I still have my doubts.

Another tip... (someone will disagree I'm sure), if you're going to store the gun for a long period of time, dry fire it to let the firing pin spring release most of it's tension.

If you're going to clean the bolt without disassembly, soak it in brake cleaner and blow it out with compressed air. Don't forget to lube sparingly or it will rust up afterwards.

22 Mag is a nice caliber!
T