I know nothing about 8mm Mausers...

S

Scott Conklin

New member
So a friend shows up at the house here a bit ago with an old one, bolt locked up. Handle was sticking straight up and nothing would move, including the safety. I piddled and messed with it as gently as possible to no avail. So I stood it up on the tailgate and smacked the bolt handle several times as hard as possible with the heal of my hand. I hate doing things like that to other people's stuff but I figured it beat the hammer he would probably take to it when he got home.

Well, the bolt popped out. Pretty cool. Except stuck to the end of that sucker was a .308 that the old woman at the gun shop told him would work just fine and was 10 bucks a box cheaper than the 8mm. :eek: Well like I said, I know nothing about the 8mm, but I am pretty sure that ain't right? The 8mm is a 7.97? I told him to not shoot it with anything but the correct ammo, assuming it wouldn't simply jam again anyway, at least until I asked someone that would know. So...?
 
Yes 8mm is 7.92 and the 308 is 7.62 diameter. The fact that it actually fired with the extra headspace was probably due to the fact that the head diameter is nearly identical and the extractor held it against the bolt so the firing pin could strike it. Attached is a photo of a 1938 German military 8MM round and a 1985 NATO 7.62(.308) round for comparison. Dont try that at home, again! Somebody needs to talk to the management of that gunshop. Fire with 8MM Mauser ammo only, assuming it takes the later (WW1 and later) type of 8MM ammo. Need to tell us what kind of Mauser it is. Surplus ammo can be had but is corrosive, but cheaper than commercial. Better have a gunsmith check the headspace, now.
 

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That's a pretty big boo-boo by the gun shop. I'm glad the old war horse held and nobody was hurt. I'd expect the gun shop to check the head space out for free if there is a smith on site.
 
Sorry, my bad. It did NOT fire. It jammed upon chambering the round. That's part of why I was trying to be gentle, since I had no idea exactly what condition we were in with regards to the live rnd at that point.

Not sure what the rifle is but I think it's of Spanish origin. I'll check it out next time I get a chance.

As for the "gun shop"...well, it used to be a gun shop. The owner must be in his mid 80's now and the "old lady"...well, my grandmother swears was middle aged when she was a kid...and my granny is 90. I take that with a grain of salt but, still, the place is mostly a shambles these days because they just can't keep up with either the shop itself or the industry. I understand that, just not why they don't hire someone younger to help. I don't go there myself but I may stop and try to explain this little near-fiasco. Not really sure I want to try and have that conversation but we'll see.
 
He's used 8mm in this one in the past so I assume it's not rechambered.

No, the bolt stopped, handle straight up, without ever closing fully. He never got a chance to fire it which is probably a good thing.
 
Well then since you got the unfired round out, and I assume you then tried the action and everything was working correctly on an empty chamber, I would expect it could be fired with whatever ammo he was using to fire it before the wrong one. But who would know? buwwets is buwwets, wight Elmer Fudd? Not the first time that sort of thing has happened for sure. Just don't ask for advice in that gun shop and you might survive!
 
The .308 cartridge stuck because it tapers to only .454 in. at the start of the shoulder and the 8mm case tapers to .431 at the start of the shoulder. Presumably, if your friend had hammered the bolt closed, the .308 case could be swaged down to fit the chamber. (not a good idea :eek:)

Since the 8mm is essentially a .323 caliber (earlier ones are .318) the .308 bullet won't plug it up or anything. Of course, the swaged case may do interesting stuff pressure wise, and running .308 through an 8mm chamber would require superhuman strength to work the bolt. (as in, if your buddy wants to do this trick he should work on his Hulk Smash :eek:)

Your friend now knows why running the wrong caliber ammo through a gun is a bad idea, and he didn't lose any body parts. :)
Now he should go to the gun shop and read the Riot Act to the owners, because sooner or later that kind of advice will seriously hurt or kill somebody. :mad:
 
wrong ammo

It is a sad state the customer is in nowadays.
Some years ago a fellow club member bought a italian .32 long wadcutter target pistol from a dutch gunshop. He was given free ammo. GECO .32 acp FMJ.
Incredibly they DID fit into the mag, and DID fire. Huge flames, cases flying around like crazy, and no accuracy at all. I hesitantly broke the news to him.
I believe he got a replacement barrel on the house. Gunshop is still open.
Personell were not old ladies. No professionals either.
 
I was out shooting with my son and two of his buddies the other day. Two of them had 8mm Mausers; one German and one Yugoslav. Both chambered and fired their mil-surplus Soviet-bloc ammo fine, the German rifle extracted fine, but the Yugo was very difficult to extract after firing. It took a major tug on the bolt handle to get that casing out of the breech, far more than I would have ever tolerated. He says it's always been like that, he just lives with it. :eek: Is this a common thing? Possibly re-chambered for something else, or what? I told him to get himself, that weapon and a fired & unfired round to a gunsmith. Of course having never needed one I didn't know WHO to send him to, but whatever.
 
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If the ammo had lacquer coated steel cases (case is green/gray color) then the cases may be sticking to cosmoline residue in the chamber. An industrial strength scrubbing of the chamber w/ mineral spirits and wire brush should fix the problem. Other wise he might have a burr in the chamber or headspace problems.
 
DBotkin,

the chambers in surplus rifles are very often gunked up. I scrrub it out mechanically with a larger size copper brush attached to a drill. You can plug up the barrel in order not to go too far down.

The Nato designation of .308 is 7.62x51, 8mm IS is 7.92 x 57.
 
Thanks, guys... I'll have him bring the rifle over for some scrubbing & inspection. Then, of course, we'll have to adjourn to the range to see if it did any good!!
 
interesting note i came across in "hatchers notebook".

a 1903 springfield blew up as a result of someone firing 8mm mauser out of it. if i remember correctly the 8mm shot fine(way overpressre, like 75,000) until he tried to shoot out a barrel obstruction. then it went kaboom.
 
Yeah, running 7.92x57 through a 30-06 (7.62x63?) is just asking for a kaboom. Just goes to show that not only do you need round pegs going into round holes, ya can't get away with pounding a .323 peg through a .308 hole without some sort of problems. :)
 
"whats that mil spec soviet block ammo mean."

Well, there's Romania. I have a fair amount of their 8mm stashed in my garage.

Tim
 
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