Gunsmithing

I went out today to shoot the Ugly Rifle, a .308 Savage 10 I've been tinkering with. I put about 25 rounds through it, exercising the steel plates at the range. When I got home I put the rifle in the cradle to clean it. While the Hoppe's was working on the bore, I put a brush on the bolt face to clean it. Dabbed a little Hoppes on the brosh, gave the bolt face a good scrubbing and turned the brush around like I always do. Gave the ejector a little push to make sure it was free, then gave the extractor a push to make sure it was free.

Something gave way when I pushed the extractor and I heard a "ding" across the shop. Well, hell.

I lost a 1/8 steel ball that sits between the extractor and the spring. In my shop, with all the sawdust, and clutter, there's no telling where that ball went, and I spent the better part of hour looking for it. So, I looked on the website and got the part number (part #100214 - $2.00). I called the Savage customer service line and talked to the lady there. The minimum order is $10.00, so I ordered an extractor spring (part #100257 - $2.00) and another extractor (part #100139 - $4.00). That's still under the minimum $10.00, so with shipping my total is $12.00.

It looks like I'm going to learn how to install an extractor.