Israeli K98 magazine problems

hogie

hogie

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I have a issue with feeding rounds with the Israeli K98. It's 7.62mm conversion.

What is happening is once the rifle is fired the rounds will go forward in the magazine. When this happens the bolt will push the round instead of picking it up. Works fine if I push the next round back before closing the bolt.

I've done some searching and it could be the magazine follower spring that is weak. Problem is trying to find a new spring or NOS one that can be shipped to Canada. Everything I've found no shipping . Marstar does have used ones, I've had poor luck with their parts in past so not really wanting to buy from them.

Is there anything else that can cause this problem besides the spring? Any ideas where to get a spring in Canada besides Marstar? Is there a way to tweak the spring in it now, or the follower?

Thanks.
 
oldstarfire said:
I had a somewhat similar problem on a pistol mag.
Seems the mag spring was put in reversed, allowed the follower to droop.
Was an easy fix.
Click to expand...
You cannot put a Mauser spring backwards. Spring has a tab that slides into the floor plate.


Common issue with the 762 conversions. Mine sometimes wont pickup if the round too far forward. Has to do with the spacer block.
 
I have seen two patterns of magazine spacers in Israeli 7.62 conversions. One was a spacer at the rear of the box, the other had a spacer at each end. I believe this was the later, improved version, suggesting that they, too, had problems.
Feed in a 98 action is controlled by rails machined in the bottom of the receiver. The machining was cartridge specific - and for 8x57, not 7.62x51..
You might have to do some experimentation to get reliable feeding.
The follower spring is a standard 98 Mauser one. Marstar lists them @$13, although that is not likely the problem.
 
Hogie - Israeli Mauser 98 were initially made from German Mauser 98 actions that had been chambered in 8x57 - an actual "controlled round feed" - either the cartridge is held down by the feed lips on underside of action, or the round has "popped up" against the bolt face, but behind the extractor and is then "controlled" by the bolt. While the round is in the magazine, it gets "pushed ahead" by the lower part of the bolt face. The bullet nose should start up the "feed ramp" - at about that point, the cartridge should "pop up" behind the extractor - so, as original, it would NOT close the bolt on a single chambered round - no provision for side clearance although most will work if you press in on the extractor - then someone discovered that the extractor leading edge could be ground to allow the extractor to "jump over" a cartridge that was dropped into the chamber. I consider the P14 and M1917 to be an improvement of that - the extractor noses are much larger and bigger than on a Mauser 98 - WWI US Army "Instructions to Soldiers" describe how that M1917 was set up to single feed and close the bolt, although it is control round feed if fed from the magazine.
That spacer that Israeli armorers installed becomes very important - it positions the cartridge correctly in that magazine to feed - and to match up to the contours of the feed lips under the action. As posted above, it is not the strength of the magazine spring that holds a round in correct place - that is what that spacer is for. In my opinion, the Israeli armourers knew what they were doing for those conversions - with decades of wear, it is possible that things have worn or weakened - it is also possible that various parts have been swapped out and alterations made that the user is not aware of.
 
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Thanks guys, its a very well worn rifle. Has seen lots of use, I will try a couple of things. It doesn't have a spacer on the follower.
 
Somewhere on Internet, I saw pictures in an article about what I think "very good" looks like in Mauser 98 feeding - that was for the 458 Win Mag rifle owned by Phil Shoemaker - the gun was nicknamed "Ole Ugly". When he moves that bolt perhaps 25% or 30% forward, the round from the magazine has popped out and is fully supported on the bolt face - the round is about perfectly in line with the chamber - if I recall correctly, the bullet has only started to enter the rear of the barrel chamber - it does not grind or fuss to make it's way into that chamber - apparently very slick to cycle. I do not think run-of-the-mill milsurp conversions would do that - he described hours of honing to get that thing to feed as it does.
 
bearhunter said:
You need to check out the BANNER ADVERTISERS

Marstar has new maqwell follower springs for $13
Click to expand...
I did, as I explained in my first post I've had issues with Marstar in the past with parts. Maybe I missed on the description of them but I didn't see where they said they were new .
 
Hmm, I've had no issues with my Israeli and it doesn't have a spacer.

Do you reload? Seat your bullets a bit longer after chambering an empty brass/bullet combo to see how long of a COAL you can get away with, then shorten by a few thousandths of an inch so it's just off the lands (provided you've got enough contact with the bullet and case neck).

I seat my 168's this way and it's accurate and feeds well.
 
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