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Went to try out my 08 this weekend and had several 4th position stoppages. The ammo I used is the 1970s Romanian that I thought did so well in the Maxims. Please take a look at the pics of the some the rounds that failed to fire and see if you agree it was the ammo? From left to right the markings are the rounds are
22 over 75
22 over 78
22 over 78
22 over 72
22 over 75
The ammo came from sealed tins I just opened.

It takes a good strong firing pin spring and a firing pin that is not worn down along with an extractor that holds the cartridge well and doesn't let it flop up and down. The Romanian in my experience is easier to set off than the Yugo, but it's military ammo so the primers are going to be tougher than walmart stuff. The romy is good ammo in my experience so I must guess the fault is somewhere in the previously described lock components.

Some of the 1970's dated Romanian LPS is starting to show it's age in primer sensitivity. In proper condition, the primers should have ignited with the strikes shown. The primer cups are seated well onto the case anvil by the blow of the FP. They will probably fire if struck a second time. I have various lots that I have shot for years that are now showing signs of some misfires. The lot consisted of 120+ cases and has been very good ammo overall. JH

Yeah its a bit hard to see how hard of a hit that actually is... but it looks like it should have been enough to set off the round. The other thing is you show us 5 rounds... out of how many? If you fired 100K rounds and got 5, no big deal. If you fired 10 rounds and had 5... well thats a very different story?

Check and make sure your lock is firing correctly and not being fired off the safety sear. Make sure the trigger lever is releasing the firing pin when it the FP hits.

Yeah try running the rounds again, see if they fire. If the rounds are duds... well no FP spring tension would set them off. You need to see if the round is good but not hit hard enough (Either hard primers or weak FP...etc) or is the round just bad.

Haak, I had a similar situation and had an 08 that was striking what appeared well leaving good dimples in the primers but was getting lots of misfires. Belted the remaining case in browning belts and ran through a 1917 without a single hiccup. Changed the lock in the 08 and it ran the ammo without incident. I have since switched my shooter maxims and vickers to 54, but I still have a huge pile of romy and 70"s yugo 8mm. I hope it hasn't started to deteriorate.

Blitz out of 350 rounds had about 30 fail to fire like in pics.

I would suspect the lock until the ammo has been proven to be bad. That is opposite of what normally should be done, but that's my hunch. Do you have a Mauser you can try the above pictured ammo in or anything else in 8mm to see if it fires?

My plan is to head back to the range this coming weekend with a good k98 to try the ammo plus a different lock in the 08 to see what happens.

Sounds like a good plan. If the 8mm fires in the Mauser... well then your lock is not getting the job done. If 10% are duds... well the maxim is not at fault then.

I'd say change the lock too and try that out, how did it work in the 98K?

Here's my $.02….
Read through the string and 08 owners are pretty familiar with the issues of light strikes and other failure-to-fire ailments. I would offer one correction, which is that on full-auto the lock fires only from the "safety sear", contrary to what one poster noted. The first round fires by release of the firing pin from retracting the the "hand sear", with the safety sear compressed by the stirrup, and auto fire is from the safety sear releasing the firing pin when the stirrup rises fully and trips that sear for each round. In auto fire the hand sear must be retracted by the trigger bar for the safety sear to allow FA fire. Bending or filing the tang of the safety sear can be used to advance or retard the timing of the release of the firing pin on auto fire. However, in my experience it is rare for an 08 lock to be out of time. The only situation where the timing will affect primer imprint is if the firing pin is released really early, in which case it hits the inside of the firing pin hole wall in the extractor and usually will break. Hitting the extractor will slow the firing pin, of course, giving a light strike. Evidence of firing pin hitting the extractor can only be seen if the extractor is disassembled from the lock. However, your pin is intact and many rounds have been fired, so it is unlikely.
Recessed primers often contribute to light strikes, as will long headspace, and adding to the possible failures are worn and compromised lock springs in 08s.
Send me your lock and I will convert it to use the Russian 1910 Maxim firing pin and spring. The Russian firing pins project slightly further from the face of the extractor and the springs deliver a mighty punch. Good cure for what ails MG08 locks.
If interested e-mail me off board at: bmg17a1@gmail.com
FWIW

Bob Naess

bmg17a1 wrote:Here's my $.02….
Read through the string and 08 owners are pretty familiar with the issues of light strikes and other failure-to-fire ailments. I would offer one correction, which is that on full-auto the lock fires only from the "safety sear", contrary to what one poster noted. The first round fires by release of the firing pin from retracting the the "hand sear", with the safety sear compressed by the stirrup, and auto fire is from the safety sear releasing the firing pin when the stirrup rises fully and trips that sear for each round. In auto fire the hand sear must be retracted by the trigger bar for the safety sear to allow FA fire. ...
Bob Naess

Bob, Very good point, you are right, my logic was off there. Thanks for correcting it.

First of all thank you everyone for the help and of course I will have plenty more questions to come. I changed out locks, fired 1,500 rounds of the 70s Romanian, and only had 1 jam this past weekend. Bob is there any way I could ask your assistance in taking a look at the lock that was giving me trouble and see with your expertise if you can repair it easily? I do have 4 locks and a spare barrel for the conversion to 7.62 if that will work? I will post a few videos soon of my humble little 08 working well do to the help on this forum! Lastly the k98 fired all of the Romanian just fine as everyone most likely guessed by now from reading the last few post.

MrMilo wrote:First of all thank you everyone for the help and of course I will have plenty more questions to come. I changed out locks, fired 1,500 rounds of the 70s Romanian, and only had 1 jam this past weekend. Bob is there any way I could ask your assistance in taking a look at the lock that was giving me trouble and see with your expertise if you can repair it easily? I do have 4 locks and a spare barrel for the conversion to 7.62 if that will work? I will post a few videos soon of my humble little 08 working well do to the help on this forum! Lastly the k98 fired all of the Romanian just fine as everyone most likely guessed by now from reading the last few post.

Good, its pretty clearly the lock then!

I think Bob normally converts Russian/Finnish 1910 Maxim parts for use in the MG08 7.62 conversion. At least I had him do mine. Its been working great and saves me tons of money. Worth every penny and Bob did a great job on it as normal.

MrMilo wrote:First of all thank you everyone for the help and of course I will have plenty more questions to come. I changed out locks, fired 1,500 rounds of the 70s Romanian, and only had 1 jam this past weekend. Bob is there any way I could ask your assistance in taking a look at the lock that was giving me trouble and see with your expertise if you can repair it easily? I do have 4 locks and a spare barrel for the conversion to 7.62 if that will work? I will post a few videos soon of my humble little 08 working well do to the help on this forum! Lastly the k98 fired all of the Romanian just fine as everyone most likely guessed by now from reading the last few post.

Glad it is working like it should. Enjoy your maxim. They have no equal!