My 308 Mauser fails to pick up a cartridge at times. The bolt rides over the round and doesn’t pick the cartridge up. I’m thinking it may need a spacer to keep the rounds in the front of the box. I found this online and was wondering how it fits. Looks like it goes in with the right side up and the open end to the rear of the magazine. A cross pin would then hold it in place. I would suppose the follower would have to be shortened to then fit.

You want them to stay at the rear of the box. 7.62 is not as tapered as the 8mm. When the Israelis converted their 8mm 98s, to 7.62 they pinned blocks in the front.
I don't usually bother; just load them to the rear.

If installed, doesn’t the follower need to be shortened?

quote:

Originally posted by Uncle Grinch:
If installed, doesn’t the follower need to be shortened?

The Interarms and FN .308 based rifles used shorter followers.




In the side view pics you can see the pin that holds the block in.

Thanks guys. I just ordered both the spacer and a Yugo follower.

OK, but; a standard 98 receiver does not like a 308 round being forced to the front; it is tapered too much for the rounds to stack flat. When the Israelis did their conversions, and I have had 9 of them, they put the spacer in the front and did not alter the standard 98 follower. No need to.
On the MK10s, they changed the feed rail's taper so they could put the spacer in the rear.
Personally, I would go with a proven idea.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
OK, but; a standard 98 receiver does not like a 308 round being forced to the front; it is tapered too much for the rounds to stack flat. When the Israelis did their conversions, and I have had 9 of them, they put the spacer in the front and did not alter the standard 98 follower. No need to.
On the MK10s, they changed the feed rail's taper so they could put the spacer in the rear.
Personally, I would go with a proven idea.

I soldered a L shaped piece of 1/16 brass stock in the front of mag box & used a turk 7mm follower with a little ramp matching/polishing feeds perfect!!

Old School Gunsmith conversion.

Use some 1/16" welding rod and place it upright in the inside of each side wall, about .100" in front of the shoulder of the case, then weld the rod in place top and bottom.
This creates a nice shoulder inside the magazine box to bump the case to keep it from moving forward. But will not affect the feeding up from the rails.

You will have to grind a relief on each side of the follower to clear the welding rod as the follower moves up and down inside the guard.

It works, may not look pretty.


The last full size M98 I converted to a short round, it was a 22-250, I put the spacer in the rear of the guard, and then used a Pre 64 M70 follower and spring from a 243.
Worked very well.

For those converting a M98 to say a 223 Rem or 300 Black Out, well that is a story for another day.

J Wisner