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Although I have three mauser rifles here, I really haven't handled a boatload of them with a critical eye and may have missed a few things.
It's only in the last year or so that I've warmed up to them, this last week I've been shaking the cobwebs out of a new old stock Whitworth Express in .458

While at the ranch a couple of days ago running some ammunition through it my shooting mate grabbed a handful of 300gr/66.2grRL7 loads out of a cartridge case and offered them to try for accuracy. Evidently they'd been just the thing for one of his rifles and I figured it'd be worth a try.

First three fired without incident, the fourth one was a misfire. As I stood there in the silence watching the big ring end of my action trickle smoke from the edge of the bolt, thoughts of fan-shaped powder-flash spray patterns rushed through my head, alongside wishful thoughts of the integrity of the rifle I was holding firmly into my right shoulder. I was thinking to myself that I was glad I was wearing polycarbonate lenses in my glasses, I was thinking that I was glad that at the time my wife and daughter were inside the house at the wood stove and not there to see what might happen if the thing flashed back in my face...

Let it sit for a minute then did the quickest roll-and-flip of an action that I've ever done and set the rifle down and grabbed the brass. Popped primer, still some RL7 in there too.
From there I peeked down the bore, which was plugged, and went to get a solid ramrod with which to remove the 300grJSP bullet from the bore.
It had lodged just at the leade of the rifling, and my rifle's action was filled with powder.

This all got me thinking.
My 30cal precision rifle, built on a modified 700 action, has been set up with two cross vent flash holes on the breech ring/lockup end of the reciever, the bolt also has been drilled and vented in preperation for the possiblity of a blown primer.

I know that the Mauser bolt shroud features the 'gas shield' flange, but god that's close to your face. Is it unheard of to have gas vents on the action ring up at the breech end of the action on a Mauser 98 action? What about additional gas vents on the bolt?

I don't expect to be shooting super-pressure ultra-max loads through this rifle at all. My plan with this thing is to run it for the most part with 300-400gr bullets out here on the west coast and up north on this continent. Still, I got into a poorly loaded piece of ammunition on my first time out with this rifle and the experience left me wondering about venting the Mauser.

On that load.
I took ten more out of that box and dissassembled them.
Weighed the charges and inspected the overall construction of the ammunition.
*and really, this is one of the few times I've shot anyone elses ammunition and goes to show, it's not a good idea to do it*
The powder charge was not 66.2gr, it was 55gr.
There was bullet lube in each of the cases at the base of the bullets (they were jacketed too...)
The brass all seemed to have been sized a tad too big for the jacketed bullets.

As we looked at things there, it occured to my mate that his brother had loaded this ammunition (ugh...) and it was likely right after he'd loaded a batch of 3031 ammo with cast bullets for a different rifle.

I'm getting a sense that there were a few things at play with the load including crud in the brass before tossing the powder, moisture in the ammo, and the complete lack of neck tension.

Any way we cut it, it's funny that the moment we relax our protocols on loading, even with ammunition that is coming from a 'reputable source' the devil's tail comes around to snap at us.

That and I have new call to think about gas venting on the Mauser.

--Tinker

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--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--

"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...