# HELP ON MY MAUSER K-98



## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

I was axis and hog hunting this past weekend, and during the day just shooting some guns. I shot my mauser, and it was shooting great, but I then didn't shoot a round and ejected it. Out came a case with no bullet, and a bunch of spilled powder. The bullet was still in the chamber. I got it out, and tried again with another cartridge- same thing. Stopped shooting and brought it home.

When I got home I re-measured overall length and it was significantly below max COAL for 8mm mauser. I then put my comparator with the same bullet into the gun, and with the bullet contacting the lands, that measurement was about15-20 thousandths longer than the suspect bullets OAL, so no problem there. ***.

Do you think my bolt is pushing the bullet farther than it should, to where it engages the rifling, thus making the bullet stick and pull out upon ejection?? I am not feeling any pressure when seating the bolt, however.

Gurus-- help.

THE JAMMER


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Jammer

Really a tough one but with your wisdom I bet you can figure it out. First thing would be some how while shooting something stuck in the chamber or barrel area. I am sure you checked that and then the ammo, neck tension on the bullet reloads ? Something is pulling the bullet and your comparator says all OK so hmm be sure (as you have already done) double check COL. 

Charlie


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## pg542 (Oct 9, 2006)

Were you shooting with a full magazine or one at a time? Possible neck tension issues allowing some bullets to slip in the case neck in the mag while under recoil??....strange....


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## coogerpop (Sep 3, 2009)

Recoil will do funny things to loaded rounds in the magazine...measure the OAL of the rounds...load and fire....probally a couple of times...recheck length of rounds in the mag...I bet the graphite used to resize the inside of the neck has "slicked" up the inside of the neck to a point where the recoil is sliding the bullets forward...


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Jam

I forgot to ask, is this the first time shooting this gun and rounds or is this something new to the gun ? Also bullet design make sure you dont have too much shoulder on the bullet as to make it touch.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

CHARLIE said:


> Jam
> 
> I forgot to ask, is this the first time shooting this gun and rounds or is this something new to the gun ? Also bullet design make sure you dont have too much shoulder on the bullet as to make it touch.


Thanks for all of the responses.

I have had the gun and shot it for years, but I can't recall if I ever put a round into the chamber, then didn't fire it, and ejected it. This might have been the first time I ever did that.

Recoil has nothing to do with it, because I just took the empty gun, in my office, loaded one of the rounds that I loaded years ago (never been fired in the gun) Here is the exact data:

Max coal for the round: 3.25
Comparator length with that bullet: 3.21
coal for my round: 3.196

14/1000 off the lands- great- that's why it shoots about 2" or better at 100 yards.

Everything fits. I even took one of the rounds in my left hand, place pliers around the bullet and pulled as hard as I could, and could not get the bullet out- so neck tension is not a problem.

I obviously checked the chamber for blockage first, but if there were anything in there, the sample comparator round would not fit.

PERPLEXED.


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## icspts (Feb 25, 2011)

x2...Bullet design and recoil


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Jam

Hmm well seat the bullet deeper..


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Ok this is driving me crazy, and sometimes I get stuff like this all mixed up in my head. See if this is correct:

If max coal for the round is 3.25, and my comparator depth is only 3.21, then a 3.25 cartridge would not fit right?? Therefore, there must be something in there blocking it. Is my thinking correct??? But I can't see a darn thing in there. I've run cleaning rod through, used my light etc.


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## Ernest (May 21, 2004)

Smoke/ink three loaded rounds built to your normal length but with high neck tension. Bullet and the shoulder. 

Chamber one, but don't close the bolt. Extract, and examine for misssing smoke/ink. 

Same as above on no. 2, but close bolt half way. 

Same as above on no. 3, but close the bolt. 

If nothing untoward is shown, I'd then see if I could repeat the bullet pulling issue with a freshly built round. Maybe that one round was just messed up. 

Is the ejector forcing your round off the bolt face and jamming it into the lands? Long shot, but if your are not running minimal headspace, and you measured the chamber/lands length without the ejector, it might be a posssibility. Like I said, long shot. 

Admittedly, I have not messed with a K-98.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Spinning brass brush and some tuff cleaner..


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Ernest said:


> Smoke/ink three loaded rounds built to your normal length but with high neck tension. Bullet and the shoulder.
> 
> Chamber one, but don't close the bolt. Extract, and examine for misssing smoke/ink.
> 
> ...


See that's what I was thinking that when the bolt is closed it's forcing the round farther in. Great suggestions on 3 steps: close, close half way, etc. I'll try that and report back.


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## Jonas Grumby (Apr 3, 2005)

CHARLIE said:


> Spinning brass brush and some tuff cleaner..


+1 on the cleaner and spinning brush. There must be something in there.


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## B-Money (May 2, 2005)

Crimp it. Lee makes a decent "factory crimp" die.


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## tboltmike (Jun 21, 2006)

This shouldn't have a bearing, but I will throw it out.
With the Mauser, rounds must be fed from the magazine as the extractor will not ride over the cartridge rim, unless it has been modified. If the round got ahead of the extractor during chambering, the cartridge could have been shoved a little fruther in the chamber. However, the bolt would not have been able to close. To be shoved further there would have to be headspace wear in the chamber or the rounds sized too deep.
I think these are unlikely, but I am grasping at straws.


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## tboltmike (Jun 21, 2006)

OOPS,

Stepped on Ernest's reply. I should have read thru before posting.

Mike


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## mas360 (Nov 21, 2006)

I'd take a *sized* empty case, use a Dremel tool to cut two slits on the case neck at 180 degrees apart from each other. 
Now, gently push a bullet into this case just enough to hold bullet. Take the bolt out and slide the case with partially seated bullet and case into extractor. Put the bolt with this case into the receiver and gently chamber it.

Gently pull the bolt out and take the case off the bolt. What you have now is a case with bullet set to touch rifling. Now, you can measure COAL.

Sit another bullet in another case with the newly measured COAL and screw down the seating stem one to two turns. Test chambering this newly made cartridge and see if you still have problem.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

mas360 said:


> I'd take a *sized* empty case, use a Dremel tool to cut two slits on the case neck at 180 degrees apart from each other.
> Now, gently push a bullet into this case just enough to hold bullet. Take the bolt out and slide the case with partially seated bullet and case into extractor. Put the bolt with this case into the receiver and gently chamber it.
> 
> Gently pull the bolt out and take the case off the bolt. What you have now is a case with bullet set to touch rifling. Now, you can measure COAL.
> ...


I've essentially done that already when I used my comparator to find the coal for touching the lands.

I'm taking it to the gunsmith tomorrow and will post results. Thanks for all of the excellent inputs.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Aww jus seat the bullet deeper


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## Ernest (May 21, 2004)

I'm kinda disappointed in Jammer. Calling in a professional. Geez. Next thing you know, he will be buying factory ammo and paying people to bore sight his rifles. 

I think he needs an intervention. Charlie, you bring sizing lube and some brass, and I'll round up some varget. We will have the real Jammer back in no time.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Ernest said:


> I'm kinda disappointed in Jammer. Calling in a professional. Geez. Next thing you know, he will be buying factory ammo and paying people to bore sight his rifles.
> 
> I think he needs an intervention. Charlie, you bring sizing lube and some brass, and I'll round up some varget. We will have the real Jammer back in no time.


I know. I know. You're right. I had an omen yesterday though. I went to Match Grade to have Kerry look at it, and they were closed- out to lunch. OMEN. I'm working on it myself today.

THE "EMBARASSED" JAMMER


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## Ernest (May 21, 2004)

I'm just messing with you. I got a revolver that is out of time. I keep messing with it. The warden keeps telling me - stop wasting your time. What, are you stupid? Take it to a pro.

So far, I remain convinced, I can fix it.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

OK--SOLUTION!!!

Now bottom line is I screwed up in one of two ways. My original measurements showed:

Max SAMMI coal 3.25

My comparator length 3.21

My cartridge coal 3.195

NO PROBLEM RIGHT????

Well I started from scratch again this afternoon and got these numbers:

Max Sammi coal 3.25

Comparator length 3.175 not 3.21

My cartridge coal 3.195

With those numbers my round is .020 too long, and no wonder it was pulling out upon ejection without firing.

So I either did not get a good comparator reading the first time, or I (perish the thought) thought the comparator length was .015 longer than my cart length instead of .015 shorter. Could go either way. Regardless MY FAULT, AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE GUN.

I resized all of those rounds to .010 off the lands, which makes them 3.165 coal. Now I have to shoot them to see how they group. The old load grouped 2" at 100 with original sights- not bad. I had shot these rounds before without any problem, but in restrospect I probably shot every round I chambered, thus I didn't eject one to find the problem. So I was either engraving the rifling by .020" every time I chambered, or the bullet was being pushed further into the case each time. I cedrtainly don't recall any difficulty in chambering those rounds, however.....

It's not uncommon in black powder cartridge shooting to engrave the rifling upon chambering. So I don't think it was dangerous, because even though pressures would certainly increase engraving the rifling, I was using the lowest load of powder listed in the Nosler manual for that 180 bt, adn there was no evidence of an overload upon primer inspection.

So my question is it appears that my chamber is shorter than SAMMI by .04". ***???

Anyway no harm no foul, but definitely a mistake on my part.

As they say MY BAD !!!!

I really appreciate all of your inputs. My mistake turned out to be a very informative thread for all involved.


THE "STILL EMBARRASED" JAMMER


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