Skunk's FR8: How did I break it and how do I fix it?

Skunk, a couple questions:

1. Are you having problems extracting cases that were fed into the chamber from the magazine?

2. Is it with one particular kind of ammo, or multiple kinds of ammo?

Any competent gunsmith ought to be able to fix it, since it's a Mauser 98 action.

Might be the ammo. If it's stuck in the barrel after shooting it, it could be from hot loads. Are you using Mil. surplus? If you are it could be the problem, try switching to a different brand.

Are the cases bulged or split near the rim when you get 'em hammered out? When you get the bolt open, does it take the rim off the brass or is the brass still whole and stuck inside the chamber?

Are you feeding it MilSurp ammo?

When is the last time you....

cleaned the chamber? When you last put your rifle away, did you oil the bore? Dried out oil is tacky.......chris3

Milsurp or commercial .308?

Yeah I shoot Indian .308 and every once and a while a case will get stuck in the bore of my israeli k98k... Its so damn cheap though!!!!!

A point to consider when shooting your FR-8. The original load for
the first version of the CETME was a 112 gr bullet at 2300 fps.
This was in a standard 308 case. I have some of this old ammo.
I have read some information that would advise use of milder handloads
in these fine little rifles. I shoot any thing I can close the bolt on in my
FR-8 however; with no apparent ill effects. But maybe yours has a soft
receiver, or headspace issues.

You know, my friend has a Yugo (M48 methinks) that he bough from Big-5. Immediately after picking it up, he broke it down and cleaned out all the cosmoline and oiled it back up.

We shot plenty of Turk 8mm through it without any problems related to firing or extraction, and we all know that Turk stuff is pretty darn hot.

A few weeks later, he shoots soem Olympic 8mm through it, and has the same problems as Skunky; cases get stuck in the chamber and take a lot of effort to open the bolt, and sometimes the extractor rips right through the rim and leaves it stuck in the chamber.

Even after going back to Turk 8mm, the action is still stuck.

I wonder if these actions truly are soft, and firing hot loads changes the headspacing... seems dangerous, doesn't it?

are you shooting reloads that were shot in another weapon? Could be the cases were not ran through a resizing die after expanding in another chamber.

A few weeks later, he shoots soem Olympic 8mm through it, and has the same problems as Skunky; cases get stuck in the chamber and take a lot of effort to open the bolt, and sometimes the extractor rips right through the rim and leaves it stuck in the chamber.

Click to expand...

Olympic ammo is crap. I've had to lend another shooter a cleanring rod to get a stuck unfired round out of his AR-15.

Is factory .308 Winchester (ie the Federal Red Box) not loaded much hotter than military 7.62? How hot is Austrian surplus?

Could it be that the hot ammo combined with a rough or dirty chamber caused the problem by causing the brass to adhere to the chamber walls?

Had a friend that this happened to with a different rifle in 30-06.

Culprit was bad ammo.

Dropped in some fresh ammo and the problem went away.

I would still give it a good cleaning and try again.

When the rifle found out Skunky was going to Bubbaize it, it just kind of gave up on life.

Clean the chamber, check for gauling on the lugs, and have it headspaced (.308 field guage is fine, dont worry about .308 no-go guage)

chestnut ridge
A point to consider when shooting your FR-8. The original load for
the first version of the CETME was a 112 gr bullet at 2300 fps.
This was in a standard 308 case. I have some of this old ammo.
I have read some information that would advise use of milder handloads
in these fine little rifles. I shoot any thing I can close the bolt on in my
FR-8 however; with no apparent ill effects. But maybe yours has a soft
receiver, or headspace issues.

Click to expand...

Your confusing the FR-7 with the FR-8. The FR-7s need the reduced loads, the FR-8s can handle full .308 loads.

Dude, you have to clean the gunk! Whenever a gun isn't working correctly, it's usually do to gunk.

of course problem #2 of FTE is ammo.. But I'd clean it first..

It's been that long since you've shot it? Shame...

Time to stick the drill into the chamber and give it a good cleaning...haha j/k. Skunk, maybe you need to use that chamber cleaning tool, like the one's for the M1As. Give it a good scrub.

I have to bang the bolt with a mallet but the shot case is stuck in the bore. I need a ramrod to get it out

Click to expand...

.
Anybody else but me see this as a disaster in the making?

I'm not a milsurp guy, but just wondering if you've used corrosive ammo or corrosive primers and ended up with a pitted chamber??

Other than that, take it to a gunsmith or someone that has a bore scope.

You might post in the "Gunsmithing" forum, though I suspect you'd also get the answer here

I had a Savage in .223 that had a super tight chamber. Some commercial ammo would chamber, some wouldn't. What did chamber was very difficult to extract after fired. I soaked the chamber with solvent (left wet patches in the chamber overnight), then put a chamber sized brass bore brush on a drill and scrubbed the chamber. Worked after that. HTH

Pitted chamber is what came to my mind as well. I have a turk with a pitted chamber, you need to hammer the bolt open until you fire enough rounds to scrape enough brass into the pits to soften their edges a bit and get normal extraction, If I scrub the chamber clean, I have the same problem again.