I checked that other site and it appears that Savage is replacing springs in the 220....
If any of you are having issues, I'd call Savage and talk to them.....It seems to be a common issue and they (savage) are apparently taking care of it.
Jim
With all due respect Jim, the truth is that Savage hasn't a clue about properly repairing this "misfire" issue. A guild-certified gunsmith friend (Denny Tubbs of Gunworks in Marion, Ohio) of mine has spoken to Savage more times than he can even remember....explaining to them the very nature of the problem....but Savage just releases a stiffer firing pin spring. Geniuses (not)!
Here
is the Savage 220 problem: the headspace (as set at the factory by Savage) is too much and the firing pin protrusion on three different Savage 220s was an unsatisfactory 30 thousandths of an inch (0.030").
Gunworks completely disassembled my 220 bolt to remedy the problem on three different Savage 220s I had Denny work on.
So what is "big issue" with this? In a nutshell, the firing pin's allowed protrusion on the face of the bolt
is fixed (or constant) by design.
There does not exist a simple "user adjustable" design within the Savage 220 firing pin assembly (I know because I saw the disassembled bolt and firing pin mechanism myself). The early production versions of of the
12GA Savage 210 bolt-action assemblies were designed to possess the capability to be adjusted for firing pin protrusion from the bolt face. Due to whatever reason(s), Savage abandoned the 12 gauge Savage 210 adjustable bolt design (presumably to cut manufacturing costs) and guess what?
Tolerances allowed by Savage for the factory headspace, bolt-face, firing pin protrusion, and associated parts can add up to (and many times do) excessive headspace/insufficient firing pin protrusion to reliably strike the primer for ignition!So......back to Savage's "stiffer Savage 220 firing pin spring" remedy (farce) that
will not reliably fix the problem!.
Please note my underlined word "reliably" in the previous sentence.
Why? What makes the Savage 220 stiffer firing pin "fix" unreliable?
The answer is inside the Savage 220 bolt's firing pin assembly itself. Remember, the distance the firing pin is allowed to protrude from the face of the bolt
is fixed. Therefore, if the headspace is excessive and the firing pin can not extend further to make up for the Savage-allowed tolerances, the firing pin will not strike the 209 primer sufficiently. Enter "misfire" at this point.
A stiffer firing pin spring will simply not allow for increased firing pin protrusion (the REAL answer for factory Savage 220 bolt-action 20 gauge shotguns). Sure, the firing pin will now strike with more force but
the amount of firing pin protrusion travel will be the same!What is the proper, reliable way to remedy this? Have a gunsmith modify the stock firing pin assembly for increased firing pin protrusion from the boltface and minimize the headspacing!
If you want this fixed
properly, call Denny Tubbs at Gunworks. This is the
only gunsmith I personally trust to fix this specific issue that Savage isn't really "fixing" at this point in time. Talk to Denny at the contact information listed in the link below (not intended to be spamming here):
LINK:
Gunworks by Denny Tubbs (Click Here)Feel free to PM or post if anyone has specific questions or concerns.