Turkish Mauser, cut down to 17 inches, made into a sort of scout rifle, as much as a 5 shot 8mm can be with iron sights.  Still has the straight bolt, which I don’t plan on changing, but I do plan on eventually refinishing or varnishing the stock.

A bunch of really old Turkish ammo sold in the blue gray bandoleers with the silver bullets.  I usually get 7-9 out of 10 good fires, the other ones about 50-50 will go on a 2nd or 3rd primer strike, newer 8mm (German I think, green lacquer case from a spam can) fires 10 out of 10, so I’m guessing it’s just the old ammo?

I don't know if the bore is any account and you don't say how it shoots but if any good, you have one heck of a compact 300 meter rifle for all occasions.  Your failure to fire is doubtless due to the old and poor quality Turk Ammo unless radically out of headspace.  I doubt that as the Mauser has a death grip on the case rim and a main spring that would work in a tank suspension system.  Great gun.

Even with the tiny irons, I was ringing 12” steel at 100 yards two weeks ago standing.  I need to bench it and test accuracy.

Age alone is not a factor. Marginal original quality plus decades of less than ideal storage mY equal misfires/ duds/ hangfires

I have shot lots of 100+ year old ammo that shot fine.

Nothing wrong with the quality of those Turk Mausers.

A stronger firing pin spring solved this problem on my Mauser.

I was referring to the ammo not the gun

Worth consideration, although it COULD be inconsistent ignition due to poor storage or some other issue with the ammo. I'd try it in another Mauser and replace the firing pin spring with a Wolf spring in this rifle if the ammo works in other rifles.

I've generally had almost perfect ignition with Turk ammo, in a verity of Mausers, even the stuff that had loose necks and shitty brass. Without some testing, though, I'm just guessing.

I don't know what it is but I've had the worst luck with surplus 8mm being duds/hangfires. I've gotten to where I tear most of it down and reload the powder and bullet into a newly primed case. The only 8mm I have in my stash that is surefire is 1970's Yugo and 1970's Romanian. The 50's Yugo, Bulgarian, Czech, Ethiopian and I'm sure I'm missing a couple of others is mostly toast at this point.

I've never had issues with 54R though and I've shot stuff dating back to the 40's.

Pretty much my experience as well, the Turk in green bando's being pretty good as well.

only 8mm I have had problems with is the Romanian steel cases. They don't seal in the chamber and blow gas back in your face. Even the bad 50's Yugo was fine. I have been collecting and shooting 8mm since about 1990. I have had just about every type of surplus out there. My favorite was Greek 1938-9 made by the Nazi's.

What year of Turkish ammo?  I've shot a lot of different years and have never had a single failure to fire.

Did you remove the striker and inspect for debris?

I have about 600 rounds of Turk 8mm, and no 8mm rifle. I am looking for a cheap 8mm rifle to burn up the ammo, then sell of the rifle.

Yeah, I’ve had the bolt apart and everything seems to be good.  New manufacture S&B is 100%, the spam can green lacquer casings are 90 to 100% and the 1 out of 10 always goes on a 2nd strike.  The 1947(?) Turkish goes anywhere from 6-9 of 10 okay, and then it’s 50-50 for a 2nd or 3rd strike, about 1 in 20 seems to be a total dud, but in another M48 the failure rate was less with the Turkish, but I sold that rifle, so I have no way of comparing anymore.  

I just put a stronger firing pin spring in it, so I will report back when I get it to the range.

Can’t get much cheaper than this one, bought it back 20+ years ago when Big 5 was blowing them out for $60, then it cost me $60 (IIRC) to have the barrel cut and crowned and the sight put back on.

I'm sure the rifle is fine. There was a time when I was reading some forum,

I don't remember which forum, where people were refinishing the stocks

and they were gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful grain.

That ammo on the other hand is terrible.

I bought a few bandoleers of it at a gun show, just as you described with the

silver bullet.

After firing a few I had to use a mallet to open the bolt on my K98 and the recoil

was very heavy. I pulled all the bullets and found them to be crimped so hard

that the bullet looked like it was wearing a skirt but that didn't help it from moving

around in the case mouth and I was able to twist them and even pull some out just

with my fingers. I weighed the powder charge and if I remember correctly it was

54 to 58 grains of whatever powder was in the case. That powder was dumped on my lawn

but I saved the bullets (Cupro-Nickel I think they are) and I still have them.

Maybe I'll try to resize them into a useable shape or just use them for my slingshot.

Should have just moved it to new brass as it is the issue with the Turk 8mm

There's a reason they were blowing out turk 8mm for $40 a case back in the day.  

That said, if you want a life of excitement, try some indian 303 which is filled with cordite.

Your rifle your choice but myself I would just do the Boiled linseed oil deal and call it good. More layers and more rubbing and to a point you get more shine .

To me a super high shine poly type finish on a mil-surp looks odd.