SmallCaliberCentral

My Savage 12VLP appears (IMHO) to have a undersize firing pin diameter when compared to the inside diameter of the firing pin hole in the face of the bolt. When fired (Rem 7 1/2 primers) the resulting primer material appears to have "slightly" flowed into the portion of the face of the bolt that the firing pin protrudes from. This, then leaves a small raised portion (ring) of brass on the fired primer around the firing pin indentation. Has anyone else experienced this? I read somewhere that Savage deems this as "acceptable" or within manufacturing tolerances. True, I have not experienced any pierced primers, but I have never seen this problem other than on High Pressure loads with soft primers neither of which applies to my loads. Your comments - observations are appreciated.

When I first got mine back in 2005 I asked the same question as you cause my rifle does the same thing, a little bit of flow back in the primer materiel around the firing pin just as you described. I think this is what they call cratering???

After some searching on the net I found that some had a bushing machined and installed to tighten up the gap between firing pin and bolt face.

Here is some posts relating to this on a Savage forum......

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 598.0.html
http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/i ... 234.0.html

From what I read no one had actually had a problem so I never gave it a second thought. However as mentioned in one of the above links, there is a fella who does the firing pin bushing so the service is offered if you should decide to do it.

I did a little more digging and some books say it could be caused by a weak firing pin spring, or a oversize firing pin hole in the face of the bolt. If I suspected the oversize hole I would indeed have it bushed. But....I suspect it is the firing pin spring. It sounds (when dry fired) like it is not releasing the firing pin with enough force. I purposely release (dry fire) the firing pin before storing the rifle so that it is not stored in a cocked position stressing the spring. Is there anyone out there that has replaced their firing pin spring with a stronger one? This would (IMHO) also shorten the lock time so it would benefit accuracy? Who makes a stronger spring for the Savage 12?

In one of our posts last year a member showed in detail with pictures how to adjust the tension on the Savage firing pin spring. Might be worth looking back to find that info. Silverfox wrote about bushing his Savage, so you might get some info from him as well. I don't think you can beat advice from Silverfox, he is a real down to earth shooter and he communicates very well.

I've never found a stronger aftermarket spring for a Savage short action. The Savage gurus say it already has one of the fastest lock times going in factory guns. Can't be sped up enough to warrant manufacturing springs. Tubb makes one for the Long action tho.

It could be the pins adjusted short or ground on the wrong radius. Could very well be an oversized hole.
I recall a post from a Remmy shooter who obviously had an extremely oversize firing pin hole. Pics and all.
Remington claimed they intentionally made the hole that way. Theory went something like this. By allowing the primer to flow it supposedly helped negate blanking. I personally do not buy that arguement.

Heres a thought before sending out to be bushed. Buy another bolt face from Midway. Last time I bought one they were cheap enough but everything is going up.
You might get lucky and it will work saving you time and money. If not maybe perhaps you could just send out one of the boltfaces to be bushed without sending the whole gun. Might be tough to find a smith who will perform the work without the firing pin present. A good one should be able to do it tho.
Might be worth looking into, might not.

Hotshot wrote:In one of our posts last year a member showed in detail with pictures how to adjust the tension on the Savage firing pin spring. Might be worth looking back to find that info. Silverfox wrote about bushing his Savage, so you might get some info from him as well. I don't think you can beat advice from Silverfox, he is a real down to earth shooter and he communicates very well.

How do I look back to find the info on adjusting the tension of the Savage firing pin spring? Im fairly new to forum and could use some guidance. Thanks for the info.

Using The Forum for example, when you choose forum look at the top and/or bottom of the page on the right side and you have the ability to go to all of the previous pages. You'll just have to look through all those topics and find the ones about Savage firing pins, primer cratering, and find the info you need. If there is an easier way, I don't know it but maybe the admins. can help you. I printed it but don't know if I can find my copy in a timely manner since I moved from Mt. to Co. and much good stuff is in boxes.

Mine does the same thing regardless of hot or very mild loads. I happened upon a forum where there was about 3 pages of posts regarding this. Many guys had contacted the mfgr and like posted, they said there was no problem. After reading all that, I looked at my bolt face with a magnifying glass and the firing pin hole is slightly chamfered, so that would explain the cause of the cratering. Like suggested, I ignore it.

I have a VLP also and this has never caused an issue for me. My rifle does this also and I follow the "ignore it" attitude.

giterdone wrote: I purposely release (dry fire) the firing pin before storing the rifle so that it is not stored in a cocked position stressing the spring.

Some may look at this a bit different than I do but IMHO "stressing" a spring comes from working it, not keeping it compressed or extended. I understand your logic by not wanting to store the rifle cocked BUT you wouldn't be doing the spring any harm or injustice by doing so! I've tested this over time with 2 pairs of GLOCK mags. I keep one pair fully loaded at all times and the other pair I use for range use. The pair that is loaded at all times has much stiffer springs than the ones used for the range. Now, as I said, others may have a different opinion or outlook on this.

Also, you can avoid the cocking/dryfiring by pulling the trigger as you close the bolt!

Sorry to stray OT and I hope all goes well with your VLP! They are GREAT tho'...aren't they !!!!!