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Today I shot 40 rounds (2 boxes of HSM 30-06 Springfield 180 gr ammo) with my old sporting Mauser (Gew 98 with K98 bolt and Remington RA 2-44 barrel). I recently purchase the rifle through this forum and the deal included few boxes of 30-06 factory ammo including 2 boxes of HSM brand. Last week I shot 40 rounds of Federal 180 gr and the rifle was performing great, smooth action and accurate. However, I had a serious problem today with the HSM ammo. The first box of 20 rounds was all smooth and everything was perfect. However, when I started using the second box of the same ammo, about every 3rd shot was not correct. When I pulled the trigger, I could hear "click" and then the rifle fired (delayed action). The shots were accurate, but I could feel much more recoil and it just did not feel right. However, being kind of risk taker (I am adrenaline junky), I kept shooting until I finished all the rounds. The last shot was the creasiest. It was delayed and the primer was blown, and the rifle felt it was going to disintegrate. I had to pull the bolt really hard to eject the last shell. Here I posted some pictures of the cartridges including the one that had its primer blown. My question is simple. Is this 100% ammo related (I asked 3 people so far and all 3 said it is ammo issue), or could it be rifle related (firing pin issue)? I still have few 30-06 ammo boxes, various brands. I am concened to shoot the rifle if the problem is firing pin related. I can easily buy another firing pin and spring and replace them. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Dan

Ammo#1.jpg Ammo#2.jpg Ammo#3.jpg
 
It's the ammo. Your firing pin wouldn't have anything to do with how hard it kicks. Old/bad primers and wrong powder or wrong charge of the right powder blew that primer out. Good thing Mauser actions are strong, but they have their limits too. Firing dubious ammo can cost you anything from your rifle up to your eyesight or worse. Maybe consider a different venue for your thrill seeking. AND I would certainly contact HSM and let them know what happened while using their ammo.

ETA Looking at those cases they appear to have PMC as the headstamp. Are those reloads/remanufactured ammo?
Were these sold as NEW ammo?
 
It's the ammo. Your firing pin wouldn't have anything to do with how hard it kicks. Old/bad primers and wrong powder or wrong charge of the right powder blew that primer out. Good thing Mauser actions are strong, but they have their limits too. Firing dubious ammo can cost you anything from your rifle up to your eyesight or worse. Maybe consider a different venue for your thrill seeking. AND I would certainly contact HSM and let them know what happened while using their ammo.
Thank you very much for your input. I will contact HSM and see what they say. I got one more box of HSM, but I won't shoot them. Maybe HSM might offer to replace the box. The cartridges are old judging from the box. Interestingly, I found some posts on hunting forums with some people having the same issue with HSM ammo, but a different gr (mine are 180 gr and I read a couple of complains about 165 gr).
 
PMC brass in a HSM box...looks like you shot someone's hand loads that were pretty hot.
I do not know much about the origin of these loads. The guy who sold me the rifle included few boxes of the ammo with the deal. I was convinced they were factory loads.
 
PMC brass in a HSM box...looks like you shot someone's hand loads that were pretty hot.
Thank for noticing that. How do I recognize hand load from factory ammo. Lately I have been buying ammo from people on this forum, so knowing how to recognize hand loads from factory loads would be very useful to me, especially in terms of safety.
 
Hangfires would be an ammo issue, the primers don't look flattened like there is too much pressure so who knows. But yeah, I would run it by HSM and see if that is even something they loaded.
 
I do not know much about the origin of these loads. The guy who sold me the rifle included few boxes of the ammo with the deal. I was convinced they were factory loads.
HSM doesn't use PMC brass, at least I've never seen any.

Blowing the primers out of the pocket, and a deep crater on the primers are indicative of high pressure.
 
Thank for noticing that. How do I recognize hand load from factory ammo. Lately I have been buying ammo from people on this forum, so knowing how to recognize hand loads from factory loads would be very useful to me, especially in terms of safety.
Look at the brass from the ones that shot just fine. See what the headstamps are on those.
 
Federal Classic that I shot last week have FC stamped. I got 3 boxes of HSM and all of these 3 boxes have PMC stamped in the back. Let me take some pictures and post here.
 

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