I have a beautiful Mauser M1891. Extremely accurate. One problem,
however. I can only get three loading out of the brass. New brass.
Formed brass. Doesn't matter. Only three loadings before the rounds
will not chamber. Seem to hit about halfway up on the neck.

I've tried trimming the cases. I've always full length resized.
I've switched bullets. I've switched powder. I've varied the powder
charge. Nothing helps.

The first time a case is loaded it chambers easily. The second time
it is a bit still. The third time it is darn hard. You'd have to
use a hammer to close the bolt on the fourth time.

I'm starting to wonder if there is something wrong with my full
length resizing die so I'll change that out next.

Any suggestions?

Sounds to me that you are not completely full length resizing it. Are you tightening it down all the way and then giving it another 1/8th turn?

Try that, and that should solve the problem.. I can't imagine a reloading die going bad.

Good luck

Is this a 1888 German Commission rifle (made 1891) with a .318 bore? If so, could it be chambered for the 8mm Turk, a round that is just slightly shorter than the 8x57mm. The 8mm die would therefore not fully size the shoulder of the Turk round.
Many of these rifles were made for Turkey and later converted to 8mm German round including riveting stripper clip guides to the top of the magazine well.

Wallace: you probably have in mind the 7,65 x 53, since a 8mm Turk never existed. The former cartridge (identical to the Belgian and Argentine variant, except for the loads) was used in the Turkish M 1890 rifle, but never in the M 1888.

Regards,
Carcano

Carcano91,
The turk round does exist and is not to be confused with the 7.65x53. It is about 2 fly shits shorter and half a fly shit smaller in the shoulder than the 8x57. I have a sample round in my collection with turkish date in headstamp.
My rifle (1890)has been modified to take the 8x57 Mauser and has a .318 bore. I shoot a lot of .321 cast bullets for the 32/40 Win with good accuracy to 200m

For more information on Commission rifles try this link
http://pub113.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm77

Dear Wallace:
I (and other cartridge collectors) would certainly appreciate a description of the casehead stamps, the bullet, and the exact dimensions.

Many thanks,
Carcano

[ 08-24-2003, 20:21: Message edited by: carcano91 ]

KLW, I have a M1891 and it is an Argintine Long rifle. If so, are you using Lee dies in 7.65X54? I had to adjust my lee dies by grinding the base a bit so that when I used them to form brass from cut off 30/06 it would set the shoulder back far enough when bottomed to the shell holder to chamber. I know that in general you have to FL resize after so many neck resize firings but I never thought it to be as little as 3. JB

The dies are Lyman.

I have two sets, both Lyman. Today I'll try the second full length resizing die.

Tomorrow I'll order an RCBS full length resizing die, a RCBS neck sizing die and see if I can get them to make me a shell holder with the top ground down.

Thanks!

I have been told RCBS sells a set of shell holders that get progressively thinner for just such an application. If you try your second lyman die and this does not correct it then I would surmise you have a generous chamber and no comericial die made to spec may work. You may have to "resort" to a home modification as I did. I will add that my Lee die would resize my Norma ammo without a problem before modification. It was only when I was reforming brass that I could not get the shoulder back far enough so that it was in spec after spring back. Here is someting else for you to try. Paint the shoulder and neck with a Magic Marker and run the shell through and see if you see any telltale marks after sizing on the shoulder. I will tell you that before I groung the bottom of the die, I ground down the shell holder to try and get that few thousandths more set back. Big mistake. It worked in setting the shoulder back but the shell holder broke apart when extraction pressuere was applied and I had to pound out the shell and replace the shellholder. Thats when I removed metal from the base of the die (smile) The thinner RCBS shell holders may be all you need. Best of luck. JB

I have painted the neck as you suggest. Maybe, maybe, there was a slight disturbance of the paint half way up the neck.

I'll ask RCBS about thinner shell holders.

Thanks!

I had a similar problem with this cartridge/rifle one time. I was originally using Herter dies designated 7.65x54 Argentine Mauser. I switched to RCBS designated 7.65x53 Belgian Mauser. The problem went away. Go figure.

In despiration I switched from the Lyman full length resizing die I had been using to an RCBS. Problem seems to have disappeared.

If this is the cause it is the first "bad die" I've ever seen in 35+ years of reloading.

Today I tried some ammunition made with the new RCBS full length resizing die. Gun worked perfectly. In 35+ years of reloading this is the first time I ever had a problem because of a die.

This gun was sold at a local store cheap. Beautiful gun.

At first I tried cast bullets. Regardless of diameter if they hit the target at all they hit it sideways. A local gunsmith thought that the barrel had a small spot of corrosion and suggested switching to jacketed bullets.

Jacketed bullets were accurate but the brass was a problem. I've worked on trying to figure out why for months. Not that problem is solved.

In shooting all these jacketed bullets there was another benefit. The spot of suspected corrosion went away. Don't know what it was but several hundred rounds later it is gone. I've got to go back and try those cast bullets again.

After about six months of messing with this rifle today EVERYTHING worked perfectly. Not only did nothing go wrong but I also shot the best group EVER from a rifle. Nice unexpected reward for all this work!

I'm using 40 grains of Accurate 3100 with 150 grain #2300 0.311 diameter Sierra bullets if anyone is interested.

Thanks for all the suggestions.