By Travis Smola via wideopenspaces.com
Savage Arms issued a recall on Monday for their B.MAG bolt rifles. In a statement posted on their website, Savage Arms states that the bolts on some B.MAG rifles have been found to accidentally catch the safety, slipping it into the “fire” position and creating an obviously dangerous situation. “The condition is primarily present if downward pressure is applied to the bolt too early while pushing it forward,” the statement says . . .
Owners of B.MAG rifles can go to the Savage Arms website and enter their rifle’s serial number to see if it is a part of the recall. If it is, they are eligible to receive a free retrofit part and instructions on how to install it.
The retrofit parts replace the existing bolt handle and bolt cap.
While Savage Arms say they have received no complaints of accidents as of yet, they are offering the free retrofits of B.MAG rifles in the interest of safety. They are also advising owners of such rifles to not use them until they have been checked and fitted with a new handle and cap.
This is how a good company deals with a problem, vs hiding it and pretending it doesn’t exist like Remington did for so many years. Good for Savage!
@Rusty: Yup, Remington screwed up magnificently. My 700 ADL S/N was not even listed as one affected with the bad trigger, so I thought I was lucky — until activating the safety on a closed blot with a chambered round caused the rifle to fire! Then, Remington broadened its “guidance” to say that additional guns might be affected. No kidding!
(They didn’t seem to do any better with the R51, either.)
I spent $140 on a Timney trigger and the gun has been fine since. I also have an 870 that’s never given me a lick of trouble. But, I’ll never buy another Remington gun. Any maker can have issues and recall product. It’s how you treat customers that makes the difference — and Remington proved that it doesn’t give two sh**s about its customers.
You should tell this to the people that claim they have shot hundreds of 700s without a problem. It only takes one bad one to cause a big problem.
@Jeff the Griz, when it happened I felt like the poster boy for why people need to observe muzzle discipline. If I hadn’t kept the gun pointed downrange when I did that, I’d have had no one to blame BUT MYSELF — bad safety or not. Straight out of the NRA training (I’m an instructor): “Safeties are mechanical devices that can fail. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.” 😉
Meh, you should never rely on safeties and the four rules are ALWAYS in effect.
@KingSarc48625, safe handling is not the point; of course safeties are mechanical devices that can fail. How a company treats customers when a product is discovered to be defective, and how it makes its customers whole, is the focus here. If you had one of these rifles — which I almost bought last month — would you not get it fixed simply because you know how to handle a gun safely?!?
” safe handling is not the point; “
Well, it kinda IS the point if you take the exact wording of the statement as summarized in the linked article (note this verbiage is NOT on Savage’s site!):
“the bolts on some B.MAG rifles have been found to accidentally catch the safety, slipping it into the “fire” position and creating an obviously dangerous situation.“
That seems to imply the writer thinks that the safety being knocked from Safe to Fire “creates” the dangerous situation.
That in turn implies an over-reliance on mechanical safeties. There is no NEW dangerous situation “created by” moving the safety from Safe to Fire…intentional or not…if the holder of the gun is of the “proper” mindset.
While it is admirable for Savage to publicly acknowledge the problem and fix it, histrionics in the reporting of this issue don’t help convince people that guns are not inherently merchants of death with free will and agency.
Savage currently has an opening for a Senior Firearm Designer. Now that would be a fun job…if you can tolerate living in Massachusetts.
LOL — it’s like when I see openings at S&W, or at NSSF in CT. Anyplace in the DC thru BOS corridor is off limits for me. Same with IL and CA. 🙁
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