Adjusting Intermediate Length Mauser 98 Action Feed Rails?

[Tudenom]

I have a Model 48 Yugo Mauser that I would like to fire cast bullets out of, but I'm having a heck of a time getting it to feed correctly.

Does anyone here have experience adjusting Mauser feed rails? It's more than bending sheet metal magazine lips, so I figured I better get some feedback from someone in the know before I ruin a perfectly good action.

The top 2 rounds in the magazine are the issue. When the bolt moves the cartridge forwards the flat point of the bullet slides up the feed ramp too quickly in relation to the taper of the brass case, so the feed lip ends up biting into the case. It presses so hard that it creases the case an makes a sizable dent just behind the case shoulder. Not cool.

There's enough give in the magazine to avoid this problem when there are three rounds or less, but the 4th and 5th rounds have nowhere to go and get creased.

I have a bunch of 218 grain FMJ 8x63 Swedish machine gun ammo bullets, they feed better and don't have the same problem as the cast bullets. But then again, they are very long and have a gentle taper compared with the cast bullets.

I suspect this is a problem for intermediate length actions only, my wife's K98k feeds just about anything, but the action is 1/4 an inch longer.

Does anyone have any tips?

Thanks for the help.

 

[JR Hartman]

huh. My Yugo M48BO feeds cast bullets just fine. I don't shoot tons of them, but I did two mags full one day with zero issues. Round nose things too, kind of like a 45-70.

When you load 5 rounds, can you still push down on the top rounds and have lots of give? Mine will almost fit 6. well maybe not quite "almost" but almost almost the spring is quite weak in comparison to other mags I have.

Both of my M48BO rifles were the same

 

[Tudenom]

My spring is pretty strong, there's only enough space to close the bolt over the 5th round. That might have something to do with it. I was compressing the spring to see how far down it goes and it ended up snapping, so maybe something went wrong in the heat treatment? I'm going to have a lok around and see what replacements I can find.

The cast bullets I have are flat points, and unless I re-profile the feed ramp I don't think I'm going to have any luck getting them to feed regardless of spring pressure. Are you casting your own bullets or do you sources them from somewhere? I might have better luck with round nose.

huh. My Yugo M48BO feeds cast bullets just fine. I don't shoot tons of them, but I did two mags full one day with zero issues. Round nose things too, kind of like a 45-70.

When you load 5 rounds, can you still push down on the top rounds and have lots of give? Mine will almost fit 6. well maybe not quite "almost" but almost almost the spring is quite weak in comparison to other mags I have.

Both of my M48BO rifles were the same

 

[JR Hartman]

I don't cast, but I used a few from a friend one day. They are basic round nose, but not like modern Spitzer hunting round nose. More like a 9mm round nose kinda thing.

I'd find a correct magazine spring and see. Like I said, both of mine, the springs are almost too soft in my opinion, but they also both work just ducky, no matter what I put in it.