8mm Mauser surplus ammo problem

[virgomoon]

I ordered some 8mm mauser ammo that, according to the website, is 1950's yugoslavian production. The site and the ammo got good reviews and it was a good price, so I bought some.

I have a turkish 8mm mauser that I've used modern ammo in quite a bit (Wolf Gold 8mm mauser 196gr) with no problems. The problem came when I tried this surplus ammo. NONE of the 10 we tried in it fired. We got what appear to be good dimpling on the primer, but no boom-boom. I called a local gunshop and the fellow there suggested that these might be repackaged machine gun rounds and that the firing pin isn't hitting hard enough to cause detonation. I've provided 2 pictures below. IMG_0307 is the Wolf (modern) ammo after firing. IMG_0308 is the surplus showing the dimple, but didn't fire. The other picture is of the packaging box and printing.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike40-11]

I just picked up a crate of what seems to be the same ammo as in your second and third picture from ammoman. The stuff in your first picture is different. Those look like good hard primer strikes. The second pic though, looks like light strikes.

I have yet to have a round fail to go off out of around a hundred fired.

[virgomoon]

So do you think I need to have the gun looked at? Can the firing pin be made to strike harder/deeper? Would this affect how it performed with the modern ammo?

[JP357]

Hey Virgomoon,
I had the same problem with my Spanish 43 and the Yugo ammo. I was used to shooting Romanian ammo which have pretty soft primer with no problems. The 1950's Yugo has hard primers. I got a new firing pin spring from Wolff Springs and now every shot goes bang with the Yugo ammo. If you don't want your Yugo stuff I'll take it.
Try a new spring you'll be happier. JP