K98 Mauser Misfires

L

LAlineman

New member
I have a K98 Mauser I,m working on, but Misfires all rounds. I used different types of ammo( Surplus and modern). I checked the Headspacing with gauges and passed with flying colors. The firing pin protrusion is 0.060. which I beleive Min. is 0.055. The 3- pos. safety was indead on the fire Pos. To the Left. I,m stumped ! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ! P.S. Most of the Primers did have very min. strikes on them. Maybe the firing pin is still too short ?
 
I am with madcratebuilder - get a wolff firing pin spring. That solved all my mauser misfire problems. Also, a good bolt cleaning is prudent.
 
I had the same problem on a small ring mauser at one time. I thought was the spring or firing pin too short but soon realized the bolt was never cleaned and awfully dry, After cleaning the bolt and lub the bolt and firing pin a bit, problem solved!
 
Disassemble and clean the bolt. If that does not cure the problem, check your firing pin protrusion, it should be around .050"-.058". If that is OK, get a new mainspring.
 
As others have stated, if the protrusion is correct, and the primer strikes look light, it could only be the spring...
 
Aside from the firing pin spring, I've also heard of bolts packed with preservative grease inside. Even if the grease doesn't harden with age, the grease will impede the firing pin enough to give light strikes.
 
I have taken in all the Great Advise, I installed a new Wolff Striker Spring, Which by the way, was much "longer" than the original. Disassembled the bolt again, and found some crust-crud around the body! Re-assembled,lubed and installed. Going out tomorrow(Sat) to test fire.
I,ll keep all of you informed ! Thanks again, for making this a great forum !
 
UPDATE : After changing out the firing pin and setting protrusion to 0.060, also installed a 24# Wolff striker spring, The K98 Mauser fuctioned flawlessly !

40 rds.- No Misfires.

Thanks to all for the Help !
 
UPDATE : After changing out the firing pin and setting protrusion to 0.060, also installed a 24# Wolff striker spring, The K98 Mauser fuctioned flawlessly !

40 rds.- No Misfires.

Thanks to all for the Help !
Click to expand...

;)

Good deal. Pretty common problem on these. Crusty crap in the bolt body and tired springs. If you shoot some of the east European surplus you find very hard primmers to boot.
 
The 98 Mauser has a safety feature to keep the rifle from firing if the firing pin breaks when the bolt is not fully closed. That involves two small lugs at the front of the firing pin that fit into cuts in the inside of the bolt. Unfortunately, those cuts tend to be places that fill up with grease and dirt and either keep the firing pin from moving forward or slow it down. So careful cleaning of the inside of the bolt is often necessary, not just the usual "dip it in gasoline" cleaning.

Another thing that can cause misfires is the presence in the bolt of small discs of brass from "pierced" primers. The real cause of "pierced" primers is a light mainspring that allows primer metal to force the firing pin back and extrude through the firing pin hole into the bolt. A few rounds fired under those conditions can leave that primer brass in the bolt and slow or stop the firing pin.

Jim
 
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