Tuning a savage bolt to take milsurp

[Jonesyatpl]

My savage axis in .308 is having a tough time firing milsurp/Barnaul in 7.62x51.

It doesn't seem to have enough oomph to puncture the hard primers. I tried disassembling the bolt, cleaning the factory gunk off, and polishing the firing bin and inside of the bolt. No improvement.

Wolff does not offer an aftermarket spring to increase the peppiness. Looking for ideas... Anyone?

 

[mlehtovaara]

You could make a sleeve to go over the firing pin that would in essence make the spring compress more when the bolt is cocked.

Should be relatively simple to do with a few washers, as long as you can make it function so the washers don't cause any drag on the firing pin.

 

[elkhuntr]

Check pin protrusion and set at 0.035-0.040. Check compression on the spring. Total length should be 1.9. If it still doesnt work, your spring may be a bit under sprung and increasing as above might do the trick. may want to look into an aftermarket spring if one exists, or calling savage for a replacement spring may be worth a try.
Check out: http://www.savageshooters.com/content.php?143-Firing-Pin-Protrusion-Data

Hope that helps. Elky out.

 

[Jonesyatpl]

Thanks, guys!

 

[sunray]

"...to puncture the hard primers..." That'd be worse. Compressing a spring more doesn't make it a stronger spring either.
"...Wolff does not offer an aftermarket spring..." Suspect you'll find that Savage rifles all use the same striker spring. Worst of that is the $25USD minimum order.