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jammed mauser

ambiorix
Hi,
bought a used mauser k98 (a 1944) at a historical arms collectors show here in Canada yesterday. i wanted to check the action and fed a spent 8mm mauser round through it. I loaded the casing through the top as per normal and went to cycle the bolt closed. It seems to have picked up the round but it is now all jammed up - the bolt would not close and now also wont open.
Can anyone help me unjam this rifle?
thanks
Devin / ambiorix
(sorry if it is a dumb question - I am rather new to fire arms)
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • 11b6r
    No idea if this is the problem or not- but check the safety,
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  • ambiorix
    Hi
    thanks for your suggestion
    The safety is off, and, given that the trigger has been pulled and the pin is no longer cocked, the safety won't move...
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  • team roper ozzy
    mauser has 3 stages left/up and right for the safety..flip the lever if it is in the far right position all the way over to the left (-*)I(-),,the star indicates the position for the safety looking at the bolt from the rear..in the far right the bolt is locked into the closed position
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  • ambiorix
    the safety is in the far left (looking from the rear) open position. It was cycling fine before I tried to cycle an empty cartridge through...
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  • leeblackman
    I've had a stuck case in a mauser before. It was jammed up like your describing, I used a rubber mallet to tape the bolt handle and got the action open but it ripped the head right off the bottom of the case. I had to take it to a smith to get the rest of the case out of the chamber.

    The problem with your 8mm spent case was it was shot out of another gun and has expanded to that guns chamber, and you probably didn't use a lubricant when you put it in. Now its stuck. It should come out with a rubber malled unlike mine though, because I had fired the cartridge thru mine when it got stuck.

    If you wanna use a case, put it thru a sizer die first on your reloading press, and a lube and a trim wouldn't hurt. Maybe even make a dummy primerless bullet and case. Thats assuming you reload, which you should if you don' t ;)
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  • ambiorix
    some more into:
    the safety is off/left; the bolt is 'in' and there is an empty (previously spent) cartridge in the chamber but the the bolt will neither rotate fully closed nor rotate open and pull back; the rifle had been cocked, but in the process of fiddling with it to try to unjam it, it has been released and is no longer cocked (trigger pulled).
    Could the claw have not caught the rim of the cartridge properly? At any rate it is definitely jammed and I can't rotate and draw back the bolt or clear the cartridge...
    Sure would like to!
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  • ambiorix
    leeblackman
    You are right about the round being fired through another rifle and not doing anything to the cartridge (lube etc.) - and probably shame on me (but I will fully admit to being a little green! :) )
    If I understand you correctly: you tapped the bolt handle with a rubber mallet?
    (my bolt handle currently is sticking straight out to the side - as opposed to being snug against the side (rotated closed), or sticking more or less up (rotated open). It will rotate perhaps an eighth of an inch but otherwise is stuck)
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  • nmyers
    No need to apologize; none of us is any smarter than you. We just made the same mistake BEFORE you, &, thanks to the Internet, we have the chance to help you recover. (Not to mention, probably 10-20 guys now won't make the same mistake themselves.)

    Yes, Lee meant to tap the handle in the OPEN direction. You want to put your rifle inverted on a padded surface & tap the handle down in order to open the bolt. Lee says "tap", but you may just find that you have to pound the frap out of it; I've been known to use a length of 2x3. But, at this point, you don't have a lot to lose, because a gunsmith is probably going to do the same thing if you have to take it in.

    Neal
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  • 336marlin
    Use a 1/4" steel rod longer than the barrel and carefully insert it down through the muzzle so as not to damage any rifling. It will come to bear at the back inside of the case against the web. Make sure your bolt is rotated up as far as it will go and tap the case loose by tapping on the end of the rod with a small ball peen. Don't try to drive it out as it won't because of the position of the bolt. When the case comes loose simply open the bolt and the case will come with it. No gunsmith will tap on a bolt handle if they can help it.
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  • Mobuck
    Unless you really rammed the bolt hard, a cleaning rod with a jag on it dropped down the bore should knock it loose. Try this before using a hammer on anything.
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