8mm mauser rifle..bolt wont lock down!

[jon1996]

hello,
i have a 8mm mauser rifle, i bought a box of 8mm ammo, but the bolt will not lock down with the ammo in the chamber, do i need to load the whole magazine, i tried it single shot style but it will not go all the way down and lock, what could be the problem?
thanks,
jon

 

[Delmar]

Jon-are you feeding the rounds from the magazine?

 

[jon1996]

delmar,
no i have never loaded the magazine, i just put one round in it by hand and it would not close,
thanks,
jon

 

[critter]

M98 Mausers are 'controlled round feed' which means they will feed ONLY from the magazine so that the round comes up BEHIND the long extractor. Then it will feed and lock up properly.

Load the magazine, cycle the bolt closed and give her a try.

 

[Clemson]

If you happen to load a cartridge directly into the chamber, you can squeeze the extractor against the bolt body in the middle of the bolt while putting closing pressure on the bolt handle. The extractor will snap over the rim of the cartridge and allow you to either fire or extract the round. This procedure was taught to infantrymen armed with the Mauser. As stated above, load single rounds by inserting them into the magazine in the future.

Clemson

 

[Jim K]

I have never encountered a Mauser yet that will not lock down with a round in the chamber without squeezing the extractor or any other trick. All it takes is a smart whack on the bolt handle with the hand.

Jim

 

[Feanaro]

With a little more "oomph" I can get my Yugo to slip the extractor over the rim of anything in the right caliber. Try feeding from the magazine and if that doesn't work, make sure you have the ammo is really 8mm Mauser or that your rifle is really an 8mm Mauser(Sorry if that seems obvious but even geniuses have brain farts). If you have the right ammo and it still won't work, take it to a gunsmith.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I have never encountered a Mauser yet that will not lock down with a round in the chamber without squeezing the extractor or any other trick.

And I've never encountered a beer that can't be opened by hitting it with a ball-peen hammer. Jim, normally I value your educated advice, but this time ...

I think the thing was designed to load from the magazine. Hitting the bolt to make the extractor bend and ride over the rim might work, or it might not grab the rim right and the brass could be left in the chamber, or it might bend the extractor or break it.

Isn't it just as easy to push the round into the mag, then close the bolt?

Regards.

 

[Murphster]

FWIW: I suspect there may be some differences in the specs on surplus 8mm ammo. Bought some surplus Turkish 8mm ammo on stripper clips recently just to get the stripper clips. Loaded them with Romanian 8mm surplus rounds and discovered they wouldn't work. I would have needed a mallet to knock them from the stripper into the magazine of my FN49. I regret not measuring the rounds but I suspect that the Romanian case rim must have been either wider or thicker than the Turkish. Shot fine, however. Just had to load magazine by hand.

 

[Feanaro]

I think the thing was designed to load from the magazine. Hitting the bolt to make the extractor bend and ride over the rim might work, or it might not grab the rim right and the brass could be left in the chamber, or it might bend the extractor or break it.

Isn't it just as easy to push the round into the mag, then close the bolt?

Did he say that you shouldn't load from the magazine? No. But if it is a working Mauser, it will most likely close on the correct ammo, even if it isn't loaded from the magazine.

 

[Cosmoline]

Not all Mausers are the same!! I've had more modern K-98's that will close on a single round in the chamber. Older Mausers or those from more obscure nations often have no alteration to the ejector, so pushing harder will only risk bending the extractor.