My new to me Savage # 1 Mk 4 has a serious extraction problem. First the rifle details, it has been sporterized.
Car touches on stock removed and forend shortened. Barrel markings have also been removed. Barrel cut down to 21”, Parker Hale ramped front sight attached. Still has the flip rear sight. Serial numbers match. Bolt head is a # 3 with a new extractor.
Now to the problem.
With a factory load I saw I would have to firmly grip the forend to go the last 3/8” to cam the bolt closed. No “mad minute” for this one. Oh, same thing with the rifle unloaded.
Today I shot 3 rounds of factory and 9 rounds of hornady 150’s loaded low pressure with H4895 to duplicate 30/30 load. I’m starting slow and will hopefully work my way to cast loads.
The really bad problem
I had this issue with every round. I had to let the Barrel cool before I could work the bolt. Even then it took 3-4 blows with the heel of my hand to raise the bolt. Then, it took 4-5 more blows to get the bolt back. It felt like it was binding on something. I even tried chambering a cartridge and then removing the magazine in case it was dragging on that. Nope, that didn’t help.
Once home I looked at the fired cases. Most had very faint circular rings part of the way around the case. Not enough to constitute a scratch. There were absolutely no vertical marks on the cases like they were being dragged past “something”. The fired cases would easily rechamber and extract.
Any advice would be appreciated.