A friend brought a rifle that he had recently purchased for me to check. The issue is with the first cartridge in the magazine. Loaded one at a time, clicking each down into the box there is no apparent problem, then as the action is cycled and each cartridge in turn rises to the rails everything works normally, until the last cartridge. As the bolt is pulled to the rear and the second to last cartridge is extracted from the chamber and ejected, the normal process would be for the final cartridge to rise up to the rail and be pushed into the chamber as the bolt is pushed forward.

However, what happens is the cartridge doesn't stop at the rail, it continues to fly out, close behind the cartridge that was just ejected. Would this be a problem with the follower, the rails or what?? any suggestions?

I would think the magazine spring is weak.

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Magazine follower or someone has messed with the rails

What caliber is it? It is practically impossible for an original 03 to mal function. Or, as Jim said, someone dicked with it.

It's a 30-06. It has been sporterized and reblued but the rails show no sign of alteration. the follower is either a replacement or has been chromed, as I don't recall them being chromed. The rifle is a 1919 issue Mark I. as noted, all cartridges cycle flawlessly until it's the last cartridges turn, at which time instead of waiting to be pushed into the chamber, as soon as the bolt clears, it pops out of the action. Since it is just the last cartridge, I'm wondering if the problem might be the follower moving laterally in the box, allowing the cartridge to move to the center. Or, how would a weak spring cause this situation?

Parts are cheap , replace follower and spring !

I'll suggest replacing the follower and spring- I see Numrichs has follower and spring, but they are listed as being for an '03-A3. Would they be the same parts as in the '03 Mark I?

03-A3 followers are stamped. Send me your address in a PM and I'll send you an '03 follower. I have several in my parts box.

Was the back end of the follower modified & cut/slanted to allow the bolt to close on an empty magazine?
That sometimes makes for the last round to pop out of the magazine.

Also you mentioned the follower had been chrome plated,,it may have been heavily buffed to shine it up for for the plating, That'd can destroy the nice sharp straight edges to the follower guide rib and allow the last round to pop free also. The follower has lost it's real shape and ability to press the round against the side rail of the action firmly.
The working of the bolt to the rear creates enough jarring force to release the last round.
The previous rounds are not touched by the mis-shapened follower but by the stacked rounds underneath instead and they stay put just fine.

I was over at the '03s house and re-viewed the follower. My initial observations were incorrect in that it wasn't chromed, it was blued. It didn't appear to have been altered, but I took a few photographs and am now reading the directions on how to post them to the site, so may accomplish that later today. At this point I'm guessing the culprit is a spring that has weakened over the last 98 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray B:
I was over at the '03s house and re-viewed the follower. My initial observations were incorrect in that it wasn't chromed, it was blued. It didn't appear to have been altered, but I took a few photographs and am now reading the directions on how to post them to the site, so may accomplish that later today. At this point I'm guessing the culprit is a spring that has weakened over the last 98 years.

I switched over to Flickr for my photo hosting when Photobucket first started getting stupid. It actually is a lot easier to use than Photobucket too.

https://www.flickr.com/

Once you sign up with Flickr (it's free) you can upload your photos. I had no trouble with that part as it's really straight forward. Getting the code to copy to my posts took a little experimentation. You want to copy BBCodes to forums like Accurate Reloading. That's what they support. You can select the size that you want for your pictures. If you find that the size is too small or it takes up too much space on the page you can edit your AR post and erase the first photo code and go back to Flickr and choose a larger or smaller size. This flow chart shows you the steps to get the BBCode to post with your forum post. You just copy and past the BBCode just under what you have typed in on your post.

flickr by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

It is the follower or altered rails as Jim Kobe said. Get an unaltered M1903 follower or an 03-A3 follower to check it. You ought to be able to borrow one from someone for 5 minutes while they watch you.