Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires My Savage MkII -- Dangerous Condition

Hi Folks,

I thought I'd share:



My Savage MkII made c. 2009 is showing extreme wear on the guide pin, which, if it were to let go, could allow the rifle to fire out of battery, either by letting go while picking up a round (controlled feed rifle) or possibly at the end of forward travel before the bolt handle (lug) is locked into place.

It went unnoticed for a long time as it's not readily apparent to the eye (due to the top of the guide pin ping larger) and because it masks its symptoms as a failing sear face.

A failing guide pin will allow the contact surface on the bolt to contact the sear/bolt engagement surface early, forcing the sear down and off the sear/trigger engagement surface and ultimately ruining this surface.

If your Savage/Lakefield rimfire falls to the Accutrigger safety blade excessively, look here first.

I'm certain I got a bad batch of badly heat treated bolt guide pins and another is on the way. However, I have no way of knowing if mine was a one-off failure or if there was an entire batch, so checking yours might be a good idea.

On a slightly personal note: It was obvious this rifle was failing due to something some years ago. I was starting some things and didn't have time to mess with it, so I put it up until such time as I could diagnose the problem. That ended up being longer than I anticipated.

My son is old enough for a .22 now, and I want to join him with something less than a military surplus rifle, the ones I prefer these days. This prompted repairs to the Savage.

I ordered a Rifle Basix trigger (this pin failure bounced the stock trigger's sear contact surface to death; I don't trust it) and figured I'd diagnose the problem at the same time I installed the new trigger. The above are the results of what I found.

This is nothing against Savage; the rifle was manufactured in 2009 during The Great Guns and Ammunition Scare I. All manufacturers were stressed.

I'm only urging folks to maybe take a look at their Savages for safety's sake.

I'll post my Savage MkII's serial number a bit later when I can check it.

Regards,

Josh

Interesting Josh, never seen the like and all my rimfire rifles that I kept are either rolling block, falling block and a lone Mossberg 351C semi-auto "Jackrabbit Special".

Don't own a bolt gun of any flavor anymore and I don't work on guns other than mine anymore either, hands just too stiff and clumsy to mess with others stuff.

Thanks Terry. Your input is always valuable, even if it's lack of experience with something due to rarity of the condition!

The replacement pin came a day early and I installed it. It's below for others who might have the same problem.

Regards,

Josh

Hello,

I'm skimping on pics. All I had is the 3mp camera I keep at the shop, and the pics aren't the greatest.

Refer to the pic below.

To disassemble, rotate the bolt to the fired position. Chuck an 8mm open end wrench (3) into a vice. Pull the front (7) and rear parts of the bolt apart against spring pressure, and lower the exposed nut (8) onto the 8mm wrench. Spin the front section of the bolt off the nut. Set it aside; the front doesn't need to come apart further for this repair.

Pad the vice and chuck the rear section of the bolt (10) into the vice. Compress the spring using your fingers or a 7mm box end wrench and pull the E-clip off the striker. Slowly release the spring so it doesn't go flying.

You can now pull the spring (5) and nut (8) off.

Pull the striker (9) back until you see the sear contact pin (6) through the witness hole. Push it out with a punch; it's not a press fit and should readily come out.

You can now pull the striker (9) out of rear of the bolt body (10).



Tap the tension pin (4) out of its hole with a 1/16" punch. This will release the guide pin (2 -- shown in two parts because it broke upon disassembly!)

Upon inspection, I found the cam surfaces to have a rough and jagged edge, much like a file. I took some time with my stone set and smoothed those out.

The guide pin should turn in its socket without catching. Mine didn't; it caught with the tension pin in place. I took time to polish the guide pin hole with first 800 then 2000 grit wet/dry, and I polished the tension pin as well.

The guide pin received 2000 and 3000 grit polish, as did the bolt sear contact pin.



After you're satisfied with the fit and polish of parts, assemble them, checking again as you go.



Nothing to it! It's not as irritating as some bolts, but not as easy as others. I would rate the Mosin-Nagant, Gewehr 88, and Mauser 98 bolts as a 1 in difficulty on a 1-10 scale. This would rate about a 3 in my opinion, due to the need for tools.

Hope this helps someone.

Regards,

Josh