I had an interesting weapon failure yesterday while shooting at the range. I was shooting up some older steel cased Wolf ammo in my HK 93.

After about 60 shots, I experienced an failure to fire...which has NEVER happened in this weapon before. Upon inspection, I found a spent case had jammed in the action..completely backward and the fresh round was jammed underneath between the bolt and the magazine. I was able to clear the jam by cycling the charging handle and removing the magaize. I attempted to close the action again and the bolt would not close. Upon further inspection..I found the exctractor had become unseated and would not allow the bolt to close. I disassembled the weapon and found that the malfunction had badly bent the extractor spring and the extractor would not stay seated.

Anyone else ever experience the same problem in the HK? I found a new spring on-line and hoepfully should be back in battery shortly.

The extractor appears to be fine. Wonder if the steel cased ammo might be part of the problem?

Any thoughts?

Cheers

I have used H&K 91's 93's and 33k's quite a bit.

Most likely when the malfunction occured it somehow moved the extractor beyond the design limits causing the spring to be bent.

I do know I would not want to shoot steel cased ammo in anyrifle except AK types.

I avoid all the ammo with "an animal" on the box [ie Wolf, Bear, etc.] in a gun I like.

The exception might me 7.62x39 in an AK type rifle.

I have heard of more then a few ARs that have trouble with steel case ammo.

I always heard steel cased ammo was hell on extractors but never shot enough of it to find out first hand. Do the steel cases show the fluted chamber marks from an HK like they do on brass ammo.

filmit,

Yep...the steel cases show the fluted marks quite well.

My spring should be in this week. No more steel cases for me.

Cheers.

I pass on this info, for possible emergency use.

Once upon a time I was at a Sub Machine Gun School. H&K furnished the guns, I had an H&K MP 5 SD [Supressed version].

The ammo rovided was Speer aluminium cased Blazer ammo.

We began to get malfunctions...

Durring a break...

I got a small plastic bucket that the range used to pick up brass, then scavanged the target shed and found some silicon spray.

I dumped a couple of hundred rounds in the little bucket, gave it a spray, stired them up, and loaded them in my magazines.

I was the only one that was not having malfunctions. By day 2 everybody was using "siliconed" ammo.

Now lubing cases in most firearms is not a good thing to do

But with a roller locked action, that has flutes in the chamber like the H&K,s, the flutes are designed to allow the gas pressure to flow back around the case and keep it from expanding in the chamber [to the length of the flutes], and sticking to tight to the chamber and increasing extraction effort.

If I had to shoot steel cased ammo in an H&K or had extraction problems I might try a little lube on the case.

BUT I would do this only in a serious "Emergency".

If you make note of how far, and where your H&K is throwing its spent brass,with proper ammo, if that changes a bunch, it is a good sign that something is not normal.

N E 450,

Thanks for the insight.

Normally, the HK throws the brass a long ways away and always into the thickest clump of grass!

Good shooting and cheers.