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I recently acquired a K98, 1944, rifle. It was mismatched parts but looked to be in good condition. I cleaned the rifle and was able to take it to the range yesterday. Things did not go great, and I'm hoping some of you might have some ideas on how to proceed.

1. loading 5 rounds in the mag led to some chambering issues. Basically, the gun was having trouble when the round was on the right side. I'd have to start loading, then back up the bolt and slam it home. When the round was loading from the left side, sometimes it wouldn't pick up the round at all and I'd have to scootch the round up a bit and then the bolt would take it.

2. First go was 5 rounds. Then a few minutes later I started doing four round sets. On the 10 round, the bolt started to stick extracting the cartridge. On the 11th round, it locked hard. Could not get the bolt open at all and eventually had to force it open a couple of hours later in the garage. Doesn't seem to be any damage, and the spent cartridge wasn't warped at all, so not really sure what was going on. My first thought was heat expansion...this is not a matching serial rifle, so perhaps that could be an issue? Clearly this is the main problem and I need to address if I'm going to keep this rifle.

3. The rounds weren't grouping at all. Was firing at 100 yards and it was hitting high and to the left. However, even knowing this, I could not really get any sort of consistent grouping. Granted, I didn't get to fire that many rounds, but I should have seen some grouping once I was correcting with my aim.

Any help at all with the bolt issue would be greatly appreciated. Also, any info on pricing for gun smiths if I have to go that route would also be great. I didn't spend a whole lot on the gun, and don't really want to sink a bunch of money into it.
 
As to a gunsmith, Velsey, on this site, is both competent and reasonable.
He's very well regarded on the forum, and I recommend him. He's a good and friendly guy!
 
Maybe you have early 44 parts mated with late 44 Kriegsmodell parts. Frankly, why I said that is a mystery to me but it popped up in my head.
Just as likely, the Nazi are still messing with us.
 
I feel ya on this! I suspect you may have a few problems here. I would pull the Bolt assembly and check fit a fired case in the bolt face. Some times the Claw extractor on these is out of spec and puts a lot of tension on the case, It also makes it hard to strip a round from the mag and feed! It could also be for the wrong caliber! You should be able to slide a case up into the bolt face with out much resistance. The claw should hold firmly but you should be able to spin the case easily with your fingers. The other problem I would suspect is the wrong caliber shell follower. You can check this by loading one fired case on top of the follower and it should be fairly easy to see if it is too tight when you push it down into the mag, conversely, It could also be too loose and ether would cause feeding problems! If all seems ok with the bolt and shell, leave the shell in the bolt face and re insert the bolt with shell back into the receiver and SLOWLY feed it into the breach and see if you are feeling much resistance, You should have some from the claw engaging the right side of the receiver, but it should be smooth and even. As you close the bolt all the way, it should be steady pressure and no additional resistance should be felt. If all seems ok at this point then you should seek the help of a Smith!
 
Feeding problems seem to be well addressed in the previous post. your extraction problems could be due to a rough chamber or excessive headspace, look for excessive "frosting" on your spent cases and primer condition. plenty of info on both of these online. as far as accuracy, perform the "bullet" test at the muzzle, inset the bullet end of a live round into the muzzle, if it disapears all the way down to the brass, you have a worn muzzle.
the easiest way to cure both extraction and accuracy problems is to get a new barrel. other than that have the chamber polished and the muzzle recrowned after checking headspace, losing about a quarter of an inch at the end of the barrel. seen quite a few of the old 98's put right like this.

if corrosion in thechamber is too bad or it does not headspace, "setting back" the barrel 1 or 2 turns and cutting a fresh chamber may be an option.
 

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