as some of you my know from the first post that i put on this forum , i have an M 48 mauser. i had the thing rebarreled to 30.06. since i had this done , it won't feed properly. the first and third bullet gets stuck in the magazine and will not move without me stopping , standing up, and pushing the follower down to loosen it up so that the bullet can be removed.

next thing ,and this has been going on since i bought it in it's origional form. now i realize that this is no tikka or remington but is there any way to make it to where i don't have to be HE-MAN to open the bolt?

any one know someone who can get these things fixed at a reasonable price? i'll send it where ever it needs to go to get it done right the first time. i have given up on the locals.

Nicshorse--

A little more information and clarification---

You say "bullet" ..... I assume you mean 'cartridge'.

"Stuck" means it stops forward movement?

What magazine box has it got?

If military, I'll assume it was lenghthened so you have about 1/16" clearance on the bullet nose??

OK-- When it "sticks" ......why??

Push the follower down and look up under the feed rails about 3/4 of the way forward....has that area got fresh grinding away and repolishing marks??

Hard cocking--

Is it as hard to open when DRY firing AND live firing equally?

Do you know how to strip the Mauser bolt?

Let me know. This'll be fun.

JBelk,
yep bullet = cartrige.
yep stuck = stops forward movement
as far as i know the origional magazine has not been lengthened. check that it has not been lengthened
i think that it gets stuck because of the feed rails, i know that the cartridges get scaped all up when i can get them to feed (it happened a few times, the feeding i mean)
under the feed rails it looks like it has not been ground, i tried to use emery cloth on it in an attempt to smooth it up. i just didn't want to do too much and ruin the gun.
yes it is hard to cock either way ,dry firing and live firing
i used to know how to strip a mauser bolt when i had it origional but i had a different safety put on it to get scope clearance but even so , it has been awhile.

I had this problem with a Swede Mauser. The feed rail was pretty sharp, permitting the case to be grabbed by it. I took the action from the stock, and used some sand paper to break the sharp edge, and then used finer grit. I was rather cautious, as I didn't want to remove too much metal. I'd also be interested in hearing from people of how far to go. It still has a little hangup, but no longer damages brass or fully jams.

nicshorse---

It sounds like you got a partial job.

That action was made for the 8x57. The action rails must be milled to extend the shoulder cam forward .125 and the magazine box needs to be stretched by about .175.

Until that's done the feeding will not be good. There's no reason a M-48 won't feed an -06 very very well, but it takes a lot of work and ain't cheap.

It sounds like you've had the bolt handle altered and somebody forgot te re-heattreat the cocking cam.

I'm getting the impression the guy that did the work had more shingle than knowledge.........

[ 03-18-2003, 19:50: Message edited by: JBelk ]

who would be a good guy to send it to? i just want it to work propely. it started out as my first custom and has quickly become the one i hate. should i just leave it alone and opt for a different gun to start out with? is there a mauser action that wont require all of this to make 30.06 work?

I believe you can make a better rifle using the vz24 mauser action. I have made a couple of
25-06 Ackley Improveds on them and they worked beautifully. With a minimum of feed rail modification. If it can handle the blown out Improved case you should have little or no problem with the standard 30-06. The M48 is a bit of a hybred mauser probably not my first choice on which I would build a sporter. But like my plumber always tells me, "All it takes is time and money and we can do about anything you want".

We can fix it for you...

for our usual reasonable fee of $500...

when you get it back, your feeding problem will be cured! Guaranteed!

You'll also be pleasantly surprised to see that your M 48 now miraculously looks a lot like a Savage 110!

Enjoy!

Dewey , Cheetum , and Howe
Custom Gunsmiths

E-mail me, I think I can help.

Jkob60@aol.com