6.5x55 mauser Custom

hobo9650

I recently bought a the mauser from a well known auction site. According to ad rifle was perfect and pictures showed everything normal. Received the rifle, looked it over = normal. Two days later took it out for a test run. BAD. 1st shot normal with commercial ammo 139 gr. 2nd shot blew out primer and darken one-fourth of headstamp (this was not noticed until after the last (3rd shot). 3rd shot blew out primer and darkened ONE HALF of headstamp. Not other issues found with brass. Confusing since the no blown primer on 1st shot and blacken headstamps on shot 2 & 3.

Attempts to contact seller (had three day inspection including firing & return if buyer paid shipping. Seller has closed his account on auction site and wont ans emails.

So I am now the owner of a custom mauser. Any suggestions on cause of problem. (No qualified gunsmiths in this area). Could a tight bore have anything to do with it. The barrel looks new inside and & out. The is no slack with the bolt (tight).

Note: I have fired some of the ammo in the same box in another rifle and all is well.

charliemeyer007

Maybe no throating reamer. Smoke the bullet with soot near the case, chamber and extract, look for scratches in soot from rifleing. Mike the neck of loaded case and a shot one.

edit Good plan to wait for hands on help. You could try and check for excessive headspace with a loaded round and a/several layer(s) of like Aluminium foil disks placed on bolt held vertically, then the round, assembly is inserted into action and try and close the bolt. You see if one of those fired rounds will fit in a different 6.5. You got any friends with 00 buck, soft .323/8mm could be rolled between two steel plates to get nearer to 6.5 to slug the bore.

asphalt cowboy

I first would suspect firing pin protrusion is excessive or the pin tip does not have a proper radius. Either sharp or flat will pierce primers.

sandwarrior

First, when you say blown out primer, do you mean a hole in it? Or, did the primer get loosened and fall out of the cup? The former might mean changing the firing pin, the second is you could have a slew of problems.

The slew of problems the second part is excessive headspace or too tight of a load which builds up too much pressure. Considering most commercial Mauser loads (6.5x55 included) are way down on the pressure list here specifically because of old rifles and different headspaces. The best way to cure that is to download the cartridges.

So, do as charliemeyer007 said and mark the bullet with either smoke or as I do with a sharpie. Mark the neck as well. That way you can see if the bullet is hitting the lands or if the neck is hitting the throat. Each will cause a pressure spike.

For excess head space smoke or sharpie the shoulder and chamber the round several times to see where it his on the shoulder. You should have a brass line showing through on the top of your shoulder somewhere.

-Good luck

tsr1965

As Sandwarrior says, being "CUSTOM", could be a slew of things.

One thing not mentioned, does there happen to be a dimension like "0.28x" marked on the barrel near the chamber? If so, it has been target reemed for use with neck turned cases. It might be like this, with no marking, too...especially if it has been rebarreled. Or it could be a short throat for shooting lighter bullets.

We need some pictures of the fired cases, to be more accurate in our evaluation.

Best

hobo9650

When I say primer is blown out. I mean blown all the way (it's completely gone) on the second and third shot.

I smoked a bullet and shoulders, cycled it 10 times and a total of 3 light scratches on the bullet about 3/8 " from the neck case. Did not show until about the 5th cycle. OAL is 3.0945. These are factory 6.5 Norma Index No 20. 139gr SPPBT. Checked the remaining rounds in box and found variations 3.0730 to 3.0945 (all above Lymann specs). Lymann 49th shows 140 gr OAL 3.050 with 129 & 100 gr even shorter. The diagram on the 6.55x55 shows OLA 3.15

Will search for shorter ammo, cycle a several times and if no brass showing, fire a couple (safety concerns in effect) and proceed from there. Gunshow next weekend and will take my caliphers with me.

I know there are very knowledgeable people on here and didn't think I would recieve a reply for a couple days. Thanks guys for your info, your advice is golden, and I realize that there may be other problems with this jewel.

Deer season open last Sat and now I will go back to my reliable 30-06.

rufe-snow

The seller disappearing off the face of the earth isn't a good sign. Trying remote diagnosis over the net without a actual hands-on is a waste of time,IMHO.

Take it to a competent riflesmith who has access to 6.5 X 55 headspace gauges, even if he has to rent them. Hopefully there is enough meat on the chamber end of the barrel so that if it has to be cut back and rechambered you won't have to scrap it out. If it turns out iffy see if could be rechambered for 260 Remington which is 5/32 shorter case wise.

hobo9650

Thanks. It is now a wall hanger til I find a good gunsmith.

Manoa-Fisherman

You should consider taking some sort of action against the seller, even though he has "disappeared". The auction website should have some sort of consumer dispute resolution capability so at least there should be some way of going after this seller.

Depending on how payment was made, you should at least be able to get the name of the seller and his residence address. Various payment options give you some options in filing a complaint. For instance, if paid by a VISA or Mastercard, the credit card company may be able to get you some recourse. If you file a complaint, you may be surprised what benefits you may have with the particular card you used for the transaction. If paid by US Postal Money Order, file a compliant with the Postal Inspectors office, it is still a crime to swindle folks using the mail.

Finally, if you get the seller's name, go on to social media sites like Yelp or even {elsewhere} to voice your complaint. Now days, you can run but you can't hid from "Big Brother". Don't be a victim, get even.

jonk

It PROBABLY isn't that the bore is too tight. Nor is it likely that it's a headspace issue, as you'd see a cracked case in the web area just ahead of the head long before it spit primers. It sounds like a gross over pressure situation, which is either being caused by an improper load (unlikely with Norma, but not impossible, these things do happen) or the combination of a slow powder and a bullet jammed right against the lands of the rifling. If you were a handloader, this would be a non-issue, and the seller may well have been a handloader and ergo would have developed a safe load with no issue. So it isn't necissarily his fault- though I agree, non communication is the mark of a shady seller.

I think if you find some ammo with shorter oal your issues will go away. Or again, if you know someone who handloads, have them pull the bullet, reduce the charge by about 5%, seat deep enough so the bullet has at least 1/100" to jump to the lands, and try again. Do NOT just seat the bullets deeper; while that may well be safe, it might also raise pressure in and of itself; work up to that. 5 rounds at 5% less, then increase by half a grain until you work back up to the full load. If no pressure signs at the deeper seat depth, you'd be good to go.

bpost

Cerrosafe the chamber and see if it is a 6.5X55 Swede or some hot-rod gunsmith wildcat from Mars.

The mention of firing pin shape and protrusion has bit me in the past, Make sure the nose of the firing pin is rounded and smooth.

asphalt cowboy

quote:Originally posted by hobo9650
When I say primer is blown out. I mean blown all the way (it's completely gone) on the second and third shot.


More, and better, info.
If you have access to gauge pins check the flash hole diameter on the offending cases as well as the good ones.

I'm going to now lean with others concerning short throat, but don't discount ammo either.