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Posted: 11/2/2008 2:54:39 PM EDT
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I've had my k98 for about a year now and I am having a few issues with it. I used to fire only recent manufacture commercial ammo and had no problems.
I picked up a case of surplus greek 8mm mauser and suddenly had a few issues. First, it seems like the primers wouldn't go off on about 2/3 of the rounds. When the rounds did go off, lifting the bolt was hard as hell. This has never happened before. So, here are my two attempts at diagnosing. First, I'm guessing that the surplus primers may jsut be shot or that they were harder and my firing pin isn't hitting hard enough. I do have solid strikes with dent in them though and attempted multiple strikes. I'm more worried about the bolt being hard as hell to rotate. It was like it was stuck on something. Is this maybe because the rounds are hotter than what I'm used to shooting or something like this? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. |
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I'm pretty confidant from your description that it's the ammo. Surplus ammo like yours gets unreliable over the years, or was of dubious manufacture. Some surplus ammo can be downright dangerous. Along with duds you may end of with hangfires, that detonate after you open the breech.
My concern with surplus ammo is who knows how or where the ammo has been stored for the last 30,40 or 50+ years? While most all has been great & a real bargain in my experience, I've had a few run-ins where I've scrapped the whole lot of ammo. I had some steel case 7.62x54 for one of my Mosins that did the same thing that you describe. I had to pack up my rifle with a loaded round stuck in the chamber & leave the gun range, and literally take a hammer to whack the bolt open for several swings. Not safe, not a good situation! I have four K98's and so far have had good results with the Romanian ammo. Switch ammo & see what happens! I think AIM Surplus still has plenty. I have a low post count but I'm a long time lurker & collector... 
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Quoted:
I'm pretty confidant from your description that it's the ammo. Surplus ammo like yours gets unreliable over the years, or was of dubious manufacture. Some surplus ammo can be downright dangerous. Along with duds you may end of with hangfires, that detonate after you open the breech. My concern with surplus ammo is who knows how or where the ammo has been stored for the last 30,40 or 50+ years? While most all has been great & a real bargain in my experience, I've had a few run-ins where I've scrapped the whole lot of ammo. I had some steel case 7.62x54 for one of my Mosins that did the same thing that you describe. I had to pack up my rifle with a loaded round stuck in the chamber & leave the gun range, and literally take a hammer to whack the bolt open for several swings. Not safe, not a good situation! I have four K98's and so far have had good results with the Romanian ammo. Switch ammo & see what happens! I think AIM Surplus still has plenty. I have a low post count but I'm a long time lurker & collector...  Thanks for the advice. Never would have noticed the post count unless you had pointed it out..........NOOB! 
j/k. |
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8mm commercial ammo is generally loaded lighter than surplus. Some surplus is hotter than other (Turk really barks) and may be expanding more in the chamber. Did you notice any split necks? You may revisit the chamber cleaning regimen to assure it's really clean.
I had a problem with my M48 where the slot the firing pin fits into the bolt head had hardened cosmo in there that was almost impossible to see and clean. It was keeping the firing pin from going as far as it should have. It exhibited the same symptoms as yours, commercial shot fine, but surplus was a hit or miss. I boiled the bolt in water for a while to remove it. I bought 1K of Ecuadorian surplus a few years ago that was mostly duds (got it for about $40./1K). I pulled the bullets to load into new boxer primed brass. $40. for 1K of 196gr bullets is still a good deal. The bullets had rust on the tail end of them that was fixed with a ride in my tumbler for a while. It would appear that the rounds had absorbed some moisture somewhere along the way. |
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