Bang

[kingmt]

I was loading up some tracers that I didn't have a dummy round to match the profile of the bullet so I was the dummy & took the loaded round that was a little long & jammed it into the rifling of my Edge .223 Rem. where it got stuck. I didn't want to pull the bullet back out of the neck so I used a cleaning rod to tap the bullet & free it.

The bullet freed but when the bolt fell it released the firing pin. It struck the primer before the ejector could kick it out. The case exploded(as can be seen), primer blow out, the mag was blown apart(half was in the other room), the bullet shoved into the end of my cleaning rod, & me sitting there in awl.

I started looking to see what just happened I found the firing pin had dropped. I thought this to be a fluck. I reset the firing pin raised the bolt & let it fall again. Again the firing pin jumped the notch & was released.

I'm thankful most if not all the powder & the tracer didn't ignite. The cleaning rod seems to be fine after I threaded the bullet back out.

What I Learned
I now know how to put threads on the end of a bullet with a brass rod. It makes a mess of the guns chamber though. My wife cleaned for a while trying to get all that unburnt powder out. I was trying to figure out how to get the mag to work again.

 

[Alec]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Is it a malfunction, or is the rifle designed in such a way as to cause the pin to be released when you drop the bolt?

Were you injured in any way?

 

[kingmt]

I would hope that this is a malfunction that only involves this one rifle. In my opinion this should not be able to happen. Saying dropped may not be the right way to put it. Releasing it & stating when it reaches it full travel the pin is released may be a better way of saying this.

This is a bolt action gun.

I wasn't injured but whatever hit my leg which I assume was the unburnt powder stung a bit & my ears were ringing for a while. The thing that hurts the most is my new gun needs a mag now.

 

[snuffy]

The only "apex" I can find on google is a single shot rifle. It has no "BOLT" It has a hammer. Maybe I didn't find the right spot for a bolt action apex, but what you describe is nearly impossible with a single shot. In order to fire a round, the action would have to be completely closed.

Also, a bolt would have to be all-the-way-down to expose the firing pin, which could only happen if it was closed. A bolt out of a rifle, the FP is held by the cam, it could NOT drop at all.

 

[243winxb]

Savage Edge Bolt/Firearm photos at link. http://www.biggamehunt.net/reviews/savage-edge-rifle-review

 

[kingmt]

Snuffy I'm sorry I put the wrong name in. It is a Savage Edge & you are wrong about the bolt action. The action was comply open or the chamber would have supported the case.

 

[jja327]

Review of NRA Gun Safety Rules
1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

It appears you violated Rule 3 if you loaded the round in the comfort of your home. There is no valid reason to chamber a round at home unless the firearm is used for personal protection.
I hope you were OK with Rule 2.
How did you do with Rule 1? Would you have been prepared for the aftermath if the gun went off?

I'm glad you came out unscathed and were willing to share this teachable moment with us.

P.S. I hope your wife didn't use a vacuum to clean up the powder.

 

[snuffy]

Savage edge huh? Of course, it's now called the "AXIS". Not sure why Savage would change it's name, but it's ugly no matter what they call it!

If the Firing pin DID ignite that shell, your bolt is broken! So is the firing pin. Take it to a gunsmith before you attempt to fire it again. Tell him/her your story, so he can track down the broken part.

 

[kingmt]

I'm telling you Snuffy it's not broken. I don't know exactly how to name these parts but on the back of the bolt the striker cams over into a notch & if you let the bolt fall to the rear the inertia will cause it to jump off the notch.

Mine is the Edge but I was thinking of calling it the Axis so people would know which gun I was talking about only Apex was on my mind instead of Axis. As for them changing the name I was told it was a legal thing. Like someone else had rights to the name. I don't know though.

I thought about it more & decided if the cleaning rod wouldn't have been on the end of the bullet the ejector may have kicked the round out before the firing pin was released.

I plan to call Savage Monday & see what they say.

 

[JimKirk]

I thinking some photos of the gun with a empty case in the same position as when the case exploded would help visualize what you are talking about ... maybe?

Jimmy K

 

[243winxb]

Owner slammed the bolt to the rear when disloging the stuck round. Causing firing pin to drop. Shell was being held by the extractor. KABOOM. The engaugement of the firing pin in its notch, may or may not be correct. Another test would be to slam/close the bolt in to the action as if loading a round. Does the hammer/firing pin drop? When ejecting an unfired round, normally, we all know the firing pin should not drop.

 

[gamestalker]

I'm still trying to figure out how the firing pin deployed? What I think may have happened here, is the bolt fell and the round landed on the ejector, or something else pointed enough to discharge the primer. But then you said you did a test and dropped the bolt to see if it would redeploy the firng pin, and it did. Thinking about it now I think what happened is when the bolt stopped adbruptly it had enough force to further compress the firing pin spring which let the

 

[snuffy]

Okay, now I can see how it could happen. I just examined my savage 110 bolt, for my .308. It didn't take much of a nudge to dislodge the firing pin from it's VERY shallow notch. From what I could glean from reviews online, the edge/axis has the standard Savage bolt.

Sounds like a freak accident to me. While it's true you should NOT be loading ANY firearm inside a house, (except for self defense), it could have happened on a range.

I missed the pics that 243--- put up. That's exactly what my Savage bolt looks like. What you CAN'T see on those pics is the shallow notch that the round pin sits in to keep it from falling once it is cammed to the rear, compressing the FP spring. Only slight pressure from my thumb was required to move it enough for the FP to fall!

This "accident" could be easily duplicated. Have a cartridge being held by the extractor AND something to keep the shell back against the bolt head, LIKE A CLEANING ROD! Then cause the FP to dislodge from it's notch.

 

[kingmt]

243winxb
Thank you for adding the pic for me.
The firing pin can not be released if the bolt is forward but not down.
The firing pin was forward is how I know what happened.

Snuffy
You got it & probably explained it better then me.

Jim
My wife lost her camera. I took these with the web cam on my lap top which wasn't all that easy so I would hate to try to capture a replay of the whole thing. If I'm not being clear enough to understand then I can try to get a picture up later.

 

[jfullwood]

Okay, ironically I had this just happen to my Savage Edge .308 caliber rifle while I was cleaning it! It is a new rifle, never been shot, and I was like I said, cleaning it. I pulled the bolt back fairly quickly, heard a click and went to push the bolt forward... Nothing.. It jammed right away, which one can only hope is a safety feature... WHAT TO DO!? I have really great pictures to discribe what exactly this looks like!! I'm sending my bolt to the gunsmith this week so we shall see what he says!i

 

[gamestalker]

I read your story a while back, maybe on another forum, don't recall. Anyway, after I read about your experience I was in a Cabela's and saw a Savage Edge and decided to see if the FP would deploy if I let the bolt free fall to the back of the reciever. My 23 yr. old Son was with me and had read your thread as well, and since he was considering buying one of those he wanted to dee if your incident was a fluke or poor design. To my absolute amazement and surprise, the FP did deploy. I had to let the bolt drop freely several times, but it did eventually let go. And after thinking about your circumstances a bit more, it occured to me that the additional weight of the round falling with the bolt in your circumstance, created more impact energy. That seemed to explain why your's did it on the first drop, and why it took me several drops. Either way I'm convinced that Savage needs to take a much closer look at this rifle. I've tried to re-create this event with my Savage 110, and all of my other bolt actions, and none would release the FP.

 

[kingmt]

J
All you have to do is take a Allen wrench & back out the tension bolt at the rear of the bolt & resat the cam. Just leave it a couple threads in & it is very easy to resat. You should know how to do this to clean the gun anyway. I'm also sure savage would do it for free & probably even pick it up at there expense.