Spandau Mauser problem

Could be a couple of things, a trip to the gunsmith would be my first choice.

Had a similar problem on a surplus Enfield. I was new to guns at the time so I'm probably misremembering, but I believe the headspace was too large and brass was expanding in the chamber making it hard to extract (well, basically it wouldn't extract without me manhandling it).

I think I paid $150 for mine, and $25 to the gunsmith to tell me it was unsafe and not worth fixing. It was disappointing as that was the first gun I ever bought.

The next time I waited until I had enough money for a new Colt 1911...

Haha, well it was about 12 years ago! I probably paid too much for the rifle, given inflation

Define jamming first and foremost. Sticky bolt means you've got a primary extraction issue, could be lugs or could be case related.

Have this checked out. These pre 1920 receivers were made under primitive process controls and the metallurgy is highly varible, low grade, and inferior to the same stuff made today.

Take a look at the 1895 Mausers and the lug set back here:

http://dutchman.rebooty.com/1895Chile.html

Receiver set back is a very serious and dangerous problem.

There are a number of National Ordnance M1903A3 on the market, many were soft, I had one, and mine experienced lug set back, but I stopped shooting it before anything bad happened.

This guy had one blow up on him due to the receiver stretching.

http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/53553-ouch-i-hurt-my-gun-broke.html

The owner reported he had only 76 rounds of factory ammunition before the lug set back caused a cartridge rupture.

Look at the damage and understand you don't want this to happen to you.

This young man was very lucky he did not lose an eyeball. I expect he had more facial damage than what you see in these poor camera phone pictures.

And he did nothing that was his fault. He simply fired enough factory ammunition until the National Ordnance receiver failed.


















This is another account of a National Ordnance which blew up in the gentleman’s face.


http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=8778&highlight=national+ordnance


Later he commented on his injuries

i was the guy who had the National Ordnance 03A3 blow up in my face. I like you am still pushing people away from those ticking time bombs they call rifles. I had one surgery after I last conversed with you. Had to have a tooth removed, piece of brass was blown into my nerve and the sun still burns my eyes from absorbing heat.

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http://www.jouster.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2893

Arp32 said:

I think I paid $150 for mine, and $25 to the gunsmith to tell me it was unsafe and not worth fixing. It was disappointing as that was the first gun I ever bought.

The next time I waited until I had enough money for a new Colt 1911...

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That's why I can't figure the draw these guns have on people. They're cheap but not all that cheap if you get one that isn't salvageable.

For 40 years I've watched a good friend buy up old military rifles. And somehow he gets burned about 30% of the time.

That's why I can't figure the draw these guns have on people. They're cheap but not all that cheap if you get one that isn't salvageable.

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the only ones i've seen that couldn't be salvaged were due to extreme pitting on the front ring.

for it to be locking up the bolt upon firing you would have to have severe lug setback and i've yet to see it. most of the lug setback i've seen was only a few thousandths, this included a shanish mauser with only one lug making contact with the receiver.

i would check you bolts camming surfaces very closly first.

you can check for setback without removing the barrel but you'll need to strip the bolt and you'll need a dial indicator and a good way to clamp the action down so it cannot move while your checking it.

place the stripped bolt it the action fully closed then set up the indicator on the back of the bolt. slowly lift the bolt handle while putting rearward pressure on the bolt. the indicator will tell you how much if any setback there is. if its locking the bolt you would have a noticable step.

you can fix the setback two ways, lap the lugs to remove the setback or have the action annealed then recarburized then lap the lugs.
its always best to lap the lugs after heat treating because you will get some springback from the annealing.

you can fix the setback two ways, lap the lugs to remove the setback or have the action annealed then recarburized then lap the lugs.
its always best to lap the lugs after heat treating because you will get some springback from the annealing.

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Are you sure you mean "annealing". ? Annealing removes hardness from the action, if heated up and left to cool the metal would come out dead soft.

Lapping removes case, which is a wear hardened surface, too much lapping, remove the case, and you are down to dead soft metal.

Reheating, to include recaburization might fix things, but if the underlining metal is poor quality, which is what I assume is the case, then nothing would be fixed as set back will still occur after all this effort.

I don't know what a reheat treatment costs, any ideas?

Are you sure you mean "annealing"

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yes, the action is first annealed then recarburized aka heat treated. the original surface was only treated to around .010" deep when they are recarbed they are done to around .050-.060" deep.
the metal is not poor quality except in turk made mausers and setback will only occour in very few rifles with many thousands of rounds through them. i own over 60 mausers and i can count on one hand how many of them have setback and the ones that do have less than .003"

heat treating runs around $140 for a bolt & action then another $25 or so for each additional piece. i usually wait till i have three or four actions & bolts to do before sending them off. in the op's case it wouldn't make sense to spend the money to have it done but when i'm spending several thousand on a build another $150 isn't going to break the bank.
blanchards and pacific are very familiar with heat treating mauser receivers, i use pacific now and i've used blanchards in the past.

That would be idiotic. It can be parted out.

I have the 1916 Spanish Mauser and though it doesn't have a headspace issue, I wasn't too keen on the lack of safety lug. I'm sure it's relatively safe to shoot, but I purchased a couple thousand rounds of 10gr plastic training ammo just for this rifle.

I've read these will clock 4000+ FPS and though have yet to chronograph these rounds, let me tell you, they will atomize apples and 12oz soda cans at 20 yards. Almost no recoil and though it's quite loud and blasty, still makes for a fun plinker.
Very accurate and cuts and cookie cutter hole in paper like a laser.
One caveat, ejection is spotty. It will extract but much of the time will drop the case on top of the next round, requiring the rifle to be tilted for the spent cartridge to roll out.
No big deal for something that sells for $7/50 (from several distributors, including SOG International).

I've fired a few German DAG FMJs through mine and found it very accurate with positive feed, extraction and ejection. I just don't plan much more full-power 7.62x51 NATO through mine when I have a perfectly good alternative.