Today a young fellow, that is maybe twenty at most, came over with a very nice looking RC K98 mixmaster that he claimed was defective. He showed me some fired Hornady factory loaded cases as proof.
The primers were blown completely out of their pockets and luckily they went out the emergency gas escape port. The were black all the way back to the web and sticky with grease.
I don't have to explain what happened, because for the vast majority of people on this site it's pretty obvious.
Luckily no damage was done and he had enough sense to quit shooting it after firing three rounds.
He had purchased the rifle last year, just before Christmas and shortly after getting his PAL. He wanted to use it to hunt the White Tails in his fathers pasture which are basically tied up about 50 feet from the back of the barn.
His Dad who is a good friend of mine told him to come and see me. He didn't know what had happened either. Anyway the young fellow didn't want anything to do with this rifle which was quite good for an RC with an excellent bore.
I explained to him what he had just done and of course what might have been the consequences if the rifle wasn't so sturdy and the ammo hadn't purposely been loaded down in deference to the older models and weaker actions out there. This did make his eyebrows go up and maybe even frightened him a bit. Likely he will be out with his favorite Dolly this weekend at a suare' and brag about his near death experience.
Anyway we cleaned the rifle properly by stripping it down to its component parts, cleaned off all the crud and put it back together. I magnafluxed the bolt lugs and checked the inside of the receiver ways for set back but all appeared fine. We just got back from the farm where we test fired the rifle, with his factory fodder. He was no stranger to shooting but his PAL instructor must have left out a fair bit of the safety lesson. He actually put five rounds into a 2 inch group at 50 meters from an offhand position. Good enough for the Deer he planned on shooting.
After some discussion he decided to keep the rifle because it shot a lot better than his DAD'S 30-30 Mod 94, which came to them via Grandad, along with the farm. From a distance it actually had the unmistakable profile of a Mod 94. When it was within a few meters things changed dramatically. The furniture had been broken several times in the past but wire and glue seemed to hold things together well enough for their purposes. The mag tube had a dent about where the cracked handguard began so they could only put 3 cartridges into it. That was enough to last all year. There were two very ratty boxes of CIL cartridges with Marshall Wells stickers on them marked $2.95. My guess is late sixties or early seventies. The rifle has a mid thirties serial number, the bore is rusty and to their knowledge its never been cleaned. Why???? They only shoot 4-5 rounds per year. A couple of White Tails, a Hog and a Slaughter Steer or two. The rifle hasn't left the barn since it was purchased and has always hung from a nail through the lever loop.
I was asked to clean the Mod 94 but I declined. It wouldn't have made any difference to its safety or accuracy. They figured the RC Mauser would now be their general purpose rifle and the Mod 94 would look good above Grandad's picture in the living room. I told them about safe storage and they're going to comply. They certainly wouldn't want such a nostalgic family heirloom taken away or stolen.
The primers were blown completely out of their pockets and luckily they went out the emergency gas escape port. The were black all the way back to the web and sticky with grease.
I don't have to explain what happened, because for the vast majority of people on this site it's pretty obvious.
Luckily no damage was done and he had enough sense to quit shooting it after firing three rounds.
He had purchased the rifle last year, just before Christmas and shortly after getting his PAL. He wanted to use it to hunt the White Tails in his fathers pasture which are basically tied up about 50 feet from the back of the barn.
His Dad who is a good friend of mine told him to come and see me. He didn't know what had happened either. Anyway the young fellow didn't want anything to do with this rifle which was quite good for an RC with an excellent bore.
I explained to him what he had just done and of course what might have been the consequences if the rifle wasn't so sturdy and the ammo hadn't purposely been loaded down in deference to the older models and weaker actions out there. This did make his eyebrows go up and maybe even frightened him a bit. Likely he will be out with his favorite Dolly this weekend at a suare' and brag about his near death experience.
Anyway we cleaned the rifle properly by stripping it down to its component parts, cleaned off all the crud and put it back together. I magnafluxed the bolt lugs and checked the inside of the receiver ways for set back but all appeared fine. We just got back from the farm where we test fired the rifle, with his factory fodder. He was no stranger to shooting but his PAL instructor must have left out a fair bit of the safety lesson. He actually put five rounds into a 2 inch group at 50 meters from an offhand position. Good enough for the Deer he planned on shooting.
After some discussion he decided to keep the rifle because it shot a lot better than his DAD'S 30-30 Mod 94, which came to them via Grandad, along with the farm. From a distance it actually had the unmistakable profile of a Mod 94. When it was within a few meters things changed dramatically. The furniture had been broken several times in the past but wire and glue seemed to hold things together well enough for their purposes. The mag tube had a dent about where the cracked handguard began so they could only put 3 cartridges into it. That was enough to last all year. There were two very ratty boxes of CIL cartridges with Marshall Wells stickers on them marked $2.95. My guess is late sixties or early seventies. The rifle has a mid thirties serial number, the bore is rusty and to their knowledge its never been cleaned. Why???? They only shoot 4-5 rounds per year. A couple of White Tails, a Hog and a Slaughter Steer or two. The rifle hasn't left the barn since it was purchased and has always hung from a nail through the lever loop.
I was asked to clean the Mod 94 but I declined. It wouldn't have made any difference to its safety or accuracy. They figured the RC Mauser would now be their general purpose rifle and the Mod 94 would look good above Grandad's picture in the living room. I told them about safe storage and they're going to comply. They certainly wouldn't want such a nostalgic family heirloom taken away or stolen.
. JK
