savage firing pin fail

[stagpanther]

Took my savage 110 LRH in 338 lapua magnum out of the safe where it has sat since the spring and was dismayed when I pulled the trigger and it went "click" but did not fire most of the cartridges I tried. I have probably less than 100 shots through it total since I bought it.

Stripped the bolt--which was clean but recleaned it anyway and measured the pin protrusion on the bolt face; slightly under .05 from what I could tell. Took it back out, got a few cartridges to fire--most didn't. This is the new small hole LA firing pin that savage switched to--for the life of me I cannot figure out why, it seems like a flimsy little thing to be banging around inside a 338 lapua and the design looks to me like it's begging to fail. I have other old savage 110/111 bolts that have thousands of shots trouble-free and the firing pin assemblies look far more robust.

Any ideas on after-market firing pin alternatives/replacements that will work with these new bolts?

[olddav]

Are you sure it’s the firing pin?
Could it be the trigger?
What trigger does your rifle have (Accutrigger)?

[stagpanther]

Are you sure it’s the firing pin?
Could it be the trigger?
What trigger does your rifle have (Accutrigger)?

It came with the accutrigger--I've read about problems with that in the 110 BA, but mine is not set at especially light setting--maybe 2.75 lbs. I have many other rifles with the accutrigger set lighter and never have this kind of issue, though I may pull it and thoroughly clean it as well. I have a replacement firing pin on the way and am considering getting a ptg replacement bolt head, might also get a higher power spring from wolf or tubb.

[Unclenick]

Probably don't need to mention double-checking that your primers are firmly seated. Have you checked for the headspace to be set to minimum? If it isn't, that can help. The higher power spring may help.

With any luck, the new firing pin will protrude a little further.

[std7mag]

Can you switch over to the older firing pin, with the older bolt head?

[stagpanther]

Probably don't need to mention double-checking that your primers are firmly seated. Have you checked for the headspace to be set to minimum? If it isn't, that can help. The higher power spring may help.

With any luck, the new firing pin will protrude a little further.

Nothing has changed in my load routine--it simply went from always fired to almost nothing fires, I use lapua brass exclusively in the 338 LM and it is bomber. Headspace checks out too, though since it's a factory gun I imagine it's headspace tolerance is on the "lax" side. The part I hate about the new firing pin assembly is the soft metal collar that holds the cam pin in and that rinky-dink little slotted collar that it slots into and sits atop the spring--inherent failure point is what I see when I look at that arrangement. Pure speculation on my part.

[stagpanther]

Can you switch over to the older firing pin, with the older bolt head?

The older firing pin will not work as configured in the "new style" bolt as far as I can tell. However, I'm thinking maybe trying an old 110 300 win mag bolt and switching the bolt heads.

While waiting for a new firing pin to come in I decided to try out a can of brownell's firearms paint in FDE, seems to work pretty well, the only thing I found was that I have to shake the can vigorously constantly--otherwise it would tend to spit drops onto the otherwise smooth finish. The savage accustock for their bigger LRH rifles is the one and only lightweight Tupperware stock I've ever seen that succeeds in being rigid enough. The whole set-up as pictured comes in at just a hair over 10 lbs.

[stagpanther]

Not sure if it makes a difference--I found a hairline crack in the slotted collar washer the fits over the top of the spring.

[stagpanther]

The older magnum bolt heads are large pin--the 338 lapua is small pin. I think my problem probably lies with the lock washers on either end of the firing pin which I suspect "drifted" reducing the pin protrusion. The lock washer for the pin sleeve also has a hairline crack in it. I ordered a new firing pin last week first class mail--but it appears to have never made it any further than the induction center and is now lost in space (as often happens during the holiday crush). I found just the lock washers on Brownell's site and ordered a couple. Bothers me that these small parts can take the whole gun down.

[stagpanther]

Replacement firing pin finally arrived today. It seems to have a different spring than the original one--the original one was painted black and seem to be less lb resistance--the newer one is unpainted steel and although I didn't measure it--it seems to offer more resistance when assembling, so I suspect it's a stronger spring. After adjusting the lock nut and sleeve nut for pin protrusion--the gun fired no problem, including the previous cartridges with primer dents that failed to go off. Glad to have that off my mind (I have extra parts on the way to fix the old firing pin as well to serve as back-up).

[stagpanther]

Fired again today--performed flawlessly with perfect primer strikes.

[stagpanther]

Thankfully was able to resume fire-lapping the bore today. All is right in the jungle again.