M48A Ejection Issue

[Capybara]

Hi all:

I finally made it out to the range today to shoot my new M48A for the first time. The gun shot great, very accurate and a nice, precise feel to the bolt and mechanism, no looseness like the Mosins, nice and tight yet smooth.

My only issue was with extraction/ejection of the empty cases. I am was shooting my 1950s Yugo surplus, not a single hangfire, misfire or failure to ignite, which is great but upon opening the bolt, it looked as if the claw extractor on the bolt head did not want to let go of the empty case. I tried slapping the bolt open hard, finessing it, the bolt seemed to not want to release the empty cases.

The only thing that sort of worked was just jogging the bolt back and forth, sometimes the case would halfheartedly eject, sometimes it would just come loose from the bolt and stay in the magazine feed area. I realize in looking at these photos that there is still some small touches of cosmo/grease on the bolt but I don't think that would stop the extractor from working. When the bolt is out of the gun, the entire extractor claw easily rotates around the bolt head, which I am assuming it should?

Short of taking it to my gunsmith, is there anything obvious I am overlooking here? It shot great, all was good except those cases just seemed stuck on the bolt head.

Thanks.

[monk]

I say take the bolt apart and give it a good hot bath. If for nothing else than to remove what could be causing an issue.

[6mmintl]

Your ejector is probably full of grease and or broken, take the gun apart and degrease it, disassemble the bolt and degrease it.

[DennisCA]

I agree with the previous two post, take the bolt apart and clean the heck out of it, then go from there.

[Capybara]

That was the plan guys, thanks for confirming. I'll follow up next time I make it to the range to give it a try. I tried replicating it with just a case, doesn't work, of course and I am not going to try cycling it with live ammo and I have no 8mm snap caps.

I agree with you all though that cosmo/grease is probably the culprit.

[NOTABIKER]

my m-48 and 1918 kar 98a both had poorly working ejectors. those springs break or get gummed up, also the claw extractor might fit the shell rim to tightly and not wanting to let go. does the new bullet slide up into the bolt and claw smoothly?. it should slide right behind the claw all the way. remember never single feed by hand and then close the bolt. it is not a mosin. i learned that the hard way.

[Capybara]

From what I know about the gun, it looks and seems as if it was unissued, I doubt it has ever been shot before today. This leads me to believe that it is probably just gummed up with cosmo/grease. I confess, I did not break down the bolt before shooting it, which I know I should have. If a good cleaning doesn't change it, then letting my gunsmith take a crack at it will be the next step. Once the empty case was sort of hand removed, the next round seemed to load and fire fine.