yugo m24/47... hard opening bolt with surplus 8mm ammo

P

Popsicle

New member
hi everyone! I recently purchased an unissued yugo 24-47. This rifle shoots fine with the remington 8mm factory loads, but I just bought some surplus 8mm, and I can hardly open the bolt after firing, much less extract and eject! I'm wondering, could I have picked up some hotter than standard ammo, say, machine gun ammo? Needless to say, I'm not using the rifle till I try some different ammo in it. Also, I noticed the report was definitely sharper with the milsurp stuff than the remingtons.... the milsurp stuff also shoots about a good foot high at 100 yards. any advise given would be appreciated

Pat Brophy\

P.S. could my rifle have a headspace problem?
 
Let’s see if I can help any…

> …could I have picked up some hotter than standard ammo, say, machine gun ammo?

All of the 8 x 57 Mauser milsurp is hot compared to the (US) commercial loads. The Turk milsurp, for example, has a 154gr bullet at something like 3000 fps. Most of the rest is 196-198 gr bullets at about 2600 fps (IIRC). Anyhoo, much stouter than the commercial loads, other than S&B which duplicates the milsurp 196 gr loads.

The Turkish milsurp 8mm is pretty hot and several shooters have reported stiff extraction after shooting the Turk stuff. If you’re not sure what kind of 8mm milsurp you have, go to Tuco’s Mauser Forum for info on ID’ing Mauser headstamps.

>… the milsurp stuff also shoots about a good foot high at 100 yards

That’s about right for a military Mauser. Remember, they’re battlesight zeroed for 300 meters, so 10-12” high at 100 is about right.

>... could my rifle have a headspace problem?

Yes, it could, but stiff extraction could be due to any number of things. My M24/47’s bolt is very stiff on opening, even when it’s unloaded. Remember, it cocks on opening, so you’re cocking the firing pin spring as well as extracting the case. Though in your case, it sounds like you don’t experience stiff extraction from commercial loads, in which case it sounds like it’s due to the higher pressure of the milsurp cartridges.

Semper fi,
Bruegger out.
 
Thanks Bruegger for the help! Asyou said, the rifle extracts and ejects beautifully with american ammo, its the milsurp stuff that gives me fits! Once I get the bolt handle lifted, I have to pull smartly to the rear to fully extract the brass. However even though the brass is extracted, it won't eject the brass... I have to remove it by hand! The american ammo ejects very forcefully. I'm gonna try some different ammo packaged on stripper clips and see if they work better. Thanks!

Pat Brophy
 
I also have this problem with my M48 as well and Turk ammo. Extraction is really tough. Bolt feels like it is jammed in there. The rifle action is really nice and smooth with no ammo in there.

Does anyone know anything about the Yugo 8mm surplus out there? Does it also cause the sticky extraction?

Thanks.
 
Guys,
I think maybe the reason you are having problems is the ammo is loaded for mg's. A lot of this surplus 8mm was never designed to be fired in a rifle. Be careful!
 
Yanus - I'm pretty sure that if it's packaged in strippers, it was meant for rifles. But there is MG ammo out there...

Holmes - haven't tried the Yugo ammo yet, but I have a crate of the stuff. I've tried the Ecuadorian stuff, and other than a few that required a second strike of the firing pin, no problems. I get a little bit of stickiness from the Turk stuff, though.

Popsicle - definitely sounds like the milsurp ammo you're using is too hot. I've heard lots of reports of too-hot Turk ammo.

You might try looking at other milsurp like the Ecuadorian ammo from Midway. If you don't mind spending about $8-9 a box, you can try the full-strength commercial ammo from S&B. Or just use the weaker and more expensive US commercial ammo. Or reload.
 
Bruegger,

I have two inquiries here:

You happen to know if the Turkish stuff is berdan or boxer primed? I picked up three bandoliers (210 rounds still in the stripper clips) at a gun show for $15. But I haven't shot any of it yet. I'm still sweating all the cosmoline out of the stocks of my new M48A. Then of course I have to finish the stocks and reassemble before I do any shooting. It'll be a while, but I'm just curious about the Turkish ammo.

Also, while I'm on the subject of Mausers, my stock cracked a little when I was sweating it. The crack is in the smaller, upper piece. The grain opened up to let the cosmoline out I suppose. At any rate, I plan to get all the cosmo out that I can and then apply glue into the crack, and clamp the piece to dry. It's not a huge crack, and it's in a place where I can clamp it tight pretty easily.

Any tips on glue here? All I've used is just normal carpenter's wood glue, but I suspect there may be even better glues on the market. What about these moisture activated glues like Norm uses on PBS? Any ideas?
 
Hey guyon, my handguard cracked also... I used a product called quik wood. It's an epoxy putty. I dremelled out a channel where the crack was and applied the product. The first time, I didn't let it fully cure, the next application I let sit for 36 hours. It worked great, and all I had to do to hide the repair was color the epoxy with my son's dark brown crayon and I sealed it in with clear fingernail laquer. I know it sounds oddball, but it worked great for me!

Pat Brophy

P.S. Bruegger, I am going to buy ammo already packaged on stripper clips to try... the ammo I have now was purchased loose, which leads me to believe that it may indeed be MG ammo.
 
Guyon—I think I can help a bit…

>You happen to know if the Turkish stuff is berdan or boxer primed? I picked up three bandoliers (210 rounds still in the stripper clips) at a gun show for $15.

The milsurp is ALL Berdan primed, and it is ALL corrosive. Some of it is steel cased, too. Check with a magnet. All of the commercial stuff that I’m aware of is Boxer primed, including the S&B. Good price, BTW, on the Turk stuff.

Don’t worry about the corrosive part if you have some hot water to pour down the barrel reasonably soon after you shoot (washes out the corrosive salts). What I do is: remove the bolt and insert the bore guide, then stuff a length of surgical tubing into the bore guide with a funnel on the other end, then pour boiling hot water from a kettle into the funnel. It runs down the barrel in down the drain of the tub. The heat from the boiling water makes it dry really quickly. Then I clean as usual, and oil up the bore before storing it. Then a quick pass of the bore snake before I shoot and I’m good to go.

>I'm still sweating all the cosmoline out of the stocks of my new M48A. Then of course I have to finish the stocks and reassemble before I do any shooting.

I like Dow Bathroom Cleaner (“Scrubbing Bubbles”) and/or dish soap plus hot water to clean my stocks. Don’t soak them though! A bit of brake cleaner on a clean cloth will pull out some of the stubborn local stains.

Sorry, but I can’t help you with the glue. First thing I thought of was Popsicle’s suggestion – epoxy.



Popsicle – yeah, if you buy the ammo loose, you can’t really tell what it is unless the headstamp lets you know. Here’s a page with some good gouge on military 8mm loadings -- http://home.thezone.net/~k98k/k98kframe.html The Ecuadorian 8mm I got from Midway (they sell it as “South American” ammo as if South America was a country instead of a continent!) is pretty good, but some of the cartridges require a second strike of the firing pin. It didn’t come on strippers, but did come in 15 round boxes, so you could tell the type of cartridge and place of origin.


I haven’t had a stock or handguard crack yet. Were you guys soaking your stocks in water?

Semper fi,
Bruegger out.
 
Bruegger,

No soaking. I was afraid soaking would cause swelling and raise the grain too much. I had simply rinsed down the stocks with purple power. Then I put them in a towel and stuck them up on my dashboard on a warm sunny day to sweat out some of the cosmoline. When I unwrapped, the crack had appeared. Actually, I took a pic of it and posted a question or two over at the C&R Yugo Mauser forum. You can see it here: http://pub42.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm9.showMessage?topicID=975.topic

Thanks for the info on the ammo.
 
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