[Orange Boy]

The gun is a brand new .22 Savage MKII Bolt Rifle with the heavy barrel. The load was Eley Sport .22 RF LR 40 Gr. standard velocity. The gun was thoroughly cleaned and lightly oiled the evening prior to its debut at the range today. Same for the bolt (except the surface where the bolt meets the back of the cartridge was not oiled). Action felt new and tight, but smooth prior to its first shoot.

The problem was many failures to eject...at least 12 and maybe more in the 100 I shot. The back of the cartridge case would ride back on the bolt and stay there hung up on the ejector claw. I'd have to dig the case out from the end of the bolt with the tip of my little finger before I could close the bolt and chamber another round from the magazine. It helped to eject without a problem if I aggressively pulled back on the bolt with a "snap" rather than a relaxed motion...but it still happened a few more times.

Being new to .22 rifles I'm not sure what to make of this. Fussy or bad ammo...break in period...something defective? I'm not even sure if this is something that warrants returning to Savage or maybe there's a fix I could try? What do you all think?

 

[brownie]

I'd join over here and ask in the right subforum, these guys live and breath rimfires. Someone should be able to get you pointed in the right direction.

I've had questions on some of the 22 rifles and 17hmr I own that were all answered with good advice on what may cause your problem and how to fix it.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/index.php

Brownie

 

[Orange Boy]

Thanks for the tip Brownie :thumsup

 

[steve66]

I would try different ammo

 

[John Hatcher]

Sounds like an ammo issue

I would try different ammo

+1, My friend and I also had problems with that ammo.

 

[Mac45]

Savage has a reputation for quality, so I would expect it to be an ammo issue. I would try ammo from Remington and Winchester. If the problem continues with those brands, I'd return the weapon to the retailer for exchange. Let them deal with manufacturer re: a defective weapon.

 

[brownie]

Found a thread over on rimfirecentral on a poll regarding satisfaction on that rifle.

What better describe your experience as Savage MKII owner?

Defects from the factory 24

My MKII had feeding problems 49

My MKII had extraction problems 31

My MKII had ignition problems 7

My MKII had accuracy problems 17

My MKII perfectly matched my expectations 249

Looks like of the 377 respondents that just under 10% had extraction issues. In reading the thread, most of the extraction problems seemed to stem from an improper fitting mag.

Some fixed that themselves by tweaking the ears on the mag for a tighter fit and most sent the rifle back to Savage. Savage customer service appears to be top notch and turn around time is pretty quick from the posts I read.

Brownie

 

[capngeo]

Not suggesting you do this on your rifle, but I once had a similar issue that I resolved by a fluff&buff of the extractor. When I looked at it under a magnifying glass, it was pretty apparent the "roughness" was catching the rim of the casing.

 

[Orange Boy]

+1, My friend and I also had problems with that ammo.

I would try different ammo

Savage has a reputation for quality, so I would expect it to be an ammo issue. I would try ammo from Remington and Winchester.

This is exactly what a the rangemaster told me yesterday. I picked up some Remington ammo last night and will try it today and report back. I'll send it back to Savage if I have to, but I'd really rather not be without it as I've got the .22 bug now.
.
.
.

 

[Orange Boy]

Well I got some fresh Remington .22 Champion High Velocity and shot about 100 rounds. There were only 2 FTE's and they were near the end of the session. I think with better ammo and a break in period I will probably be OK with this rifle.

 

[brownie]

Orange Boy,

Good luck and keep us informed on your future sessions with this one if you would. :thumsup

Brownie

 

[Mac45]

Sounds better. Keep working with it. I have a couple of old .22 bolt actions, a Mossberg 46B and a Marlin disguised as a Ted Williams, that I love to shoot. Shooting a .22 doesn't sound very macho, but try putting a .22 inch round through a .17 inch bull's eye at fifty feet on a regular basis. Besides, its cheap to shoot and targets are plentiful and cheap [besides paper, there are also things like necco wafers, grapes, bottle tops, etc.]. In fact, if you live on a larger piece of property, or have very understanding neighbors, you can even get a portable bullet trap and practice in the garage [the basement would be better, but they are in short supply in Florida]; especially if your weapon will chamber .22 longs or shorts as well as long rifles. Just be careful of where you place the trap. Have fun.

 

[Orange Boy]

Hey Brownie...somebody on that other forum still thinks I may need to swap out the extractor and asked for a closeup, so I obliged with the shot below and also I added another picture of a "burr" like compression thing that has been happening in another area of the bolt. It seems to be metal rolling over from blunt impact. Anybody see anything wrong (or right) with these photos? I haven't a clue...but I'm learning as fast as I can.

 

[brownie]

If you posted those pics over on rimfire at their request, someone is sure to be able to give you a better opinion than myself. I'm not familiar with that rifle, but you are in good hands over there with those folks who are intimately familiar with that gun.

Very good pictures, btw. :thumsup

Brownie

 

[trulies]

I'd say break in period issue.

I had a 10/22 that coughed on everything until about 1000 rounds later. Now no problems.

 

[Orange Boy]

Any ideas if that bumped in metal part is normal? Anyway, I just wanted to post over here too as this I consider my home base :thumsup

Update: I'm told the bumped in metal is from where the sear acts as a stop to the bolt and is considered normal.

 

[Orange Boy]

Well my FTE problem is solved. Turns out someone in the forum Brownie pointed me too (BTW thanks Brownie) noticed that the ejector rod that rides the bolt was sitting low in the channel by 1-2 mm. This meant that it was hitting the base of the cartridge low and sometimes slipping off causing the cartridge to just sit in the ejector claws and never pop out of the gun. The ejector guide is mounted to the receiver, so I removed the bolt and was able to carefully bend the ejector guide up a hair. What a difference a millimeter (or 2) makes. Now I can pull the bolt back slowly and "ping" out comes the case with a snap. The real test will be at the range. I have an assortment of ammo to run through it.

 

[brownie]

Glad you were able to resolve the issue Orange Boy.

I use that rimfire forum quite often to run things by guys who have a lot more experience with specific rimfires than I do. Wealth of knowledge over there on any rimfire and they have always come through with great information.

Shoot straight, keep your powder dry and watch your back.

Brownie

 

[Orange Boy]

Just got back from the range and put about 150 rounds of ammo from 3 different manufacturers. Bolt was pulled back slowly each time to facilitate an FTE...but not one in all those rounds. Better than the 10% I was getting last week. I also took the bolt apart and smoothed all the stress points as well as the machined burrs etc. Made a big difference in the feel...no more of that gritty feeling when working it.