1903 Cartridges Jamming

[PCCUSNRET]

I picked up a 1903 Springfield from a pawn shop a few years ago and it has been sitting in my safe until today. It appears whoever owned this previously had parkerized all metal parts on this gun and refinished (or put on a new stock) and it didn't look like the gun had been fired since this work was done. The first round fired was put straight in the chamber (just to make sure it worked okay). The second round I put in the magazine and the bolt picked up the round, but wouldn't feed it into the chamber. For some reason the round is getting hung up on the bottom of the chamber. If you use a lot of force it will feed, but it scrapes (gouges) the brass pretty bad. I've shot a lot of bolt action rifles but I can't tell what is stopping the brass from going into the chamber. Should the firing pin be aligned with the primer when the round is going into the chamber? If yes, this might be part of the problem as the case head doesn't go all the way under the extractor to the top of the bolt face. Hopefully these photos will explain it better than my words. The gun shoots great (4" 5-shot group) at 100 yds (which is great for me considering my eyesight). Thanks!

 

[1911Tuner]

The M1903 is a Mauser-type controlled feed design, and thus the cartridge rim slides under the extractor rather than push-feeding ahead of the bolt with the extractor snapping over the rim.

Check for deformation or a burr on the boltface that would cause the rim to hang up on it. Check the inside surface of the extractor claw itself. Another possible cause would be simply that the spring that powers the follower is weak and can't exert enough force to push the round up at the rear.

Another possibility that exists is excessive cartridge overall length if you're using handloads.

 

[fguffey]

If my case looked like that I would look for a rifle that had the barrel replaced, they could have replaced the barrel and chambered it but they did not put a radius on on the opening of the chamber, then there is the cone face that is said to guide the bullet into the chamber, I would also check the spring to assure there was enough pressure to force the bullet up and into the front of the bolt face, make sure your ammo is seated to the rear when feeding.

F. Guffey

 

[rcmodel]

I think whoever did the Parkerizing sand-blasted everything, including the feed rails, bolt face, and extractor hook.

I would do a little polishing on the bottom of the feed rails, and make sure the bolt face and extractor are smooth enough to let the rounds slide up under the hook as it comes out of the receiver feed rails.

The round should have popped up fully into the bolt face and be aligned with the chamber by the time it gets where it is in your third photo.

rc

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Thanks for all the suggestions on what may be causing this problem. I did make sure the rounds were being loaded towards the back of the magazine and the follower does appear to keep the round ready to load. There is no way the rim is going to slide under the extractor and end up fully on the bolt face so I think this may be what is causing the problem. I don't believe the bolt face was sand blasted but I'll take a closer look at this tonight when I get home. Just in case I can't sort this out by myself any suggestions on who to send it to for repairs? Thanks again!