The Yugoslavian Mauser

[my-rifle]

A year or so ago I decided that I should pick up one of the German wartime K98 Mausers. I was afraid that they would disappear if I didn't move, so I bought one. Liking the Mausers I decided to try one of the Yugoslavian ones. I ordered a Yugoslavian M24/47 and received a gorgeous rifle with really finely machined bolt and receiver. This is a lot better than the wartime Mausers from Germany. One of the things that makes them so nice is that they were made in 1924, and used during the Second World War, but they were re-arsenaled in 1947, and their barrels for the most part replaced just in time for Yugoslavia to switch to the AK-47. The rifles have been sitting in arsenals since then, and they're in great condition.

The best thing about them is they're about $100 - $120, and they're quite accurate having mostly new barrels. Don't overlook these rifles. They're good enough for the civilian shooter.

 

[BR 870]

This is the same action that the Rem 700 and other bolt actions have essentailly modified, correct? What is their capacity and caliber?
Sorry, I know very little about the Mauser, except the lauded "Mauser action"...

 

[my-rifle]

Actually with the exception of the Lee-Enfield line, the Mauser receiver is the model on which almost all modern bolt-action rifles are based. Later models have improvements, but I saw a Savage 7mm this Sunday that had an easily recognizable action - a Mauser. The pure Mauser design has a port on the side of the bolt sleeve which will allow gasses from a malfunction explosion to vent safely away from the shooter's face. His design has three locking lugs to hold the bolt firmly and safely in place during the explosion. The original design is one that you will recognize immediately, but the Yugoslavians machined it to very close tolerances, and the result is a smooth action that reminds me of the commercial actions on new rifles today. These things are sweet. A word of warning though. The firing pins are like gold - you can't get one to save your soul. Even though they're big beefy pieces of steel, when they snap you have to look all over to find a replacement.t

 

[Nomad.2nd]

I wanted to buy one for some time, but insted I put back 6,000-8,000 rounds of 8mm.

I figured I'd be able to buy one cheap when no one could get ammo!

 

[BR 870]

So what caliber are we talkin? Is it easy to get surplus/bulk?

 

[my-rifle]

It's 8mm, and that's the down-side of almost all Mausers - they're 8mm. 8mm is mostly no longer sold at surplus. Think about it though as a .308.. You have to actually PAY for the ammo, but it's a blast to shoot.

On the other hand, RGuns has it for $60 per 200 rounds on a linked belt.

Nomad that's what I did too. Funny. 10,000 rounds doesn't seem like much, does it?

 

[BR 870]

It's 8mm, and that's the down-side of almost all Mausers - they're 8mm. 8mm is mostly no longer sold at surplus. Think about it though as a .308.. You have to actually PAY for the ammo, but it's a blast to shoot.

On the other hand, RGuns has it for $60 per 200 rounds on a linked belt.

Nomad that's what I did too. Funny. 10,000 rounds doesn't seem like much, does it?

NM... My habit has already outgorwn my means as is. If it had been LESS than 5.45 cheap, I'da considered it, but as is I cannot afford another expensive caliber...

 

[Nomad.2nd]

I

Nomad that's what I did too. Funny. 10,000 rounds doesn't seem like much, does it?

Nope, I got 21-22 (440 round) cans of 54R...
Wishing it was more.

I almost bought a pallet when I bought those ($30 per tin delivered), but couldn't find a place to store it!

 

[Dave328]

NM... My habit has already outgorwn my means as is. If it had been LESS than 5.45 cheap, I'da considered it, but as is I cannot afford another expensive caliber...

But, you can reload 8mm. Brass,dies,etc are all readily available. When I shoot my '42 Kar98k I usually only put <50 rnds downrange. That's an easy reload session. My Mauser is one of my favorite guns to shoot!

 

[Screaming Eagle]

I've got several 8mm rifles and a Yugo 48A is one of them. Turk 8mm are nice too with the long barrel. Very accurate. I took the warnings about 8mm ammo seriously last summer and stocked up on what I could which amounts to several thousand rounds still crated. Great guns. Ammo is corrosive so pay attention to careful and swift cleaning. Other than that it's great. Most of the trajectories I've figured look like a 3" drop at 250 yards even without adjusting the rear sight for distance. 8mm is still available since it's used as a hunting round in Europe. It's just more expensive as a hunting round. And you can still find some 'relative' deals on ammo. AIM surplus has some in case you're interested.

 

[my-rifle]

Nope, I got 21-22 (440 round) cans of 54R...
Wishing it was more.

I almost bought a pallet when I bought those ($30 per tin delivered), but couldn't find a place to store it!

Nomad, Are you looking to buy 7.62x54mm? It's available now - the brass-cased Bulgarian and steel-cased Albanian (read Russian) ammo in 440-round tins for $75. I just ordered four tins of it along with four tins of 5.45mm. With all the hyperbole flying around about the "gummit" outlawing all bullets, the prices are rising, and I want mine before it gets too bad. I'm right at 10,000 rounds of 7.62x54mm. I want to be at 15,000 before the price makes it unreasonable. I don't want to end up paying $315 per tin like the 8mm ammo mentioned above.

 

[my-rifle]

NM... My habit has already outgorwn my means as is. If it had been LESS than 5.45 cheap, I'da considered it, but as is I cannot afford another expensive caliber...

If you don't like AK's I doubt you'd like battle rifles. They tend to be beat-up, and they usually come with no guarantee of bore condition. You have to just love old guns, and unless I miss my guess (as I often do) you seem to prefer the newer ones - right?

I buy the old "cracked-stock" ones from Century often as not. They come really cheaply, and usually the only thing wrong with them is a spliced stock which works perfectly well. My $49 Yugoslavian Mauser I got for the firing pin which I wanted to use to replace same on an M24/47. Turned out the gun they sent me was an all-matching M48. Needless to say I bought another "cracked stock" special to get the firing pin. That one was a "2-for" deal at $40 per gun. They came in, and one has a beautiful bore, while the other was not-so-beautiful. Oh well. In the end I bought three replacement firing pins, and I ended up with four Yugoslavian Mausers.

 

[Nomad.2nd]

Nomad, Are you looking to buy 7.62x54mm? It's available now - the brass-cased Bulgarian and steel-cased Albanian (read Russian) ammo in 440-round tins for $75. I just ordered four tins of it along with four tins of 5.45mm. With all the hyperbole flying around about the "gummit" outlawing all bullets, the prices are rising, and I want mine before it gets too bad. I'm right at 10,000 rounds of 7.62x54mm. I want to be at 15,000 before the price makes it unreasonable. I don't want to end up paying $315 per tin like the 8mm ammo mentioned above.

I know it is... It's on the list (A little more)
(Sighs and remembers the old price)

It's NOT however gonna go the way of the 8mm any time soon.

The PKM is one of the best, and most widely used beltfed's out there...
and it's chambered in 7.62x54.

It may get more expensive, but it'll be avalable.

 

[BR 870]

If you don't like AK's I doubt you'd like battle rifles. They tend to be beat-up, and they usually come with no guarantee of bore condition. You have to just love old guns, and unless I miss my guess (as I often do) you seem to prefer the newer ones - right?

I buy the old "cracked-stock" ones from Century often as not. They come really cheaply, and usually the only thing wrong with them is a spliced stock which works perfectly well. My $49 Yugoslavian Mauser I got for the firing pin which I wanted to use to replace same on an M24/47. Turned out the gun they sent me was an all-matching M48. Needless to say I bought another "cracked stock" special to get the firing pin. That one was a "2-for" deal at $40 per gun. They came in, and one has a beautiful bore, while the other was not-so-beautiful. Oh well. In the end I bought three replacement firing pins, and I ended up with four Yugoslavian Mausers.

I never said I don't like AKs. I own 4 for a reason...
I will admit I do have a certain level of fit and finish I like though. I doubt I'd be able to tolerate a gun with cracked stocks. But a service grade (to borrow the CMP term) or better is perfectly acceptable to me...
Oh, and yes, a shot out bore would be a deal breaker IMO. The gun doesn't need to be new, but I would be more than willing to pay more to make sure it was hand selected and had a good bore, no pitting, and funtional internals. Severe pitting, an eroded throat, smooth bore are not really my bag. Kinda like buying a car with 200,000 miles on it. It might drive, but all the best years are gone already...

 

[SJDigriz]

I've been able to scrounge up Turk 8mm at the last few shows I made (Tupelo and Birmingham), it's still out there at reasonable prices.

 

[my-rifle]

I never said I don't like AKs. I own 4 for a reason...
I will admit I do have a certain level of fit and finish I like though. I doubt I'd be able to tolerate a gun with cracked stocks. But a service grade (to borrow the CMP term) or better is perfectly acceptable to me...
Oh, and yes, a shot out bore would be a deal breaker IMO. The gun doesn't need to be new, but I would be more than willing to pay more to make sure it was hand selected and had a good bore, no pitting, and funtional internals. Severe pitting, an eroded throat, smooth bore are not really my bag. Kinda like buying a car with 200,000 miles on it. It might drive, but all the best years are gone already...

That's what I mean. Milsurp would probably not be your bag. You buy them for their history, not necessarily their accuracy. The internet vendors never grade bores. They do this for a reason. You take the bore that's underneath the cosmoline they left in there.

SJDigriz, where do you find Turkish 8mm? I gave up on the gun shows, because the prices were always outrageously high, as if they were used to selling to people who don't know about the internet.

 

[BR 870]

That's what I mean. Milsurp would probably not be your bag. You buy them for their history, not necessarily their accuracy. The internet vendors never grade bores. They do this for a reason. You take the bore that's underneath the cosmoline they left in there.

SJDigriz, where do you find Turkish 8mm? I gave up on the gun shows, because the prices were always outrageously high, as if they were used to selling to people who don't know about the internet.

So none do a grading system like the CMP Garands, where the upper grades have good bores?

 

[SJDigriz]

SJDigriz, where do you find Turkish 8mm? I gave up on the gun shows, because the prices were always outrageously high, as if they were used to selling to people who don't know about the internet.

Two of the shows in Tupelo, MS, since Christmas, a guy from Oxford had a couple thousand rounds on bandoliers, he brought about half to each show. Got lucky last month in Birmingham also.

Probably blind luck more than anything else. It wasn't dirt cheap either, $12-14 per bandoleer, the stuff in MS was cheaper.

Anyhow, enough to keep the Mausers fed through the summer.

 

[my-rifle]

So none do a grading system like the CMP Garands, where the upper grades have good bores?

None that I've seen, though I have seen a few sites that buy and sell individual rifles for high dollar prices. You'll expect to pay several hundred for a Mosin-Nagant with a guaranteed bore (though not accuracy), when Mosin-Nagants generally go for about $80 without the guarantee. I haven't even seen German K98 Mausers sold that way, because most of them are Russian captures with mixed parts. Persian, Turkish, Argentine, or Chilean Mausers I've seen sold that way, but they come pretty dear. American arms I have hardly seen sold at all on the surplus market. The market for U.S. arms has been artificially inflated to the point that I don't even look at it anymore.

 

[Screaming Eagle]

I know where a 1916 Danzig GEW98 is for sale. Looks to me like it's in good shape, smooth action, nice wood, appears to be a clean bore. Guy wants $145 for it. PM me if you're interested. I picked up a K98az at a pawn shop for $125. Had to replace the firing pin spring (hey, if I was 85 years old you'd have to replace some of my parts too) but was otherwise in great shape. GI bringback from WWI. They didn't know what they had. I've at least got a clue. It's got markings indicating that it was in a Police or Palace Guard unit which might explain part of the reason some guy wanted to bring it back.