Yugo M48A Failure To Eject

[lwaldron]

I got my very first Mauser in the mail, today.
It's an M48A from militaryshooters.com. All numbers match, it looks to be in good condition, bore is shiny and sharp, and it's sure been dipped in Crisco.
But. I was fooling with it a little before I had to run off to work. I put 5 rounds of Yugo 8mm ammo in the magazine to see how it would cycle. (I wasn't actually shooting it, which would be unwise inside my apartment.) It feeds fine, and it extracts okay, but it doesn't eject the round.
As I said, I just got the rifle today, and I haven't had a chance to take it apart and clean it. Will cleaning it help with the failure to eject problem? Or is this rifle screwed up straight out of the box?

 

[azrael]

I had the same problem until I cleaned the crap outta mine..Was shooting it at one of my buds houses and it started doing the same thing...use the search function to get the reciepe on what to use..

 

[TheDutchman]

Yes clean the crap out of it before you pass judgement

http://www.bobtuley.com/mauser/

http://www.surplusrifle.com/yugom48/index.asp

 

[spacemanspiff]

do you mean that the case just sits there in the magwell, on top of the other rounds?

if so, definitely needs to be thoroughly cleaned. but my k98 does the same thing, and i'm pretty sure the extractor needs some tuning/replacement.
its not a big deal.

when you finally do get it cleaned and shoot it, make sure you work that bolt like a man. sometimes, even with my yugo m48, it takes a little while before it positively ejects the empty. if you adjust the way you work the bolt, you can over come that though.
for example, as your right hand turns the bolt up, let your left hand twist the rifle to the right. as you pull the bolt back, it should be at enough of an angle for the empty to fall out thanks to gravity. then as you push the bolt back in you twist the rifle back to the left.
it does help shorten the time between shots. that is, if you are working to be able to take as many shots lee harvey oswald supposedly took in a short amount of time.

 

[Trebor]

Two things:

1. Always dissassemble, degrease, clean and lube any surplus rifle before doing a function test and especially before firing. The cosmo makes a difference.

2. It is a BAD idea to function check with live ammo, unless at a range pointed in a safe direction. It's an especially bad idea when the gun is full of cosmoline, as the grease can keep parts from moving correctly and, if the firing pin is stuck forward, could cause an accidental discharge. Buy some dummy rounds for function checking or load your own with empty cases that you then mark.

 

[VG]

Trebor makes very sound points.

If it like the ones I got, you will find the bolt full of preservative as well, and the bolt will not function.

Surplusrifle.com has very useful instructions on dissasembling the rifle, and bolt.

I'm still cooking the oil out of one.

 

[lwaldron]

Many Thanks To All Who Chimed In With Help

It's about 3:15a Saturday, Pacific time, and I just got done cleaning the new rifle. Living in an apartment, I simply don't have the tools and space I need to free the barrel from the stock without damage, but I did what I could.
This brings my complement of rifles up to five:
a Chinese SKS
a Mosin-Nagant M91/30, 1925 hex Izhevsk
an M-1 Garand, SA SG probably '55 or so
an SVT-40, 1943 Tula
and of course, this M48A
I know there'll be more cosmo to come, but it seems like I got an awful lot of cosmoline out of there. It was a brown form of cosmo... not the greenish stuff that was on my SKS when I bought that, 10 years ago. The greenish stuff seemed easier to remove, even though there was more of it. This brown/yellow cosmo in the M48A was/will be stubborn.
When I cleaned the bore, I got some copper out, using Hoppes' copper solvent. I'm sure there's more in there, but I'll work on it more after I've fired the gun. The bore is CRISPY!! It looks great, and I can't wait to put a few rounds down-range. The muzzle is sharp.
I still have to clean up the accessories that came in the package... the bayonet is bathed in cosmo. And I'll have to figure out what's best to use to clean and refinish the leather sling and frog. Both look like they've seen plenty of wear.
The leather cartridge case is clean and supple. Some Yugoslav soldier named Pjetraj Kastriot wrote his name on the case with what appears to be ink-pen.
A few observations:
No carvings in the stock. It's kind of rough-textured. Wish I knew anything at all about wood. Mine seems like a medium dark brown, with a grain pattern that runs lengthwise down the stock. Very little in the way of dings or scratches.
The bluing's almost perfect. There are a few scratches, especially around areas where one might apply leverage to pull things apart (like the retaining bands). There's a very discreet import marking. Not a CAI billboard. The importer is Cherry's. I've seen them mentioned occaisionaly in various forums, but I don't know if they're still in business, or if they have a website.
The rifle seems SHORT. Compared to the MN/91-39 or the SVT, it's an absolute stump. It also seems light in weight. Tomorrow (today) I'll pull out my SKS and do a hand-to-hand and see which one I think is heavier.
I think I'm going to like this rifle.