Headspace Answers
Topic was locked. Just wanted to say thanks to the respondents and answer the questions.
Rifle is a relatively new (<150 rds) Savage 110. Fired about 100 rds of SA 7.62 during the course of three sessions. Last time out, ran a wet patch through the bore before firing, as always, followed by a dry patch. Wanted to fire one or two rds of the SA stuff before sighting in with some other ammo, just to make sure I was on the paper. One shot was all I got off as the bolt would lift up and go back down but would not draw to the rear. Next day, tried again, same result - couldn't draw the bolt back. Took a wooden dowel, per the advice of one of the fine and helpful members of this forum, ran it down the bore with the bolt handle in the "up" position. One very light tap and everything broke free. Bolt functioned flawlessly. Sent the spent casing and a letter explaining the above to Savage. They called last week and said not to shoot 7.62 through the rifle and have the headspace checked. I think they're being super cover-you-ass-cautious but wanted to run it past you guys first.
Rifle is a relatively new (<150 rds) Savage 110. Fired about 100 rds of SA 7.62 during the course of three sessions. Last time out, ran a wet patch through the bore before firing, as always, followed by a dry patch. Wanted to fire one or two rds of the SA stuff before sighting in with some other ammo, just to make sure I was on the paper. One shot was all I got off as the bolt would lift up and go back down but would not draw to the rear. Next day, tried again, same result - couldn't draw the bolt back. Took a wooden dowel, per the advice of one of the fine and helpful members of this forum, ran it down the bore with the bolt handle in the "up" position. One very light tap and everything broke free. Bolt functioned flawlessly. Sent the spent casing and a letter explaining the above to Savage. They called last week and said not to shoot 7.62 through the rifle and have the headspace checked. I think they're being super cover-you-ass-cautious but wanted to run it past you guys first.
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ndbilly, check out prior threads about the distinctions between 7.62x51NATO and .308Win. Your rifle is a .308Win, not a 7.62x51NATO. Here is a link to one site on the subject; there are others.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/7_62vs308.htm
A match tight .308Win chamber won't close on correct spec 7.62x51NATO. I don't know what is going on with your rifle, since you were able to close the bolt on the stuff initially. Did you switch to a different batch of ammo? Perhaps you went from min spec to max spec ammo. If it is surplus ammo, it might even be out of spec.
The symptoms you describe could relate to several different issues. It is probably a good idea to get the headspace checked. Use .308 gauges. And it would be useful to do a chamber casting to get the best idea of the shape of this particular chamber.
redcedars0
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