Info on Israeli 7.62 Mauser K98

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Saleen351

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Bought this one a couple months ago , i shot .308 with it thinking it was the same thing, lot of conflicting information about this. Anyway , the brass came out ok , dont seem stretched , was feeding properly . Didnt have any case failures. Now im thinking about reloading for it but im skeptical about the brass. I now know that 7.62 vs 308 is a headspace issue more than a pressure issue. I just ordered a 308 field gauge to be sure its safe for 308 ammo but do some of you guys own an Israeli Mauser ? Are you shooting 308 with it ? Im seeking for advice from more experienced shooters.
I did tried adding layers of tape the 1 cartridge to figure if headspace was excessive, seems to be 10thou more then the cartridge length. I know brass has tolerances so thats why i bought the gauge ( its in the mail right now )
Thanks
 
Saleen351 said:
Bought this one a couple months ago , i shot .308 with it thinking it was the same thing, lot of conflicting information about this. Anyway , the brass came out ok , dont seem stretched , was feeding properly . Didnt have any case failures. Now im thinking about reloading for it but im skeptical about the brass. I now know that 7.62 vs 308 is a headspace issue more than a pressure issue. I just ordered a 308 field gauge to be sure its safe for 308 ammo but do some of you guys own an Israeli Mauser ? Are you shooting 308 with it ? Im seeking for advice from more experienced shooters.
I did tried adding layers of tape the 1 cartridge to figure if headspace was excessive, seems to be 10thou more then the cartridge length. I know brass has tolerances so thats why i bought the gauge ( its in the mail right now )
Thanks
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I shoot 308 and 762 NATO thru mine without issues. Mauser are strong actions.
 
OkayShooter said:
I shoot 308 and 762 NATO thru mine without issues. Mauser are strong actions.
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I know , im not worried about the action , im worried about case head separation. The way i studied that , the max headspace of the 308 is the minimum headspace on the 7.62. Thats why 7.62 have thicker brass. I could just stick to 7.62 but i bought a ####load of 308 and its my only rifle in that caliber
 
Saleen351 said:
I know , im not worried about the action , im worried about case head separation. The way i studied that , the max headspace of the 308 is the minimum headspace on the 7.62. Thats why 7.62 have thicker brass. I could just stick to 7.62 but i bought a ####load of 308 and its my only rifle in that caliber
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I never heard of any issues firing 308 from a Large Ring Isreali K98.
 
I have shot both .308 and military 7.62 out of my Israeli M98 without problem. I had the opportunity to check mine with a headspace gauge set and found mine was minimum at 1.630”. Incidentally while loading for it I can go to book maximum with that rifle without any pressure signs whereas my brothers Win 88 maxes out around the mid load with max loads causing imminent case head separation.
Your rifle could be totally different from mine so the headspace gauges are a good idea.
 
270 totheend said:
I have shot both .308 and military 7.62 out of my Israeli M98 without problem. I had the opportunity to check mine with a headspace gauge set and found mine was minimum at 1.630”. Incidentally while loading for it I can go to book maximum with that rifle without any pressure signs whereas my brothers Win 88 maxes out around the mid load with max loads causing imminent case head separation.
Your rifle could be totally different from mine so the headspace gauges are a good idea.
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Gauges are pretty expensive, i bought the field gauge just to make sure its safe. I know its not minimum since i can put layers of tape on the head of a cartridge ( 1 layer of duct tape is not even touching ) so with 2 layers +/- 12thou i cannot close the bolt. But when i inspected my empty brass they didnt look stretched so i guess it should not be too bad. Next week when i receive the gauge ill be sure lol
 
Saleen351 said:
Gauges are pretty expensive, i bought the field gauge just to make sure its safe. I know its not minimum since i can put layers of tape on the head of a cartridge ( 1 layer of duct tape is not even touching ) so with 2 layers +/- 12thou i cannot close the bolt. But when i inspected my empty brass they didnt look stretched so i guess it should not be too bad. Next week when i receive the gauge ill be sure lol
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Julian Hatcher has a very interesting chapter about headspace in his book "Hatchers Notebook". worth reading.
 
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The lore is if you fire .308 in a 7.62x51 you are begging for a breech explosion and a catastrophic failure. Call the insurance company and warn your loved ones.

FWIW, do not fret or worry. Fire away!
 
dan belisle said:
No. I've owned a bunch of those Israeli Mausers, they all shot reasonably well regardless. They made some great sporters. - dan
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Mine is exactly as a K98 but in 7.62. No matching numbers at all as is looks to be common for israeli Mauser.I shot almost a box and it looks to be accurate but i was in the woods with snow at my waist so i didnt try to group lol
 
dan belisle said:
No. I've owned a bunch of those Israeli Mausers, they all shot reasonably well regardless. They made some great sporters. - dan
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I never could shoot the irons accurate. Due to being soo tiny. But scoped mine and was a decent shooter.
But alot of these old guns the stock dried out and shrunk. I kept on having the barrel band walk. Mine had a hole before the sling band. My guess was for a screw to prevent that from loosening.

It was already D&T, the stripper clip guide was ground off. The stock was repaired alot. So did some fixes to keep everything tight. Drilled and tapped the H band, and into the bayonet cap for a set screw.
 
OkayShooter said:
I never could shoot the irons accurate. Due to being soo tiny. But scoped mine and was a decent shooter.
But alot of these old guns the stock dried out and shrunk. I kept on having the barrel band walk. Mine had a hole before the sling band. My guess was for a screw to prevent that from loosening.

It was already D&T, the stripper clip guide was ground off. The stock was repaired alot. So did some fixes to keep everything tight. Drilled and tapped the H band, and into the bayonet cap for a set screw.
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Mine is pretty nice , fit tight in the stock. I already had a Swedish mauser years ago so i knew how to make it accurate. Shimmed the trigger guard , sanded under the barrel bands etc.. so nothing touches the barrel. I wouldn't do that to a matching K98 but mine is a shooter not a collectible so i dont care. I agree with you that the sights are tiny , im in my 40's and my eyes are not what they used to. Thats why i love my Garand so much, the peep sight are the way to go for a guy my age.
 
What a beaut!!!

One suggestion: If you keep your brass separate, dont full length resize. Bump enough to chamber smoothly and that's it.

Havent had any issues reloading for them though.
 
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