Cranky claw on my 09 Argentine. Help!

[Noel]

I bought a custom built 1909 Argentine last spring, haven't used it whole lot but when I have it tends to not pull fired cases from the chamber.
It feeds like a dream. Not always, when it does pull it out the case seems to stay in the charging area and not eject cleanly.

I set a fired case on the head of the bolt and rotated the claw down around it, there is some side to side play there but I would guess no more than .010" to .015". The rifle is chambered for 6mm Remington, just a guess that the rifle would have been a 7x57 when it was born, which both share the same case

I have another claw in my parts bin that has had the claw broke off. Was thinking of submersing all but the claw itself in oil and building it up with weld.
Is this a rational fix?

I do not know how much "slop" there should be between the claw and the shoulder of the bolt but I thought it should be tighter than it is.
By the way, I am using RP brass with handloads, and the loads are way below maximum listed in my manual. The fired cases are not expanding at the head at all, the primers have the nice little radius around their circumference after firing too. I know you cannot go by the primer "flatness" to judge the pressure for every firearm, but short of changing out the claw I am baffled.
Your wisdom is most welcome.

Thank you!
Noel

 

[Why not?]

Just change out the extractor and see if that fixes things. You can get abrand new one from Western Gun parts for about forty bucks, a used one will cost you half that.

Welding up the broken one is a futile effort and will only have you more frustrated in the end, as it will break again.

Ted

 

[Noel]

Thanks Ted, thought it may be foolish to try to fusion weld on spring steel but needed clarification.
Do you know if WGP carries those shorter claws you see on some custom guns in RIFLE magazine? They sure look nice.

Noel

 

[Quiet]

The Argentine was originally chambered for 7.65x53 not 7x57.

This may be a clue to your problem.
My Sierra reloading manual lists the following case sizes:
The 7.65x53 has a case head that is .475 dia.
The 7x57 has a .473 dia. case head.
The 6mm Remington has a .472 case head.

If your new extractor doesn't work any better, Brownells sells custom mauser extractor claws that are oversized and require final fitting to the particular cartridge.