I have an old Turkish Mauser that I shoot 50's Yugoslavian 8mm ammo in, with quite a few misfires. The headspace is good; I'm pretty sure it's the ammo. I was told to get a Wolff extra power spring, but I don't know what weight is necessary. The heaviest they make is 30lbs. I'm tempted to get it just to make sure, but didn't know if there is any drawback to the spring being too heavy.
What weight of spring to prevent misfires in Turk Mauser
- Thread starter fatelk
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
The drawback is that you will need help to get the bolt open!
The factory spec. 98 Mauser should be a 19 pound striker spring.
The cock-on-opening action gets really hard to operate with a 30 pound spring in it!
It can also lead to broken firing pins if the rifle is ever dry-fired.
If your Mauser FP spring is even halfway as strong as it should be, and the *firing pin protrusion is correct, it should reliably fire any ammo that will go off.
*About .060" protrusion should be about right.
The weight of a Mauser firing pin assembly, once in motion, is all it takes to pop a primer that is at all inclined to pop.
Are you getting good dents in the ones that don't fire?
If you are, I don't think a mega-spring is going to help at all.
rcmodel
The factory spec. 98 Mauser should be a 19 pound striker spring.
The cock-on-opening action gets really hard to operate with a 30 pound spring in it!
It can also lead to broken firing pins if the rifle is ever dry-fired.
If your Mauser FP spring is even halfway as strong as it should be, and the *firing pin protrusion is correct, it should reliably fire any ammo that will go off.
*About .060" protrusion should be about right.
The weight of a Mauser firing pin assembly, once in motion, is all it takes to pop a primer that is at all inclined to pop.
Are you getting good dents in the ones that don't fire?
If you are, I don't think a mega-spring is going to help at all.
rcmodel
nicholst55
Member
That ammo is known to be difficult to ignite. Some say that the primers are actually slightly recessed, though I haven't looked at any in my stash to verify that (sounds kinda fishy to me anyway). Adding a stronger striker spring to a Mauser does strange things, including making the bolt harder to open.
I installed a stronger spring on one of my Mauser sporters and it increased the trigger pull tremendously! I immediately reverted to the original weight spring and the trigger pull returned to normal.
Since ammo isn't surplused without a (usually very good) reason, I would suspect that the difficulty to ignite may have been a contributing factor to this ammo being declared surplus.
I plan to shoot the ones that will, and salvage the bullets from the ones that won't. I can't buy bullets for what I paid for the ammo, I do know that.
I installed a stronger spring on one of my Mauser sporters and it increased the trigger pull tremendously! I immediately reverted to the original weight spring and the trigger pull returned to normal.
Since ammo isn't surplused without a (usually very good) reason, I would suspect that the difficulty to ignite may have been a contributing factor to this ammo being declared surplus.
I plan to shoot the ones that will, and salvage the bullets from the ones that won't. I can't buy bullets for what I paid for the ammo, I do know that.
Cosmoline
Member
Check your protrusion and remember military primers tend to be harder and deeper in the pocket. Adjust out a bit and see if that helps. It's possible your spring has been worked so many times it's lost some lbs. of performance. I've had some battle beaten Mosins that had very weak springs. If so I'd suggest getting a replacement of about 20 lbs. No need for extra power beyond that much force! As noted if you crank up the mainspring it has secondary effects on performance.
Also, the rounds in question may just be duds. I've shot many batches of old Turk surplus that had about one in ten dud rounds. they're just old and some have been corrupted. Toss aside and continue. Duds are a lot less trouble than those hangfire ones!
Also, the rounds in question may just be duds. I've shot many batches of old Turk surplus that had about one in ten dud rounds. they're just old and some have been corrupted. Toss aside and continue. Duds are a lot less trouble than those hangfire ones!
The primers are much more recessed than normal, and I've read before about them being harder as well. As to the rounds simply being duds, I have more than one Mauser, and in my other rifle the same ammo has a significantly smaller misfire rate. I attributed that to perhaps tighter headspace.
I did check the firing pin protusion. It's fine, plenty in fact, and the bolt is clean. I remember reading a couple different places about others who have had misfire problems with this ammo and used an extra power spring to mostly cure the problem. Maybe I'll try a 24 or 26 pound, and if that doesn't help I'll just shoot it all in my M48 instead.
I did check the firing pin protusion. It's fine, plenty in fact, and the bolt is clean. I remember reading a couple different places about others who have had misfire problems with this ammo and used an extra power spring to mostly cure the problem. Maybe I'll try a 24 or 26 pound, and if that doesn't help I'll just shoot it all in my M48 instead.
Cosmoline
Member
It's possible your pin's head has just gotten eroded from corrosive primers over time. The bolt's head and pin often suffer a lot of rust from the primers and rarely get cleaned.
Misfires!!!
Same problem with my 30-06 Ackley M-98K:
Your misfires is caused by you. I had the same problem with a M-98K, I would fire maybe 20 rounds, with each primer deeply indented. Then I would reach one that barely dimpled, maybe .010" deep. I found when I was sizing I sized to far and pushed the shoulder back, increaseing headspace to the point the firing pin was barely reaching the primer. Set the sizing die back and size just the neck. The case will also last longer.
Sogman
Same problem with my 30-06 Ackley M-98K:
Your misfires is caused by you. I had the same problem with a M-98K, I would fire maybe 20 rounds, with each primer deeply indented. Then I would reach one that barely dimpled, maybe .010" deep. I found when I was sizing I sized to far and pushed the shoulder back, increaseing headspace to the point the firing pin was barely reaching the primer. Set the sizing die back and size just the neck. The case will also last longer.
Sogman
Misfires!!!
Same problem with my 30-06 Ackley M-98K: You are causing increase in headspace!
Your misfires is caused by you. I had the same problem with a M-98K, I would fire maybe 20 rounds, with each primer deeply indented. Then I would reach one that barely dimpled, maybe .010" deep. I found when I was sizing I sized to far and pushed the shoulder back, increaseing headspace to the point the firing pin was barely reaching the primer. Set the sizing die back and size just the neck. The case will also last longer.
Sogman
Same problem with my 30-06 Ackley M-98K: You are causing increase in headspace!
Your misfires is caused by you. I had the same problem with a M-98K, I would fire maybe 20 rounds, with each primer deeply indented. Then I would reach one that barely dimpled, maybe .010" deep. I found when I was sizing I sized to far and pushed the shoulder back, increaseing headspace to the point the firing pin was barely reaching the primer. Set the sizing die back and size just the neck. The case will also last longer.
Sogman
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
He said he is shooting 50's Yugoslavian 8mm surplus ammo.
Not reloads.
rcmodel
Not reloads.
rcmodel
Sunray
Member
Change ammo before you do anything else.
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AntiqueCollector
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50's yugo 8mm is garbage. All sorts of problems with it, and it's not the age either. I've shot 30's and 40's era German and Turkish ammo with little trouble. The Yugo from the 50's is terrible. Don't bother with it. I wouldn't use it if it were given to me for free...
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