One of my salemen took his father's custom .308 on a mauser 98 action to his son up in Oregon the other day. Gun travels fine on the plane and all that good stuff. Then they went to the range... first round and the reciever BLOWS UP. Luckily, the kid didn't get any of the blast. My salesmen, however, not so lucky. He took one piece of reciever to the arm (penetrated about an inch) and a nice hunk of the reciever ended up 2-3 inches in his belly. Thank goodness he's a fatter feller or it would have been one nasty gut-shot.

Check those old guns out guys!

Barrel Obstruction ? Mauser is a strong action

Thanks for the heads up

X2

They're strong by design, but sometimes only as good as the metallurgy. I wonder how much it'd cost to Magnaflux a barreled action

It probably wouldnt be much to have a barreled action x-rayed/magnaflux. We send off skid spools all the time to have the metal/welds tested before we assemble water/co2 injection systems.

There was NO obstruction in the barrel prior to it leaving Texas. I personally looked the gun over. Only thing i can think of is that drilling/tapping of the reciever was done improperly and thus resulted in the failure. Either that or the bolt was not completely closed when the gun was discharged. Either way.... an heirloom gun is destroyed, but at least everyone is safe.

Handloads?

Nope. Factory (don't know which ones exactly) loads.

Are you sure it was a Mauser 98. Those are known to be built like tanks.

The Mauser 98 is my action of choice for customs. I have 2 customs built on a BRNO and a GEW action. I also just finished one for Stickchunker on here in 257 Wby. Kimber's original rifles were also built on Mauser 98 and 96 actions.

Unless it was a Turkish 98 I doubt a 308 would rupture the receiver unless some other forces were at work. My bet is that it was a 95 or an old old 96.

Can you provide pictures?

Gun was a cz-brno vz24. I know these are tank actions, have one that I was going to build but this has got me thinking. I dont have any pictures of the gun (it's not mine) and i believe my salesman left it up in Oregon with his son.

I wouldn't hesitate to build a custom on a mauser 98. Something was wrong with that gun or user. Wrong ammo, are you sure it was a .308, excessive headspace, bore obstruction, etc...

Had it been successfully fired previously? Were there any modifications prior to the accident if so? I have an argentine 1909 receiver on my rechambered 30-06 and can't imagine something like that happening without a major malfunction somewhere.

I'm unsure of how long it had been since the gun had been discharged. 15+ years I assume.

Wonder when the last time that barrel was cleaned? Wonder if an old coating of oil that is dried and stiff could cause what is like a barrel obstruction? Just thinking outside the box

Did the receiver blow up? Or was it the barrel?

reciever where barrel threads into it.

I would send the remaining ammo back to the manufacturer and have it analyzed. Not saying a l.r. Mauser couldn't have a problem, but it's rare. I'm also wondering if the gun hadn't been fired with over-pressure loads in the past and had stress fracturing of the receiver ring. Lots of variables to consider. I had a Sellier & Belloit 7.62x54R load slam the cocking piece of my SAKO M-39 into my thumb after a primer ruptured. Reed's Custom Ammo in OKC traded me out of the rest of the box and later determined that the powder was old and deteriorating (probably surplus powder), causing a severe over-pressure condition.