Savage 99 problem

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rjpilot

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I'm new to the Highroad, but have been around guns a few years. My father just gave me a Savage 99M chambered in .308 that my grandfather owned.
When I gave it a close look after he left, I noticed something strange. The lever and bolt appeared to function normally, but when the lever was closed (against the stock), the bolt didn't move all the way UP into the position it was in before I cycled the lever. When I pull the trigger (on an empty chamber), the bolt moves another half millimeter up, as if it wasn't in full battery before I pulled the trigger. I had never noticed this before, and I'm wondering if it's normal.
What added to my curiosity, today I took the gun out to the range to shoot for the first time. I put in a single round, closed the lever, and fired. It seemed to function normally to this point. But when I swung the lever down, the casing did not come out, it was stuck in the chamber. Another attempt to cycle the lever failed to extract the spent casing.
My question is whether I have a problem with the bolt not seating correctly, and maybe that's causing unusual casing expansion, and making the casing hard to extract?
I eventually had to push the spent casing out of the chamber with a cleaning rod inserted from the muzzle.
The ammo is older military surplus, so its possible my extraction problem is just the ammo. The ammo appeared to be sound (no signs of corrosion, etc.).
Is the bolt thing normal? Is the non-extraction problem related to that, or just bad ammo?
-Kevin
 
Maybe I got duped on the ammo, but I think its legit. It is military surplus 'south african' labeled: 7.62x51mm BALL M1A2. It appears to be in good condition.
Any thoughts on the bolt positioning 'problem'/discrepancy?
 
I know nothing about the savage 99, but it sounded like the round wasn't fully chambered. Maybe your chamber is dirty. Try posting under the gunsmithing part of THR. I'm sure someone here has knowledge of your rifle.

Good luck and welcome to The High Road.
 
Savage 99s have weak and thin extractors. You can buy a new one from Numrich and install it in about five minutes. I have had to update several of my 308 Savage 99s like this - this is a common issue.

Full disclosure - Numrich shipped me two weird ones that would not fit several years ago, but the last one they shipped me (3 weeks ago) fit just fine and was much heavier and in blued steel rather than in the white. I believe the last one they sent me was a reproduction part, and it's better than the original IMO...

Anyway - AFAIK it's not entirely uncommon for the bolt to seat higher when the hammer smacks it, just as many boilt actions have the bolt 'jump' slightly when you drop the striker on an empty chamber.
 
Thank you for your responses. I'm going to call Savage, and see what they say. And I'll poke around on 24hourcampfire.

rbernie, is Numrich the supplier/distributor for that extractor, or the manufacturer?
 
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