Mauser Feeding in .22-250

[Mk42gunner]

My nephew has a Zastava Mauser (marketed by Charles Daly) in .22-250 that will not feed. He asked me if I could help so I took a look at it. I figured it needed a bloock at the rear of the magazine.

The first thing I found was that the magazine follower was too short and the spring was weak. The rear of the mag has a block, but there was still about 5/16" play between the follower and the mag well, so I made an additional block for the rear.

Didn't work.

There is also a lot of side to side play with the original follwer, more that I have seen in any other Mauser action I have had.

I tried a follower and spring from a 93 Spanish Mauser. It was better in that I could sometimes feed three rounds from the magazine, but the last round would drive hard into the locking lug recess. It was enough to push the bullets in the dummy rounds down into the case.

The last time I was working on it, I noticed that the rounds in the magazine would flop around at the shoulder of the case. Is it possible that the magazine is meant for a .243 instead of a .22-250? I have read that Paul Mauser designed different magazines for differnet cartridges, and wonder if the commercial manufacturers do the same.

Should I make a block for the front of the magazine? [smilie=b: I really think the feed rails are too far apart for it to ever work with a cartridge with as much taper as the .22-250 has. However, I know there were a lot of them made on 98 Mauser actions, so there has to be some way to make it feed.

.243 dummies feed great, if it were mine it would become a CHeetah or a Middlestead as quick as I could get the reamer here.

He doesn't want to sell the gun, Grandma and Grandpa bought it for him.

Any advice or ideas?

Thanks,

Robert

[quack1]

Was the gun bought new or used? If used a previous owner may have opened the feed rails for some reason, in which case you are pretty well screwed for 22-250.
I built a 22-250 on a military 98 action about 30 years ago and in all that time have never had any feeding problems. All I did was make a block for the back of the mag box and cut off the back end of the original follower to fit. I used a commercial follower spring made for the Mark X 22-250. I also silver soldered a small piece of steel on the bottom rear of the shortened follower to replace the lip on the original that was cut off. ( It keeps the follower spring from sliding off to the rear.) Never touched the feed rails at all. Maybe I just got lucky, but that is all I did. Mauser followers should be pretty cheap and easy to find and cutting one off might fix your problem.

[Mk42gunner]

I think it was bought new, but am not certain. I'll ask next time I'm down trying to fix it.

You bring up a good point about the width of the feed rails, I'll measure some of my 98's and compare.

I already tried fitting a follower and spring from a 93; it almost worked, but the rounds come out of the magazine at whatever angle they want, not pointing into the breech like they should.

Thanks,

Robert

[Ben]

I had a Mauser 98 that gave feed problems. I got one of these. My feeding problems are over !

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Quickly convert your top loading Mauser 98 rifle into a detachable magazine model without alteration. Simply remove the military style floorplate and replace it with a brand new, quality crafted, blued-steel magazine. They were originally manufactured by the Gibbs Rifle Co. for Mauser 98 Sporter rifles. Available in long or short action. Long Action Fits .25-06/.270/.30-06/8mm Cartridges. Short Action Fits .22-250/.243/.308 Cartridges


http://www.sporterexpress.com/Gibbs-Rifle-Co.-Mauser-98-Detachable-Magazine-Long-Action

[Mk42gunner]

Ben,

That is a very good idea, I'll have to see if he wants to spend the money.

Robert