Top loading no floorplate no mag 116

[deChelca]

Hey,

I just bought my first rifle, a Savage 116 Trophy Hunter 30-06. It's a bit out of my league, but it was $400,so i couldn't pass it up.

It's a top loader, no floorplate, no magazine. And it's a real SOB to load.

The first one goes in okay - point in, slide to the rear, - but the next round get progressively more difficult VERY quickly, with fingernails being the big factor. I've shot it twice, only, because of the difficulty of loading.

Any suggestions? Is a beautiful rifle, accurate as hell. But if I can't load the thing, then what's the point?

Thanks!

[J0HN_R1]

If yours wasn't a long-action (LA), I'd sell you my spare wood stock from my Savage 14.

Look for a used stock with a floorplate or DBM... Try CGN (Canadian Gun Nutz forum)

[Dean2]

If it is that hard to load my guess is someone took it apart and put it together wrong. I have lots of top loaders and no problems loading them. Take it apart and make sure it is put together right. It is surprisingly easy to screw this up if you aren't paying attention.

If you don't know what right looks like pull up the schematic and owners manual from the Savage web site. It has the manuals there for free download.

https://www.savagearms.com/manuals/

The actual Maual you want should be this one.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/savagefiles..._10_110_le.pdf

INSTALLING THE STOCK
1. For TOP LOAD models, notice the position in
the stock of the magazine, plastic follower
assembly, and magazine retaining clip in
FIGURE 22. Should they become loose and
fall out of the stock [DO NOT REMOVE ON
YOUR OWN!], place the retaining clip into the
side slot of the magazine (see FIGURE 23),
insert the plastic magazine follower assembly
into the magazine, and push the entire
magazine assembly back into the stock as
shown in FIGURE 22.

[qwert]

As Dean2 suggests,

I would suggest you resist the temptation to instal a DBM system.
Blind mags are a bother for road hunters, but they are also
easy to single load on the bench at the range,
lighter,
smoother outside of the stock,
cheaper,
impossible to break the (often plastic) release catch,
impossible to lose, which will always happen at the worst possible time,
years down the road, replacement magazines will be expensive and hard to find.

To be fair, the stagger feed blind mags can wear the action rails from frequent cycling to unload.

Good Luck, YMMV.

[purgatory.sv]

Post number three has good information,look at the user manual and search specific questions on the net if you have issues with the blind magazine.

I would only load three rounds,less tension.

[tchardy1972]

Sounds like you may be trying to slide them in from front to rear. Instead, just push them straight down into the mad they should quite easily snap into place.

[spoiledsaskhunter]

trim your nails

[deChelca]

Originally Posted by tchardy1972

Sounds like you may be trying to slide them in from front to rear. Instead, just push them straight down into the mad they should quite easily snap into place.

That's what I've thought all along, but whew!
So I tried it again. There's a hell of a lot of resistance, it's really stiff, but they loaded.

I've never known a rifle to be this stiff. I'll have to oil it up a little. Also, there's only about 12 or 15 rounds in total through the gun, so maybe it needs to be worked out a little.

Thanks very much, have a great day!