Savage 93R17 - 17HMR

[armed and humorous]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago just for fun.  It was fairly cheap, and I had no experience with the caliber, so I thought, "What the heck?"  From the get go, I had trouble with the 5-round clip (I think it came with two, but I purchased one or two more additional).  Actually, I'm not sure where the problem lies, but it manifests itself by not being able to get that first round chambered using the bolt action in a normal fashion.  I got one of the clips replaced, as it appeared to have a defect, but it has never really solved the chambering problem, and the problem exists with any of the clips I have.  It's almost as if the clip doesn't go all the way up into the rifle far enough.  The nose of the round hits below the actual chamber, and the bolt tends to slip past it causing a jam if you aren't careful.  I end up messing around for several minutes and eventually (sometimes) get the round chambered, or I manually load the first round.  The rest of the rounds tend to go in fine once that first round is fired.

Anyone else have that problem or know what I could do about it?  In all other respects, I think the gun is worth what I paid for it (quite accurate).

[bk09]

Have you tried only using 4 rounds in the magazine instead of 5? If that doesn't work the feed ramp may need some polishing or may even need to be trimmed down.

[armed and humorous]

I hadn't, but I did after reading your comment, but it didn't really make any difference using only four rounds in the clip.  There is no "ramp" in the gun itself.  The only ramp is the plastic piece built into the clip which is forced upward by the spring below it.  The problem appears to be that the angle of the plastic "ramp" is not steep enough to guide the bullet into the chamber.  Instead the bullet hits below the chamber.  Then, your bolt simply won't go forward any further, or it slips above the round and tries to shove it back down causing a jam.  It seems that if I am very careful about loading the clip, and push down on the cartridges toward the rear of the clip, the angle that it rests in will change slightly, perhaps enough that it will feed properly, but not always.  Also, it seems to help if I pull the bolt back prior to inserting the clip so that there is nothing there to push the round downward once it is fully inserted.

I'm basically trying to figure out if this is a design flaw, or if there is something wrong with my gun or clips that others are not seeing with theirs.  I have three clips, so unless they are all flukes (unlikely) it must be a design problem (if the problem is the clip).  If it is in the gun (something missing at the front of the bolt or poorly made or whatever), then it could be a lemon, or it could be a design flaw that others are also seeing.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[lefty]

Have you checked the spring in the mag?  Sometimes they
are put in backwards at the factory.  Just an idea.

[armed and humorous]

No real way to take the mag apart (sheet metal folded and crimped together).  I could probably do it, but I would risk bending something and not being able to get it back like it should be.  It sounds like a possiblity that could cause the problem, but other than trying to exchange them for three more (hopefully with correctly installed springs), I don't know what I could do about it.  Can't really tell from the outside if they might be upside down or not (might be no difference in this case).

[Mudinyeri]

If you have the same problem with three different [sic] "clips" my guess is that the problem lies with the rifle itself.  Posting a few pictures or a video of the problem might help us diagnose.

[armed and humorous]

If I could remember (figure out) how to post a photo on here again, I would.  Nothing is working at the present time.  I've done it before, but I don't remember, or the procedure has changed.