Gewehr 98 feeding problems

[Land and Groove]

Hi All,

I was hoping on some suggestions as to what might be the cause of some feeding issues I'm having with M98 rifle. It is a Danzig Gew 98 dated 1916. All bolt, receiver, stock all matching numbers. It is a great shooter for its age but I'm continually getting a situation where the bolt rides over the cartridge in the magazine and hits it mid-way along the case.

The result is a dinged cartridge and obviously a miss-feed. That's the best way I can describe it. I had thought perhaps the magazine spring is weak so took the spring out of my K98k (that rifle has no feed issues) and swapped them. This made no difference. I swapped out the extractor thinking it was not grabbing correctly on the feed stroke. Again, this made no difference. When I work the bolt, it is definitely 'with purpose' and not slow. The problem is minimized when I work the bolt as if my life depended on it, but it does not entirely go away.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the cause of this?

Regards, and thanks for your time.
Jon

Information

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[Daan Kemp]

Magazine feed lips?

[browningautorifle]

There have been threads here in the past that have developed to show it's usually the mag follower or the spring. Very hard to say without having it in front of you...

[Land and Groove]

Thanks Gents,

Yes, I had a similar though that perhaps I should examine the magazine follower and replace it to see if that helps.

Regards, Jon

[Land and Groove]

Well, I did some more thorough examination and racked my brains whilst staring the issue down! I replaced the mag follower with one from my K98k. Still made no difference to the feeding problems. I even swapped the bolts over - again no difference.

I did some more testing and evaluation with some dummy cartridges, seeing if I could isolate the issue. What I eventually realized is that the misfeed only happens when the top cartridge (in the mag) is on the left staggered position, not the right. I decided to put my three M98's side by side and sure enough there the issue was. The left edge of the receiver is worn out, in the area that obviously assists the cartridge in the return-to-battery feed stroke. The area of wear is quite subtle, but on examination it was quite obvious that I have found the culprit.

Well, I suppose that's the good news. The bad news would be that there's not much I can do about it, as this worn area is part of the receiver forging and not a part that can be easily replaced.

I'll try to insert some photos to show what I'm talking about.

Cheers
Jon

[Land and Groove]

Here goes........

The first photo shows the miss-feed. The bolt has lost control of the cartridge because the feed angle has become too great.

The next photo shows my three M98's lined up, and a pin punch indicating the area I'm talking about on the Gewehr 98 receiver, which is on top.

So those little shelves which sit on either side of the receiver (near the feed ramp) serve a very important purpose it turns out!

So I just learned something new about these old rifles. Next time I'm at the range I'll have to come up with a system to manipulate the bolt in a way that doesn't cause feeding issues. That will be the next challenge.

[Calif-Steve]

Try to find a new magazine spring. A US Springfield spring may well help, too. Original mag spring from 1916? May well be worn out. Good luck.