K98 feeding issue

mark0

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Hi I'm Mark and new to the forum,

I have a K98 Mauser that has some difficulty feeding rounds. It does feed rounds in it just takes a bit of momentum from the bolt to get the round chambered. If I remove the bolt and try to place a round into the extractor it takes a reasonable amount of force to snap it in place which leads me to believe the extractor fit is the issue. The fix I have come across on the internet is to lightly remove a bit of material off of the extractor lip with a stone.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this issue and fix? I would hate to bugger up my extractor. My thoughts were to go slow and do a lot of test fitting.

Thanks,

Mark
 
I had the exact same experience on a new M98 custom job. I bought a "new old stock" extractor and it was too tight. When you "snap" the cartridge case onto the bolt face, there should be quite a bit of back and forth play. My suggestion would be to find a bolt from another K98 to compare to. Yes, it requires VERY CAREFUL removal of some material. I had to detach and adjust my extractor (and re-attach) no less than 12 times before I got it perfect. Patience is really a virtue here. I made the mistake of being too aggressive with another extractor and took too much material off. The upside is that I can remove and attach an M98 extractor in seconds! :)
 
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M98 extractors were never meant to snap over the cartridge, they were meant to feed from the magazine. The extractors can be altered and that needs to be done by someone with experience for best results. A Dremel stone the same diameter as the rim was the way I used do do them.... so your have full contact for extraction. I would suggest having a smith do it and ask for a guarantee up front.
 
Hi I'm Mark and new to the forum,

I have a K98 Mauser that has some difficulty feeding rounds. It does feed rounds in it just takes a bit of momentum from the bolt to get the round chambered. If I remove the bolt and try to place a round into the extractor it takes a reasonable amount of force to snap it in place which leads me to believe the extractor fit is the issue. The fix I have come across on the internet is to lightly remove a bit of material off of the extractor lip with a stone.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this issue and fix? I would hate to bugger up my extractor. My thoughts were to go slow and do a lot of test fitting.

Thanks,

Mark
If you are top feeding it will not work with CRF, you have to feed from the mag. It is possible to top feed if you use brute force which is not desirable.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I may have been a bit unclear when I used the term "snap". I am feeding from the magazine and I have no intention of top feeding. The snap I was describing is from pushing the round from below into the bolt face with the extractor lip in the cartridges extractor groove. The fit is quite tight so when the extractor spring flexes the round snaps into place.
 
Thanks, Kurgan

I'll check to see if any gun shops in town have a K98 kicking around. Right now the round has very little ability to move at all when its in contacting the bolt face with the extractor engaged. It would be nice to see what the ideal fit feels like before I start removing material.

I had a feeling going slow and a lot of testing was going to be the solution. I will focus on even material removal to keep the original shape of the extractor lip intact.
 
The lip of the extractor should fit snugly against the inside surface of the recessed rim. It was designed to be that way. If you are saying it has issues because there isn't enough clearance between bolt face and the thickness of the cartridge rim that is a different story.

The information you were given about relieving the edge of the lip is an old fix from the days of sporterizing the actions. The extractors were made by many different manufacturers and were designed as well as made to specifications so they would be interchangeable in the field. Maybe a bit of stoning is needed at the bottom of the lip where the cartridge first encounters the bolt face and extractor?? This was an issue with some units and easily fixable in the field with a properly trained armorer. Don't get me wrong, it isn't difficult but you need a lot of patience and be willing to test the bolt several times to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to.

If the extractor doesn't fit snugly against the cartridge there are other issues that can occur. There is a reason why the extractor acts like a spring. The tension helps the case to be thrown from the rifle when the other side of the base comes up against the ejector. If the fit is to loose or sloppy there is a very good chance the case won't be ejected properly etc.
 
The case should be held firmly by the extractor when engaged... loose is not good.

The case is at an angle when it first engages the bolt face and the underside of the extractor... the underside of the extractor may need a bit of relief to allow the case to slide up...

Again - this is best done by an experienced smith...

but in today's world where almost every gun owner thinks he can do it, be prepared to buy a new extractor when experimenting... focusing on even material removal to keep the original shape of the extractor lip intact probably is not the correct solution...
 
Thanks guntech maybe this is a job I should get done by my local gunsmith. I am interested in learning how to do things on my own but perhaps this is a tricky job that requires more experience than I currently have.
 
Get him to show you what he does to the extractor... tell him it is the feeding from the magazine you are concerned with more than just altering it to snap over a chambered round.
 
So I have taken your guys advice and left my extractor alone. However another issue has reared its ugly head today. I ordered a new extractor collar from T.E.C. in Ontario (mine was broken) and it the wrong thickness. Even if I compress it with pliers and fully close the gap it is proud around the whole diameter of the bolt. Could they have sent me the wrong one? Do they require significant fitting? I would have to remove a lot of material to make it work, it doesn't even come close to fitting it into the action at the moment. My understanding was that they should be field swapable....

I will give TEC a call tomorrow and see what they think.
 
Well I am off to the shop to machine an overly complicated jig to grind my extractor collar haha. I just happen to have a nice chunk to 1045 kicking around :) Pictures to follow later...
 
Good grief. Now you tell us you had a broken extractor collar, after all the try to find the feeding problem issue???? What a waste of time.
 
I broke the extractor while looking at the feeding issue bearhunter. Not sure why this is upsetting. There pretty fragile apparently.
 
I broke the extractor while looking at the feeding issue bearhunter. Not sure why this is upsetting. There pretty fragile apparently.

Actually they are quite tough and take a lot of force to break if you are removing the extractor from it. I was under the impression the collar was broken before you posted about feeding issues. A broken extractor collar will allow the extractor to move around and cause all sorts of feed issues.
 
Actually they are quite tough and take a lot of force to break if you are removing the extractor from it. I was under the impression the collar was broken before you posted about feeding issues. A broken extractor collar will allow the extractor to move around and cause all sorts of feed issues.

If the collar was broken I can't see how the extractor would even stay attached to the bolt.
 
There are many parts that I've seen break on many rifles, but I have never seen a broken collar... that's a first for me. There's a trick to removing an extractor and if you're using too much force, or god forbid, pliers, then yes I can see why it broke. Or, if somebody is unwise enough to insert a bolt without the extractor attached, it can be a real bugger to get the bolt back out as the collar spins and catches on the action... forcing the bolt out could, in theory, break a collar.
 
I'd love to know what the trick is kurgan. I spread it open just enough to slide over the groove which apparently isn't the right way as mine broke.
 
Getting the extractor off and on is usually pretty straight forward if the correct technique is used. But I generally try to avoid removing the retainer. They have to be spread wide enough to clear the bolt body and I've had them fail during the process.
 
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