Is it possible that some snarky folks go through life with full Huggies trying to enlighten others?
I said something like that; it went something like: Discerning fact from fiction or truth from nonsense". I was not making an attempt to appeal to the same group of members you are trying to impress.
I ask why did I save the bolt bodies from the 3 busted bolts? I said nothing about the sky falling or the trauma caused by a laying my head next to the rifle when firing. We had a member that was demanding attention and demeaning other members for the effort or lack of effort.
And I marvel at the genius Paul Mauser. He developed the third safety lug. Not a problem for me but he cleverly installed it out of sight. I have never found a Mauser 98 that had the third safety lug supporting the bolt meaning the 2 front lugs did not contact the receiver. I can determine the clearance with a bolt that has the front lugs removed; and of course there are other methods and or techniques.
Fact or fiction: Response to the cracked and or sheared lugs do not indicate catastrophic failure, For reloaders that are expert on the Mauser should understand the broken bolt and or sheared lugs will not put the bolt into the face of the shooter. There is a chance the case will not suffer case head separation; case head separation is not considered catastrophic failure.
I knew when I started no one on this forum would know how much clearance the third had.
And then
, there is always "and then" there are catastrophic failures. meaning the shooter will have other problems that could include cracked and or sheared bolt lugs. When that happen the gas escape system gets involved.
And then many years ago the 03 experts got belligerent; Springfield designed the 03 with a third lug (I know, Springfield insisted they never saw a 98 Mauser), I was impressed with the Springfield third lug. The 3 Lug stuck out on the right rear side of the receiver ahead of the rear receiver ring. No one noticed but I found I could measure the difference between the rear lug making contact after the front lugs made contact.
And then I noticed when checking the length of the chamber from the shoulder of the chamber to the bolt face all that was required was a feeler gage. It was about that time the 03 experts got belligerent; their thinking? If it was that easy and simple why didn't Hatcher notice.
After that the experts insisted it was necessary to strip the bolt; I could not understand why; if they were experts they did not have test bolts. I am not the expert but I do have 30+ Springfield bolts and I have test bolts, strange looking creatures. They were made from unfinished HO bolts.
F. Guffey
