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had an 8mm mauser ball round from Yugoslavia fail dramatically today in my FN49. The case split through the base and about 3/4" up the side of the case. The force of the gas forced the remaining 4 rounds in the magazine nose down where one bullet tip punched a hole through the bottom of the magazine. No other damage to the rifle and as usual I was wearing glasses. Examining the remaining 4 unfired rounds each exhibited a tiny but visible crack in the brass from the base up the side of the case about 3/4" long. The case is stamped 11 54. These rounds were purhased loose at a gunshow. I have about 1,000 rounds marked the same in 15 rd boxes on 5 rd clips none of which so far has had a problem. I have shot several hundred of the clipped 11 54 rounds. I examined about 50 random rounds from this stash after the incident, none had the visible cracks.
The failure reminded me of the PS .30 ball problem that many experienced when the Korean ball was available. Apparently there is a bad lot of the 11 54 Yugo ball out on the market. I would advise that 11 54 stamped 8mm only be fired in a bolt action rifle which will handle escaping gas better than an FN or G43.
The failure reminded me of the PS .30 ball problem that many experienced when the Korean ball was available. Apparently there is a bad lot of the 11 54 Yugo ball out on the market. I would advise that 11 54 stamped 8mm only be fired in a bolt action rifle which will handle escaping gas better than an FN or G43.
