I ordered the 416 Taylor barrel for my Savage 110 and all the goodys to go with it. The Magnum bolt face that I ordered has a smaller hole that my firing pin will not go through. What did I do wrong and what do I need to get back on track with this project?

heavey varmit,

what all did you order and how much did the total come to? I think that's what I'm going to do with a Savage that I just bought for cheap.

HV, you did nothing wrong. You apparently got the later model of magnum bolthead that uses the smaller firing pin and bolthead pin. Savage changed them in an attempt to strengthen the magnum bolthead pin by reducing the size of the hole the firing pin goes through. You have two remedies. The simplest is to drill out the bolthead to fit your firing pin. E-mail me for the details. Or you could attempt to locate an older model mag bolthead with the larger hole. To make the bolthead you now have work without drilling you will need the smaller firing pin and the bolthead pin. Please realize you will need to check firing pin protrusion and firing pin spring length if you dissamble your current pin. Please e-mail me if you have any questions. (bandito120@aol.com) RandyB.

OK, so what exactly is different here? Since the magnum uses a smaller firing pin, the bolt head must have a smaller firing pin hole, and the hole through the bolt head retaining pin must also be smaller. Right so far?

I am also guessing the that the diameter and length of the bolt head retaining pin is the same as the standard calibers, so instead of modifying the magnum pin, one could just buy a standard retaining pin. The firing pin hole in the bolt head itself would still have to be enlarged to handle the standard firing pin. Is all this correct?

One more question. Is there anything different about the bolt heads used for WSM family of cartridges? Like maybe the ejector design?

I ask because I would like to buy a short action Savage and a variety of barrels from .223 to 300 WSM. Aside from magazine/feeding issues, is there any reason this won't work? Is it possible to switch out the non-detachable mags too?

Tex, it is a little complicated thanks to Savage changing their design. I don"t know at what serial number they changed to the smaller pin size. I just had this discussion last week with Fred Moreo regarding this issue so I"ll try my best to explain. If you have the old large firing pin you still use the old bolthead pin and drill out the new smaller hole bolthead. I have two magnums this way and have no problems. Now regarding the WSM"s on the short actions it is a whole new ball game. They have a completely different setup as they are a controlled feed design with a fixed ejector. Also the barrel threads are larger in diameter for the Short mags. So your wish to go from 223 to WSM can be done but would be single shot only as you would run into feed problems. It is possible to switch mags from 223 to 243/308 but I understand the WSM box is completely different to work with the controlled feed bolthead. Again, set up for single shot you would have no problem. Give Fred a call at Sharpshooter Supply 419-695-3179 as he is the man that answers my questions. I hope this helps, RandyB.

Why would a person drill out the fring pin hole in the bolt head rather than simply reducing the diameter of the firing pin tip? I spend a bit of time bushing bolt faces to reduce the tip diameter to prevent primer blanking and can't see why one would want to go the other way if he didn't have to. Regards, Bill

Bill, you do not drill out the firing pin hole in the boltface. The bolthead has a two diameter hole with the larger diameter section at the rear of the bolthead for the firing pin shank and the small diameter up front for the pin tip. I"m not talking about changing the small hole in the boltface. Savage has two diameters of shanks. You could reduce the diameter of the original pin shank but I think you would need a small lathe or tool post grinder. Most people have access to a drill press and can even be carefully done by hand by stepping up in bit sizes. It is easily done and you use your original bolthead retaining pin. I hope this clarifies things. RandyB

Randy,
Yeah. Now I get it. When I saw how cheap those bolt heads are I ordered some just to use in making some experimental bolts. Regards, Bill.

Guys,
I have used the regular mag bolthead for wildcat based on 300 rem ultra short case(also full length rem ultras). I do not see why they would not work with the WSM's also, (would be push feed)