A friend brought a savage axis over and we went to sight it in yesterday. Extraction was extremely hard after firing it.

There was no mark when inserting and removing the case without firing it.


After examining the cases I noticed a good size gouge on them about a quarter inch long starting at the base forward.

Looking into the chamber one could noticed a burr on the right side of the chamber mouth.

I made a tapered polisher out of a shotgun cleaning rod and some one inch wide fine emery paper.

After hand rotating the paper against the burr for a few turns I removed it and one could see where the burr was making marks on the paper.

Reinserting the polisher I gave it another 10 or so turns by hand. We then shot it and extraction was a lot smoother with only a sight mark on the case.

After Several more turns we fired it again and extraction was smooth with no marks on the case.

It was a fairly easy fix but it is a shame it was not caught before it left the plant.

I've had two new rifles come through the shop with that problem.

I had one like that a couple of years ago too. Was wondering what might have caused it, and the only thing we could think of was that somebody might have been playing fast and rough with a headspace gauge.... I'd really like to know for sure, if there is any more info out there .