Loading Problem with Mauser C96

[browningautorifle]

rebarreled with the barrel one turn too far out

Holy FUGG!

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[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!