But--you can't seem to find any first hand knowledge of one coming apart. Mine shoots like the proverbial tack driver with a 150gr rn and midrange BL-C-2 jacket loads. Also tried a few patched loads and they were promissing.
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But--you can't seem to find any first hand knowledge of one coming apart. Mine shoots like the proverbial tack driver with a 150gr rn and midrange BL-C-2 jacket loads. Also tried a few patched loads and they were promissing.
Unfortunately if a milsurp rifle has a breech blow out theres very seldom any information gathered or released, theres almost never any actual investigation unless someone dies or a bystander is injured.
I once ran across a fellow who claimed there had never been a recorded incident of a Lee Enfield action failing when using factory ammo. It took awhile but I dug up dozens of recorded cases on rifle ranges in Canada pre WW1. One thing about the source, an investigation in the Canadian House of Commons , which tells it all was the question of whether any of those incidents had been reported in the news papers, the reply was no, but there may be tomorrow.
An old rifle blowing up is just not newsworthy, until a well known figure is killed such as happened a few years back in an accident involving a Lee straightpull rifle.
Even then theres been no reliable information on that accident and no report released on the exact cause.
It would be nice if someone put in the effort to track down incidents of action failures the way Hatcher did with the Low Number Springfield failures, but its just not going to happen.
Now that said, if a old rifle is in excellent condition, and used only with ammunition for which it has been proofed, its unlikely to have a blow out.
But since the 7.62x51 has evolved over the decades since its first incarnation it would be prudent to be sure of the pressure levels of any ammo you put through it.
There were a few incidents of failures of Spanish Mausers which were traced to ammunition that generated pressures close to proof test pressure. Not much info on these was available then and nothing came to light since.
I would not assume that rifles intended for late fifties-early sixties Infantry Ball would also handle the hottest loads available today.
Some long range match loads (Winchester Palma) even used a semi balloon head case , entirely unsuited to a loose military chamber even with the standard pressures.
PS
A short way down this thread you'll find a few photos of a blown up Spanish Mauser
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthre...ighlight=M1916
As usual no useful information on the exact cause of the blow up.
Personally, I don't see the need to stress any gun, modern or ancient. When you get up in the red zone you often only gain a few FPS for a few hundred more PSI. Why? What will a bullet going 110 fps faster at the cost of another 2500 PSI get you? Stress, recoil, reduced barrel/brass life. Truth is there aren't too many cases where a couple hundred FPS will make of break the game.
I tend to follow the conservative approach in all things and it never fails.
I'm new here. Hello everybody. I've got a 1916 Spanish that I've had since '94 and I've shot it a lot and killed about 12 deer with. I have loaded some loads up to about 2800 fps but have loaded mostly in the .300 Savage level. Its a good rifle better than most people will give them credit for.
For those who aren't into handloading, or want to fire factory ammo and reload those cases, there are low intensity .308 loads made by Remington and Federal.
These are loaded to a little more than .30-30 power levels, and a 2A owner told me he found they solved his problem of cases stretching too far to be reloadable.
His rifle was a bit on the loose side.
The same low intensity rounds should be a good alternative for any of the mauser or No.4 conversions as well.
The British NRA has recently issued warnings about possible damage to converted No.4 rifles from modern heavier bullet .308 or 7.62 loads using bullets heavier than 144 grains.
PS
While most of the converted Spanish Mausers came to the US in good condition, the first time I ran across these the only one the store had left after a sale looked perfect on the outside.
I had just started to fill out the paperwork when I noticed a line of rust on either side of the exposed portion of barrel.
Loosening the action from the stock I found that the underside of the barrel and receiver was terribly rusted out. Could be it was put away wet after exposure to salt water.
Some salt cured wood has caused similar rusting of FN manufactured Browning sporting rifles in the past. So it could have been bad wood.