Loading Problem with Mauser C96

[Patrick Chadwick]

I don't like the look of that case. In fact, I don't think I should be able to see it at all!
The first photos shows that the "bolt face" is recessed, and there is a further rectangular recess at the top.
The extractor should ride over the case rim and end up in that rectangular recess.
This means that the block will move so far forwards that it meets the round recess and no part of the case is visible.
Since the case does not move forwards that far, and you have not found any obstruction, the next thing to check (after the extractor itself) would be the case dimensions.

Sorry for the blindingly obvious questions, but is it really 7.63 Mauser ammo, and not something else in a box labelled 7.63?
Don't believe the box, take a look at the headstamp.
Is the ammo clean, with no bubbling on the bullets or corrosion on the brass?
Check the base diameter (max. 9.98mm) the neck, right at the mouth (max. 9.86mm), the case length (max. 25.15mm) and the bullet diameter (max. 8.46mm).
Exceeding any of these dimensions by only a few hundredths of a mm may cause a jam.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I don't like the look of that case. In fact, I don't think I should be able to see it at all!

The cartridge sits in the bolt face. If the extractor snaps over the cartridge, the rear of the casing will no longer be visible. I think it's the correct cartridge and the extractor is just a bit of a problem.

The first photo shows the breech face.

[Ludwig99b0]

You got me worried there, Patrick .... Damn it, if you can't trust ammo you buy on the Internet, what can you trust? But the rounds are correctly headstamped, and are brand-new in-the-box Fiocchis all right. It did turn out to be the extractor, after all ....

[Patrick Chadwick]

You got me worried there, Patrick .... Damn it, if you can't trust ammo you buy on the Internet, what can you trust?

Sorry if it worried you, but ever since experiencing someone on the next firing point shooting 308 WIN out of a 30-06, and handling a 1903 that bubba had rebarreled with the barrel one turn too far out (thus creating a record headspace), I have decided that trust is fine, but checking is always advisable with guns and ammo.

[browningautorifle]

rebarreled with the barrel one turn too far out

Holy FUGG!

[Patrick Chadwick]

Holy FUGG!

How true those words are, especially today!

It was handed to me to try out by a serious shooter (pistol, not rifle) and collector who had acquired it in a legacy. Naïve me thought "If it comes from him, it'll be OK!"
After a few shots, I wondered that an '03 was failing to ignite most of the cartridges, and the striker marks were so feeble. Of course, one first thinks of a weak striker spring in such cases. It was only when I observed the noticeably shifted shoulder and the ominous bright rings that the penny dropped. The poor rifle had only managed to ignite anything at all because the extractor had held back the case rim juuuuust enough to make the occasional bang!

Moral: trust is good, but not always enough with firearms.

BTW: this experience rather weakens the "If your rifle has a micron too much headspace it will blow everything to hell" school of thought. Although the cases showed the bright line, none of them actually separated. Those 30-06 cases must have been tough.

Still, it's not an experiment that I would have undertaken deliberately.

[browningautorifle]

too much headspace it will blow everything to hell

And the more we see, the less it surprises us sometimes, until you pull a 30 cal empty out that looks like a 410 shotgun shell...I think we've all got stories like that one. I have one about a Bren believe it or not. Maybe another time.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I have one about a Bren believe it or not. Maybe another time.

Why not now? Don't be coy, let's hear it!