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So here's a question: is the discussion here that push feed is bad, or is it that the Remmy circlip extractor is bad?
That is another point, I do strongly prefer the large reliable extractor of the M98.
Ironically I just read an article in the latest issue of GUNS AND AMMO regarding push vs controlled round feed. The article suggested several advantages and disadvantages for both. Some are as follows. It did suggest that the controlled round does not feed the newer shorter fatter cases as well as a push feed..states by design the mauser was designed initially for longer thinner cases..it stated that if there is an issue with a push feed as to doubling up when you slam another round into the chamber that 99% of the time this is more an issue of the magazine holding the rounds instead of the action itself. One should not fault a type of action for a poorly done or tuned magazine. Stated that one shear example of reliability is that nearly 100% of the sniper rifles used in the military are push feed vs controlled round feed stating this is truly hunting "dangerous game" that can shoot back..Finally stated that to remedy the situation as to feeding both types are adopting the detachable clip which allows only 1 round to move forward therefore allowing a more direct approach to the chamber and impossible to double feed..
I may or may not have gotten this all correct as its from memory..which mine is not that great, unless you owe me money.. As stated earlier, I have no dog in this fight as I have both. I DO think the 98 action is amazing and probably the best ever designed. I will admit however 90% of my hunting has been with push feed and have never had an issue after shooting literally thousands of rounds..one day it may..hopefully not while I am hunting dangerous game..
Ripp
As previously stated, I believe a PRF bolt action is suitable or at least, adequate, for most hunting situations. However, at the point where it's being suggested that a 'pushy' is no better or worse than a Mauser for the hunting of DG, then we are potentially endangering lives.
Sniping at someone hundreds or even a thousand or more meters distant isn't the same thing as facing DG at 20-30 meters in scrub jungle. The immediacy of the threat is entirely different. In the second scenarios you simply cannot afford to have a malfunction, whether that happens to be caused by a mechanical problem or human error. A PRF action has all the potential for a giant cock-up in such circumstances. If the stress of the situation gets to the hunter and he short-strokes a round into the action and then inadvertently attempts to chamber another he's in very serious trouble. If, at this point, he doesn't have a reliable individual to back him up, he may well be dead. Anyone who claims with any degree of certainty that this situation couldn't happen to them is just a fool.
There are few real certainties in life but one of them just happens to be that the Mauser 98 is the best bolt action ever made.
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