Will a Mauser fire if the bolt is pushed in but not locked down?

[twoblink]

Question, will a mauser 98 fire if the bolt is pushed forward, but the handle is now pushed down and locked..

PLEASE if you don't know the answer, don't go home and try it!!

 

[Jim K]

No. The firing pin will fall onto the cocking cam. The firing pin spring then tries to close the bolt. If it does, there is not enough energy left to fire the rifle. If it does not, the firing pin cannot reach the primer due to the cocking cam angle.

In addition, the Mauser 98 (not earlier Mausers) has a cut at the front end of the firing pin channel in the bolt into which two projections on the firing pin must fit to let the firing pin protrude from the bolt. The projections can line up only if the bolt is locked. This prevents the rifle from firing unlocked if the firing pin should somehow break at the back and go forward while the rifle is being loaded.

Jim

 

[twoblink]

I figured as much. I figured that a simple slit in the bolt would allow it to fire iff the bolt is locked in place. But I didn't know about the second safety. Thanks!

 

[SMLE]

I have 1894 Swede carbine that has a small notch on the bottom of the bolt body. Unless the bolt is closed and that notch lined up properly, the sear cannot release the striker/firing pin. That feature is on several Mauser models, including the '98 IIRC>

 

[twoblink]

Do you know when the firing pin alignment block was introduced to the Mauser? (What year)?