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Brenden

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For sake of confusion, This bolt does not belong to me, Tanglewood's friend is the one who owns this. This happened to him, not I or Rod.

 

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Brenden

Edited by Brenden
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This isn't my bolt/problem.lol. Rod has the full story on his friends encounter, he just had me load the pics.

Look at where the lugs were. Looks like it was pretty brittle doesn't it? Maybe a little too much heat treatment, and casued it to get overaly hard? When he told me this it blew my mind, don't think of this ever happening....

 

Brenden

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This isn't my bolt/problem.lol. Rod has the full story on his friends encounter, he just had me load the pics.

Look at where the lugs were. Looks like it was pretty brittle doesn't it? Maybe a little too much heat treatment, and casued it to get overaly hard? When he told me this it blew my mind, don't think of this ever happening....

 

Brenden

 

It looks very much like it was heated (during handle alteration?) and then quenched.

I've had 2 bolts that I OA welded the handles and they subsequently snap off. The metal looked exactly like that.

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You boys dodged a big one there. There is no reason to abuse a Mauser bolt like that when altering a bolt handle. You absolutely need to protect the lugs and the cocking cam from the heat. I don't know if it was ignorance or laziness, but it could have ended up a bit more tragically than it did.

 

 

 

I would revisit the load used too.

 

 

 

Spiris

 

Go back and re-read Spiris. The above story was a bunch of BS that Tanglewood and I came up with, just f-ing around. I also stated in my second post that this gun belonged to one of Tanglewoods friends. This isn't my bolt, I didn't weld it, I didn't load it. Just for sake of confusion, I will edit the first post.

Brenden

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Go back and re-read Spiris. The above story was a bunch of BS that Tanglewood and I came up with, just f-ing around. I also stated in my second post that this gun belonged to one of Tanglewoods friends. This isn't my bolt, I didn't weld it, I didn't load it. Just for sake of confusion, I will edit the first post.

Brenden

 

Come on, who's bolt is it really? :P

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BS stories or not, it's a very interesting set of pictures.

 

BOTH locking lugs were sheared during firing. If both lugs were fully engaged, that's a great amount of rearward thrust. I'd be curious to see what the brass case looked like, as well as the receiver ring.

 

I'm very suspicious of the handload... Was the brass case fused to the bolt face? Is the chamber swollen? Did the case head separate? Is the primer pocket enlarged? If yes, then it could have been an overload.

 

If the case came out intact with none of the above issues, I'd be curious to know the metallurgy/heat treatment of the bolt. It could be that that the Yugos (M48, right?) missed the mark on either temperature or the metal source. Annealing or softening would cause gradual setback, not shearing; I'd imagine that the bolt would have been progressively more difficult to open with each shot.

 

Mauser action have a good deal of inherent, design strength. Even softer Mausers seem to hold up well with higher pressured rounds; they stretch more than anything.

 

Will an oily cartridge case do that much damage?

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I'm sorry for letting this post go so long without posting a reply.....been busy at work. As Rod said.......We could hold the bolt during tigging. Not even close to being hot. Rod has welded bolts for me and he will do more. I know that welding was not an issue. If any of you have seen Rods equipment and knowlege on welding then some of the question would not be asked. I am no expert welder...If you want it to hold I can do it. If I want it tobe done correct...I call Rod, as he knows.

 

Back on the subject. My son missed a once in a lifetime Buck. Went to open bolt and no go. Could only open half way.. Took it home and gave it a little help. ejector side totally broke off and other side was cracked and did not take much to take it off. Primer is not popped or cratered or flattened....if anything it is cupped. I will post pics later of case. No bulge nothing fell out after bolt was out. As Rod stated I am very careful.....especially when my children life is at stake. I never drop a load from a measure...only powder being used is on bench and I test every bach myself before my son uses them. Every load is trickled. Cases are eyeballed for same level of powder. I am not saying I don't make mistakes. But I do all checks when loading. This scared the poop out of me. I am no expert and this is why I am asking for ideas of why this would happen.

 

Rod thanks for posting the pics....as I am also computer Stupid.

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The only time I've held a mauser bolt that looked like that was thirty years ago in a friends gunsmith shop. He had built a guy a rifle with Mark X mauser action in some wildcat cartridge, I can't recall the round. The guy was fireforming brass with reduced loads. Wayne, the gunsmith, advised him to use a fast burning rifle powder or even pistol powder for these reduced loads. The guy ignored his advise and used the 4350 he had on hand and destroyed the rifle the first time he pulled the trigger. I've read warnings in a few reloading manuals about under loading slow burning powders but none explain what can happen and the consequenses seem contrary to logic.I'm not suggesting that's what happened here, Polinidad seems to be a knowledgable and careful handloader, just looking at the pictures of that bolt reminded me of that one long ago. GUY

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