Today, I had a cartridge case fail in my favorite Mauser. This event may not support any recognized theory and may never happen like this again, but it's what happened to me today:

The ammo was Korean surplus 30-06. It came in 20-round brown paper boxes marked with Korean characters and "M-2 .30" Headstamp was "PB" followed by a date in the mid-1970's. The primer is non-corrosive and had a ring crimp with a red annulus. This ammo appeared very similar to US-made ammo of similar age. Cases were boxer primed.

The action was a commercial FN 98 Mauser made in the late 40's with neither C-ring nor thumb cut. It has a military-type bolt shroud and a military safety. The barrel was made by WA Sukalle of Phoenix, AZ; Jim Cloward of Seattle chambered and installed it several years ago. I have had no trouble with it.

I checked the barrel for obstructions and fired once. When the gun went off, I felt a hot blast on my face and I saw a brown cloud spray out from the rear of the bolt. Recoil was light and report was not as loud as usual. My shooting glasses have plastic lenses, and are undamaged. Everything above a line from my left eyebrow to the lobe of my right ear feels like it got a sunburn. I smelled no burning hair, but then again, all I've smelled for the last several hours has been rifle powder.

I had no problem opening the action, the rifle appears undamaged, and the case extracted normally. It has a huge split that starts at the flash hole, goes through the web and runs about 1/2 way up the side of the case. The case is not bulged, but it is heavily blackened around the split, especially around the flash hole.

There is a chocoloate-brown residue consistent with a burst case in the bolt raceways and under the bolt. There is a light coat of this gunk on the follower, the magazine spring, and inside the magazine well. It is heaviest on the bolt face, but covers the bolt in a thick, consistent coat all the way back to the gas shield. THE ONLY RESIDUE AFT OF THE GAS SHIELD IS ON THE SEAR.

I'm off of Korean 30-06 today and the rifle is off to the gunsmith tomorrow. Again, I don't know if all Mausers handle gas like this, but mine did today. Please let me know if you have questions. Okie John.

Throw that Korean /06 junk in the river! The Mauser came through as it was designed to do.

Okie John---

BAD AMMO-- Dump it.

The brown gunk is probably grease from inside the bolt or possibly the result of oxided powder in the case.

It sounds like there was very little pressure released but a lot of volume. High pressure failures blows the floorplate open or off.

I think the case failed due to the primer energy rather than failing at the spike of pressure from the propellent.

Lucky guy!!

I just have to ask, what in the world were you doing using Korean ammo that was that old

That would be kinda like deciding to blow some tree stumps on your property and using the dynamite that was sweating.

Do yourself a favor, and learn from this please! There's a lot of folks out there that don't get a second chance on incident like this.

I think I can speak for everybody here by saying were glad you came out okay on it. Safety first, last, and foremost.

Say a little prayer to Paul Mauser too, while you're at it.

Yes, I got lucky, and yes, the Korean ammo is on the scrap heap right now. Actually, I think I'm done with surplus ammo across the board.

Funny thing is, I shot a box of it last week and it was fine--it even grouped pretty well. The problem is that I didn't think of it as old enough to be unsafe. Live and learn, I guess.

Thanks, Okie John.