savage axis xp trigger

yes it's the rock bottum savage axis from academy. we pitched in and bought it for my little brother, an effort to get him to join us at deer camp. stupid pawn shops and craigslist wanted $400-500 for used up cheap rifles in who-knows-what shape. so we took the dive

anyhow- what would make this rifle click on every tenth shot or so, making (about the same) dimple in the spent and un-spent cartridge? we've swapped bullets and all. no imorovement.

we know we can start over at academy or jump through savage hoops, but we'd rather try to repair it as we dont want to give it up in deer season, and don't want to start from scratch on the range.

was hoping someone (maybe recently) has experienced this "soft strike" on the same type rifle. vitals: savage axis xp 30/06, without accutrigger. any ideas please share. we're barrel swabbers. never tore into a rifle bolt before. thank you.

Make sure the bolt handle is going all the way down, have heard of it not being closed completely and causing light strikes.

What type/brand of cartridges have you tried? Federal primers are some of the softest and easier to ignite. Might try a box of Federals if you have not. Not a fix, but might get you through till you can send in for repair or find problem.

Inspect the firing pin hole for grease or the like, maybe even a piece of paper or trash got in there. Could be a headspace issue, chamber too deep, which Savage will need to fix for sure. Could be a bad/weak firing pin spring. The firing pin "tunnel" or firing pin could have burs on it causing it to hangup and move slower. Lot of things it could be, but would take disassembly of the bolt to inspect that.

Might try blasting the firing pin hole and any other holes in the bolt with carburetor cleaner. Then blow out with compressed air and re-lube. Of course a new gun shouldn't have this problem, but you never know.

Rosewood

Everything rosewood said except...

I would not recommend spraying carburetor cleaner or blasting the firing pin hole with air. Carb cleaner will remove all grease and oil and if the bolt is not completely stripped there may be some cleaner trapped. Blasting air into assembled parts is bad two ways: you can blast grit deeper into the assembled parts and into a tolerance area causing problems and most air compressors do not have water filters and can blast moisture up into those same hard to reach places.

If you want to clean the inside of the bolt it must be done the correct way: complete disassembly. If you do not feel you are up to this then take it to a competent gunsmith.

thanks folks

It's not the trigger. Savage has pretty dang good triggers out of the box. I have both types (accu-trigger and xp) the count is better but harder to adjust.
Recently my son has had the same problem with his 30-06, it was the Remington primers that were not firing. If there is a dent in the primer and the round fails, it's not the gun