Personal Experiences With Rifles Malfunctioning In The Field

[Major Khan]

Dear brother sports men ,
As part of a survey to gather data for an an upcoming article which l will be writing for African Hunting Forums , l would like each and everyone of you gentlemen ( and ladies ) to list out some times when you had experienced a sporting rifle related malfunction in the field ( or shooting range ) . It could be a failure to feed. It could be a failure to extract the expended cartridge case . It could be a barrel which had it's rifling worn out . It could be a magazine floor plate popping open . It could be anything which you all had the misfortune to experience .
In order to set an example , l will go 1st and list out all of the rifles which l have seen malfunction in the field during my 10 year career as a professional shikaree in Nagpur , India from 1961 to 1970 . Here , they are :
Bolt rifles -
> Post 64 Winchester Model 70 chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Extraction problem
> Post 64 Winchester Model 70 , chambered in .375 Holland & Holland magnum - Extraction problem
> Post 64 Winchester Model 70, chambered in . 338 Winchester magnum - Extraction problem.
> Remington Model 700 , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Extraction problem.
> Remington Model 700 , chambered in .375 Holland & Holland magnum - Extraction problem ( only 1 specimen ) .
> Pre 64 Winchester Model 70 chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Barrel rifling wore out ( only 1 specimen. Other factors suspected to be at play. )
> Pre 64 Winchester Model 70 , chambered in .220 Swift - Barrel with worn out rifling .
> Birmingham Small Arms Emperor rifle ( push feed variety ) chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Extraction problems , magazine floor plates popping open due to shooter's knuckle striking magazine catch ( which is located inside trigger guard ) due to recoil .
>Pre 1960s control round feed Fabrique Nationale Mauser / Browning Safari Hi Power chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Magazine floor plate popping open due to recoil .
> Post 1960s push feed FN Mauser / Browning Safari Hi Power , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Extraction problem , bolt binding up.
> Post 1960s push feed FN Mauser / Browning Safari Hi Power , chambered in .375 Holland & Holland magnum : Extraction problem ( only 1 specimen ) .
> Westley Richards bolt rifle built on pre world war 2 salvaged Mauser 98 action , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum : Magazine floor plate popping open , due to shooter’s knuckle striking magazine catch which was located inside trigger guard ( only 1 specimen ) .
> Holland & Holland bolt rifle , built on Mauser 66 push feed action , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Extraction problem ( only 1 specimen . )
> Various Custom made bolt rifles , built on salvaged military surplus Mauser 98 actions , re barreled to 458 Winchester magnum - Broken magazine follower springs
> Various Custom made bolt rifles , built on salvaged military surplus Mauser 98 actions , chambered in .375 Holland & Holland magnum - Broken magazine follower springs
> Weatherby Mark V , chambered in .460 Weatherby - Extraction problems , magazine floor plates popping open due to recoil .
> Lee Enfield , chambered in .303 British - Barrels with worn out rifling ( never seen in the shikar field and only seen , during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 . Many of these specimens were over 30 years old at the time . )

And a few other bolt rifles , which escapes the top of my mind at the moment .
Lever rifles -
>Winchester Model 1895 , chambered in .405 Winchester - Jam occurring ( only when loaded to full 5 cartridge capacity and lever worked very fast , or if shooter tried to reload partially expended magazine . )

Double barreled rifles-
>Auguste Francotte side by side, chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - double discharging
( only 1 specimen ) .
>Holland & Holland side by side , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum- rimless cartridge getting past extractor .
>Holland & Holland side by side Royal side lock ejector , chambered in .375 Holland & Holland magnum - piece of lock breaking and getting jammed inside the rifle and preventing it from opening ( only 1 specimen ) .
>Westley Richards side by side , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - barrels splitting 3 inches near the end of the muzzles ( only 1 specimen)
>Franz Sodia side by side , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - Incapable of being opened without tools after having Winchester cartridges fired from it ( rifle was regulated for Remington cartridges . )
>Dumoulin side by side , chambered in .458 Winchester magnum - rimless cartridge getting past extractor ( only 1 specimen ) , double discharging .

And a few other double barreled rifles which escape my mind at the moment .

I look forward to all of your excellent input on this survey . It is my desire that this thread may also serve as an archive of sorts , where all the members of African Hunting Forums list down any negative experiences which they have had with any of their rifles during use .
Yours sincerely,
Major Poton Khan ( Retired )
PS : If any of you were also able to identify the root of , and / or remedy the problem in your rifle , then please feel free to share that information as well . It will be most educational.

 

[Mike Van Horn]

Ruger 77, failed to chamber the next round. Ejected spent round but the next one in the magazine was not chambered. Stuck and did not move up . 338 wm
Savage 99 did not eject a round, 250-3000

 

[Major Khan]

Ruger 77, failed to chamber the next round. Ejected spent round but the next one in the magazine was not chambered. Stuck and did not move up . 338 wm
Savage 99 did not eject a round, 250-3000

Thank you so much , Mike. This is exactly the sort of information l need for my survey.

 

[Pondoro]

* Mauser M98 100 year commemorative model in .416 Rigby..magazine floor plate popped open at a shooting range.

* ZKK 602 in .458Win., last (5th) cartridge in magazine detonate when 4th shot fired due to cartridge slamming around (too big Magazine box for .458) and primer hitting a small protuding piece of steel at the back of the box...bullet broke mag. follower in two, pressure blew the magazine open and cracked the stock...spooky..

 

[Major Khan]

* Mauser M98 100 year commemorative model in .416 Rigby..magazine floor plate popped open at a shooting range.

* ZKK 602 in .458Win., last (5th) cartridge in magazine detonate when 4th shot fired due to cartridge slamming around (too big Magazine box for .458) and primer hitting a small protuding piece of steel at the back of the box...bullet broke mag. follower in two, pressure blew the magazine open and cracked the stock...spooky..

View attachment 329913

This is serious , Pondoro . You could have gotten injured or worse ; killed . I am very glad that you were unscathed .
@Kawshik Rahman owns a Brno ZKK 600 bolt rifle , chambered in 7 × 57 mm Mauser calibre. Is there any chance that this could happen with the Brno ZKK 600 bolt rifles as well ?

 

[Wade J VanGinkel]

Only one,.
Remington 700 in 7mm remington mag.
Extraction problems due to worn extractor dropping casings and causing a jam.
Rifle being worked on now actually .

 

[Major Khan]

Only one,.
Remington 700 in 7mm remington mag.
Extraction problems due to worn extractor dropping casings and causing a jam.
Rifle being worked on now actually .

Do let us know when it returns from the gun smith , Wade . I observed the exact same problem in a Remington Model 700 bolt rifle myself 50 years ago. It was a .458 Winchester magnum calibre model.

 

[Opposite Pole]

View attachment 329913

Bloody hell!

 

[Pondoro]

This is serious , Pondoro . You could have gotten injured or worse ; killed . I am very glad that you were unscathed .
@Kawshik Rahman owns a Brno ZKK 600 bolt rifle , chambered in 7 × 57 mm Mauser calibre. Is there any chance that this could happen with the Brno ZKK 600 bolt rifles as well ?

No..this problem occur due to using a huge mag. with a short round as the .458, there has been similar incidents..no such problem with the same rifle in .375H&H..

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I had a Winchester model 70( current production) .375 H&H, have the safety lever break.
My father had a Mauser 98 264 win mag, the bolt stop would fail and you would pull the bolt clean out with the empty case still on the end.
A browning BPS had a brenneke slug hull get stuck in the chamber. I had to hold the slide and slam the butt off the ground to free it. This happened while hunting, and luckily my deer was taken with with one shot. I cleaned it after and it’s never failed again.
I had a browning Hi Power clone fail to extract many times until I replaced the extractor and spring and never had another problem.

 

[Major Khan]

I had a Winchester model 70( current production) .375 H&H, have the safety lever break.
My father had a Mauser 98 264 win mag, the bolt stop would fail and you would pull the bolt clean out with the empty case still on the end.
A browning BPS had a brenneke slug hull get stuck in the chamber. I had to hold the slide and slam the butt off the ground to free it. This happened while hunting, and luckily my deer was taken with with one shot. I cleaned it after and it’s never failed again.
I had a browning Hi Power clone fail to extract. I replaced the extractor and spring and never had another problem.

When you speak of the Browning Hi Power , Master Smith... Do you refer to the 9 mm Parabellum calibre semi automatic pistol , or the Browning Safari Hi Power bolt rifle ?

 

[Wyatt Smith]

9mm pistol Major, I should have been more specific.

 

[Major Khan]

9mm pistol Major, I should have been more specific.

Ah , an excellent pistol , Master Smith. It is the service pistol of the Bangladesh Military . Our police are also expected to phase out the Soviet 7.62 mm Tokarev TT 33 service pistols by the end of this year and have them replaced with the Browning Hi Power 9 mm Parabellum service pistol .

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Savage model 170 failed at times to extract and at times to chamber the following round.

I'm not sure the model perhaps some of our fellow forum members will know, father owned a replica of the British sten gun chambered in .22 long rifle. Fireing pin would seize out causing a chainfire of the remaining cartridges. For safety reasons the gun was disposed of.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I've also had various models of Remington automatic rifles jam 740-742-7400 local hunters I know dubbed them jam-o-matics

From personal experience.308s were more prone to jamming then 30-06s. Perhaps the heavier charge functioned better.

 

[Major Khan]

Savage model 170 failed at times to extract and at times to chamber the following round.

I'm not sure the model perhaps some of our fellow forum members will know, father owned a replica of the British sten gun chambered in .22 long rifle. Fireing pin would seize out causing a chainfire of the remaining cartridges. For safety reasons the gun was disposed of.

What calibre was the Savage Model 170 , Skinnersblade ?

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

30-30 Winchester major I believe the only caliber they were offered in.

 

[Buckdog]

major, I have a question for you please and no disrespect how do you count a shot out barrel or as you say worn out rifling a field problem? that happens over time and lots of rounds??
for your survey I have had 2 broken extractors (one of which was a model 70 post 64 crf extractor) and 1 broken firing pin and one double that liked to double fire, one broken safety. way more scope failures than gun failures.

 

[crudeoildude]

custom made 25=06 on a a3=03 mag floor platte popped open on fireing.used duck tape to finish hunt and replaced catch with no further problems..Savge 110 22=250 locked up upon fireing,found cause to be cases that were not triimed to spec were too long and caused excess pressure learned a lesson about shooting some one elses reloads.

 

[Bullthrower338]

* Mauser M98 100 year commemorative model in .416 Rigby..magazine floor plate popped open at a shooting range.

* ZKK 602 in .458Win., last (5th) cartridge in magazine detonate when 4th shot fired due to cartridge slamming around (too big Magazine box for .458) and primer hitting a small protuding piece of steel at the back of the box...bullet broke mag. follower in two, pressure blew the magazine open and cracked the stock...spooky..

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Holy Shit!!