WW2 German Mauser Hsc barely extracts at all.

[Ignition Override]

It was fine driving home from the FTF deal. Operation was normal with a couple rounds, plus with the snap caps being extracted.

Something might have happened later during cleaning, and these "snap caps" Now only come about half way out of the chamber.
Also, they were never scraped up on, and just ahead of the rims when used in the other classic handgun, the Sauer 38H.

The extractor remains flush/even with the external slide surface behind the ejection port. And with light finger pressure, you can feel the ejector move outwards then retract to the flush position.

The plan is to let the gun smith evaluate it, unless there is something else a handgun novice can try without any real chance of worsening the glitch.

 

[Ibmikey]

Many firearms will not cycle snap caps yet will Fire just fine, go out and put a box or two through it before going into melt down. On second thought Mauser HSC (at least post war production) are known for hit and miss feed and extraction/ejection. Before spending money on a gunsmith for what may not be an issue fire the beans out of it....you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[James K]

Remember that a blowback pistol does not need an extractor except to remove an unfired round from the chamber. In firing operation, the pressure pushes the case out of the chamber, the extractor does not pull it.

Also, snap caps (I assume you mean the plastic kind) are often very far off specifications for real ammunition; some are even made NOT to extract, so that the slide can be operated in practice without removing the snap cap.

Jim

 

[RC20]

Hsc as I recall is a bit ammo sensitive as well

I think my brother had one and need to use Super Vel to get it to cycle.

Snap caps are not plastic but metal (at least the Azmoo (SP?) ones I use.

 

[Ignition Override]

The main motivation for using these same snap caps was to avoid the risk of broken firing pins, reported so often with WW2 or post-war Hsc types.

Am still curious as to why the extractor has scraped up these snap caps (painted dark red), but maybe it's normal.
Thanks for the cautious optimism. Just read this at Parallaxandcurio.

The basics of blowback designs are still new to this handgun novice. A guy at work years ago repeated Oddball's remark in Kelly's Heroes "Always the negative ways Moriarty, always...".

 

[silvermane_1]

Ignition Override, FYI it's "negative waves" not ways.

 

[Ignition Override]

silvermane 1: True. It's so hard growing old (59), as in Alzheimer waves, gamma, microwaves, Yuengling beer-soaked brain waves.

James K: I never contemplated (or noticed) that basic fact about blowback guns.
With my Garands, Enfields, Yugo M. and later SKS, the extractors always have a strong grip. But the bolts do all of the work.

I assumed that the smooth snap cap extraction in the Sauer 38H, the other WW2 handgun, would be very similar in this WW2 Mauser handgun.

 

[James K]

In a recoil operated firearm (1911), or in one operated by gas (M1, SKS), the pressure will have dropped when the bolt opens, so an extractor is needed to pull the fired case from the chamber. But in a pure blowback, the breech is locked only by the mass of the breechblock, so it is the pressure of the firing that pushes the case out once the inertia of the breechblock is overcome.

(Note that some blowback pistols have no extractor at all; guns like the Beretta Tomcat have none and an unfired round has to be removed by tipping up the barrel.)

Jim

 

[Ignition Override]

You guys have it figured out. There were no glitches with actual case extractions yesterday. None at all.
Thanks for the responses.

The only slight hang-up now is that during some of the shots, a small push is needed to push the slide forward the last 1/3 rd inch or so.
Even with what feels like a strong recoil spring, a newer spring might solve this (?).