Eventually, headspace exceeds safe limits leading to case failures.įrom that perspective, I would limit ammo to 7.62 X 51 pressure limits, have a headspace field gage and use it periodically.Īs always, take my advice for what it's worth.įIRST, those folks (see above) who keep on throwing pressure data out need to understand that SAAMI vs. Headspace may be good when new but, over time and subjected to repeated pressures beyond the metallurical limits leads to incremental locking lug setback. I kind of relate it to the Santa Fe 1903A3 actions. That could have been the cause of normannewguy's experience. White lab tests, there are many known occurences of older Spanish Mausers suffering bolt setback because of soft steel. While they may have passed the testing H.P. Despite SAMCO's testing, to me, the issue is the state of metallurgy at the time these actions were forged. This about a 22% increase in pressure and as a consequence, case head thrust. Operating in the 60 to 62K PSI range (52K CUP or so) puts it in another catagory. Case heasd size, case body taper and other related factors lead me to believe case head thrust will be compareable between these cartridges. So this would seem to put the 7.62 X 51 in the acceptable pressure limits of the M93 action. Although this lower specification is in deference to the purportedly weaker actions of the older Mauser 93 and 95 rifles which are still in circulation, this concern is misplaced, as the original ammunition developed for, and issued with, the M93 Spanish Mauser produced an average pressure of 50,370 CUP in those rifles. By contrast, the American industry association SAAMI specifies a lower maximum pressure of 46,000 CUP or 51,000 psi. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C.I.P. It's possible that confusion in nomenclature and methods of measuring pressure lead to the current pressure limit being stated as 46K PSI. CUP limit is 49K while SAAMI CUP limit is 46K. guidelines the 7×57mm case (which was the original cartridge for the M93 Mausers) can handle up to 57K psi piezo pressure whereas SAAMI lists the limit at 51K PSI. The small ring actions are still good actions, they just don't have the additional, beefed up design features to handle gas escaping from a pierced primer.Īccording to the official C.I.P. It is said that the losing an eye lead to eventual developement of the large ring M98 Mausers. That said, Paul Mauser lost an eye developing his actions with it's inherent safety features. 308.Here's an interesting article about the M1916 Mausers: I am perfectly happy with my original K98k's in 8x57, never ever had a jam in years of shooting them and the 8x57 whacks the target much harder than any. That was enough, sold my 2 FR-8's and the israeli K98. Nothing helped, pushing the rounds as back as possible in the magazine didnt help aswell as putting them a little bit foward. (Yes, all three of them had the additional feeding ramp) Then a round entered the chamber so steep that it got stuck at the barrel wall. So I had to punch the round out of the chamber with a cleaning rod. Of course you cant chamber a round with a 98 action if it didnt engage ''controlled feed''. 308 cartridge did not slip into the extractor claw, I couldnt lock the bolt and I thought '' What the hell?''. While the Fr-8 is a nice little and very accurate bolt action carbine I had several cases where the the. 30-06 mausers.- the 06 is even a tad longer than the 8x57 and works pretty good. 308's are too short too work everytime putting the legendary mauser 98 action reliability to shame. 308, all of them had issues with feeding because the mauser 98 was made for long cartridges - the 8x57mm. I had 2 FR-8's in the past and one israeli K98 converted to. I can't recommend a mauser action rifle in.