Mauser 98 Custom Rifle - Stiff bolt

OK,before you do anything else,I suggest you have a cerrosafe chamber cast made,so you can take some measurements.
I have a new possibility.
With a 22-250 it may be the person who had it made was pursuing the last word in accuracy.In that pursuit some folks take up turning the outside of their case necks.Some just scrape off a little to improve neck thickness uniformity,but some will take it farther to reduce neck tension.Of course,to make it all come together,they have a tight neck chamber reamer made.
See where I'm going?If the reamer was custom made for neck turned ammo,and you are not neck turning,the neck portion of the chamber may be tight.If its that tight,it cannot expand to release the bullet,and pressures can jump.
This may not be the problem,but the chamber cast should tell.
And,btw,maybe you had no choice,but forcing the extractor to snap over the rim is not a good plan.A mauser really needs to feed all rounds up from the mag
 
HiBC that is very possible - i do neck turn all my brass however so i suppose i covered this ground (unless theres a way to remove a bit from the whole neck and not just the outside of the case mouth like i do)

I full length sized some brass and screwed my FL sizing die in a little more which i hope has pushed the shoulder of the cases back ever so slightly.

i did this progressively with 4 cases (i.e a little more each time)

The bolt goes down but the extractor must still 'snap' over the rim and i cant seem to avoid this. Opening and closing the bolt after the extractor has snapped on is as normal so now i guess im just having the issue of the extractor not gripping the rounds easily. solutions? Factory rounds chamber much more easily but still nowhere near as smoothly as on my Howa 1500
.223.


I loaded up the 4 rounds with a starting load except they wont feed from the magazine with the current bullet length so ive now seated the bullets in slightly deeper and am yet to try chambering them.
 
I neck sized the aforementioned fireformed brass and as usual - inserted a bullet into an unprimed case to be used as a template to seat bullets with (i seat to the lands and then back off a little) except when i inserted the case and bullet the bolt would not close!

i tried pushing the bullet and case out from the muzzle end with my cleaning rod but it was all firmly jammed in. I had to resort to smacking the bolt down to get it to close and hence have the extractor grip the case to remove it.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you just put the round in the chamber instead of loading from the magazine based on your description above.

You can't easily put a round in the chamber of an M98 and then close the bolt, that big old claw extractor gets in the way. What you experienced with the hard bolt closure is a normal sign when someone forces the claw over the rim of a cartridge. That extra pressure jammed the brass further into the chamber than it was ever designed to go.

So you that doesn't tell you anything about chamber size. As long as your brass feeds properly FROM THE MAGAZINE you are fine, because the extractor claw ill hold the rim against the bolt face all the way until it is in the chamber.

Jimro
 
Hi Jimro, well you learn something new everyday because i did not know this about the m98 bolts!

Yes i did feed it directly but once the bullet was seated i also used the magazine and it didn't feed from there. I've made some cases with deep seated bullets (about factory level seating) and will try it when i get home.

im using vmax projectiles which have a very sharp ogive as well so theres a small possibility that this could be causing the feeding problem as well.

i'll check and let yall know.

I'll post pictures of the rifle in question as well - just for some gunporn
 
I do not neck turn.The sort of neck turning I am talking about ,the outside diameter of the neck is reduced in diameter from the case mouth to the shoulder.You might go to the Brownell's site,and look in the Sinclair section,then look at neck turning tools just for understanding.

I am not promoting neck turning,just making sure we understand each other.
 
You need to start from square ONE.

Have a knowledgeable gunsmith type person check the headspace with correct go/no-go headspace gauges.

If that is correct, then do a chamber casting with Cerrosafe, following the instructions to the letter, time-wise, and (using a micrometer, NOT a caliper) measure the casting multiple times, not just in one spot per "area". In other words, measure the neck several times, rotating the casting.. compare measurements to get an idea of whether it's out of round. Take several measurements at several key locations, and compare your measurements to SAAMI specs.

It is a possibility that the gun builder tried to chamber it to "match" dimensions, and got it too tight, thinking that "tighter is better". Match chambers do not normally like "standard" loads.
I'm already a little leery of this builder, since he apparently stuck the action screws in the bedding. Not a good sign. :rolleyes:
 
"The bolt goes down but the extractor must still 'snap' over the rim and i cant seem to avoid this. Opening and closing the bolt after the extractor has snapped on is as normal so now i guess im just having the issue of the extractor not gripping the rounds easily. solutions? Factory rounds chamber much more easily but still nowhere near as smoothly as on my Howa 1500
.223."


I read this again,and if I understand it correctly,it may be your entire problem.
What may not be apparent to you,a rifle like your Howa is a "push feed"design,and you can drop in a round,and close the bolt on it,no problem.The rifle is designed that way.


Thw Mauser is a different story.It is a "controlled round feed"That big claw extractor,in many mausers,in an emergency,may be brutally forced to snap over the rim.It is a very bad practice.Just don't do it.Even if you are only shooting one round,push it down in the magazine,so the round may feed up,under the extractor.This extractor was not designed to "snap over"

An aside,another example of a controlled round feed firearm is a 1911 pistol.If you are shooting one,do not load single rounds in the chamber and drop the slide.The extractor may be harmed,and it will cause problems.If you want to shoot 1 round in a 1911,put it in the magazine,and let it feed up under the extractor.

Im thinking your rifle may be fine,and a little glitch in your technique is the cause of your problem.
 
HiBC, that's sound like what he's probably doing, trying to feed it "single-shot" without first loading the cartridge into the magazine first,,,.....:rolleyes:;)
 
Hey guys,

for the test i mention i had the bullet seated too far for it to sit in the magazine so that was definitely my issue with the hard bolt close.

Aside from that trial though, all my rounds in all my rifles are first fed into the magazine - i never usually just drop one into the breech

As it stands I can close the bolt on a full length sized and deep seated round, but the bolt is hard to open once fired.

What I've done now is made a couple of rounds with starting loads and with the shoulder pushed back slightly to see if this helps. All i can tell so far is that they chamber slightly more easily than standard factory rounds.
 
Sounds like lug and recesses are tight.

You said after it cools, it opens fine?

Heat causes metal to expand which would magnify any lug to recess ill fittings.

Get some lapping compound and watch the video on midway about lapping locking lugs.
 
Davery25, did you check for lug engagement with the sharpie like I suggested? If you are getting good lug engagement you don't need to lap the lugs.

However, try dry firing the thing, because lifting the bolt on a Mauser isn't like lifting the bolt on a Howa or Remington. If you get a hard bolt lift on an empty chamber then you might be able to swap for a lower power firing pin spring to help, or you might need to lube up the camming surface on the bolt that cocks the sear piece.

Jimro
 
I cannot imagine having this problem for over a month and not having fixed it. If you have tried the solutions suggested here, take it to a competent gunsmith and get it fixed.
Jerry
 
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