possible problem with surplus 8 mm ammo

[NOTABIKER]

I just bought some surplus 8 MM and out of 25 rounds 20 did not fire. the strike on the primer seems good enough. not as strong as my mosin firing pin strike. last time out i shot 1938 nazi stuff in the same rifle without a problem
details it is brass with a silver colored bullet. the stampings are a
1940 TUC with a star in the U 7.9/ FS . It is possible the firing pin strike is to light but like i said last time out with other surplus ammo it fired fine. can you help with who made it thanks

[Bobby Ricigliano]

It sounds like Turkish 8mm. Is this from the bunch the Calgunner was selling in the last few days? I have shot quite a bit of Turkish and it has always worked fine. What kind of rifle were you using? Replacing the firing pin spring on a Mauser should be cheap and easy.

[NOTABIKER]

It sounds like Turkish 8mm. Is this from the bunch the Calgunner was selling in the last few days? I have shot quite a bit of Turkish and it has always worked fine. What kind of rifle were you using? Replacing the firing pin spring on a Mauser should be cheap and easy.

yes that batch, this is why i want some info on this stuff. i do not want to slam this ammo and it is the rifles fault. the rifle is a kar 98a. yes pretty old. but i shot this rifle 3 weeks ago with the 1938 Austrian nazi 20 round box without a single misfire. I think the ammo is good and the mauser is good. the problem is my rifle is fussy with this ammo. i wish i could get a stronger strike but i know of no way to adjust the firing pin on a mauser like a mosin. for all i know this firing pin spring is 95 years old. i wish i knew how hard of a strike is necessary. like i said before the strike is a little on the light side , but it is striking the primer and leaving a small indentation. the same day shooting i had a few misfires with Bulgarian surplus in my PU that left a much larger strike and did not fire. funny thing is with the Bulgarian misfire i was able to try the same round over and it fired the second time. i guess i just had a bad ammo day. i have been spoiled with surplus mosin ammo , never a missfire with over 20 mosins and many different mosin bullets in 2 years.

[emcon5]

Find a friendly calgunner to meet you at the range with a different Mauser and try his firing pin spring. It is about a 30 second swap.

Or just buy a new heavier spring:

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts/bolt-parts/firing-pin-parts/firing-pin-springs/blitzschnell-striker-springs-prod16583.aspx

[kurac]

I shot tons of that Turkish stuff out of my M48, never a problem except it is hot and would even shave brass upon bolt opening. Shot 70 rounds of that without protection and see how your shoulder feels the next day.

[DennisCA]

Find a friendly calgunner to meet you at the range with a different Mauser and try his firing pin spring. It is about a 30 second swap.

Or just buy a new heavier spring:
http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod16583.aspx

+1 "Or just buy a new heavier spring"

I had the same problem with my Yugo 24/47 awhile back and I ordered a spring from brownells. Since then I have shot all types of 8MM ammo, with ZERO problems.

[6mmintl]

Take bolt apart and polish firing pin, clean inside bolt, assemble with "Light weight" oil on spring and moly paste on cam/shroud threads.

[Stainned]

My M48 won't fire the turkish. I think an upgraded spring will do the Job.

Now my k98 and Hakim will shoot it just fine, although I do not like shooing that in my Hakim.

[hermosabeach]

Two thoughts-

Have you attempted to fire one of the dud rounds 2-3 times?

Have you pulled a bullet to look at the powder? Dry and individual grains or clumpy after getting wet? Is the inside of the brass and primer bright or crusty on the inside?

[mj1]

From what I hear about this ammo your dealing with very hard primers for MGs, this came from another board and the poster ended up pulling the bullets and reloading them in new cases with Wolf LR primers. He said he also reused the powder reduced 10%. At that point I think I would have stuffed some H4895 in the cases but some guys won't wast powder even for safety.

Not much surplus 8mm to pick from out there. The best I have used were 1960s E. German and Israeli but I have not seen any in a few years.

Good luck

[NOTABIKER]

i will try a new FP spring, if that does not work i will go back to Austrian nazi ammo i can get. This rifle is mostly a historic peace. the barrel is really shot out so i never intended to shoot it a lot.
thanks all for the input.

[BruinGuy]

As others have suggested, a new spring ought to fix the issue. If it doesn't, your firing pin may be worn down/deformed, but that's less likely. Replace the spring and if that doesn't fix the issue delve deeper.

Also, be careful if you're getting light strikes...one of them could be a hangfire sometime!

[ThemBastards]

I will be at WEGC on Sunday if you are going to be out there I'll bring a heavy spring that before you buy one. They are pretty cheap though so you might as well get one. Like someone else asked have you tried firing the rounds a 2nd time? With the Turkish I have had to do that a few times and it usually will go bang.

[NOTABIKER]

i do not remember trying it twice. i did save it though. do they make new quality springs or are we stuck with old used springs ?.

[emcon5]

i do not remember trying it twice. i did save it though. do they make new quality springs or are we stuck with old used springs ?.

Well,

Or just buy a new heavier spring:
http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod16583.aspx