Trued factory Savage .223 bolt head

The factory-made Savage bolt head is is perfectly satisfactory for the hunter and occasional shooter. However, for the target shooter who fires thousands of rounds per year, it has been my experience that the bolt heads deteriorate quite rapidly. The factory bolt heads are investment cast and then polished; the abrasive pellets round off all corners and create small dents on the bolt face around the firing pin hole. The area around the firing pin hole sometimes has an indentation deep enough to allow the primer to flow into this void. This makes an unsightly blemish on a fired primer and can lead to hard extraction or worse.  One rifle I inspected had a continuing problem with pierced primers despite reasonably mild loads; the problem was eventually corrected by extensive machining on replacement factory bolt heads.

PTG .223 Bolt Head

For a many years I corrected the indentations around the firing pin hole and the dishing of the bolt face by running the Pacific Tool and Gauge Carbide Bolt Face Truing Tool a few thousandths of an inch into the bolt face until all blemishes were removed and a flat surface achieved. However, after a few thousand rounds, this often needed to be done again as the bolt face would begin to develop a dished surface. Also, the firing pin hole seemed to wear excessively which was of some concern. Material strength of the investment cast bolt head appears to be the source of these recurring problems.

Left to Right: PTG .223 Bolt Head, factory Savage .308 Bolt Head, PTG .308 Bolt Head

Seeking a better solution while talking with Dave Kiff, head honcho at PTG, he offered make some direct replacements for the original Savage bolt heads. I then sent him a few bolt assemblies for reverse engineering. This would allow PTG to evaluate the manufacturing process through precision grinding of the appropriate steel in order to determine if they could be made at a low enough price to create a viable market.

Early this week the bolts with the PTG Bolt Heads arrived. In the shop the protrusions of both firing pins were found to be 0.060" within a few thousands and all machined surfaces were right on spec.

PTG Savage Bolt Head in .223 Size (without ejector)

The test firing of these bolts head proved to be acceptable and the cartridge case heads and primers indicated no case head rounding or primer damage. After doing a check on my wildcat 22-250 DARN Prairie Dog and the .223 DARN Short Range (names of the PTG Reamers that have been modified for accuracy) I called PTG to tell them that in my opinion this is an exceptional product and I wanted enough to put them on all three of my 308 bolts and one 223 with one spare bolt of each to act as direct replacement bolts in case a case splits and blows an extractor. 

PTG Savage Bolt Head