[Barbade]

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I just purchased a Yugo. Model 48A labeled in "Military new condition". This is my first Mauser. I say first because after seeing this one I am definitely going to buy another.

I have to say that I am in awe of its condition. Military new it is. Along with ALL of its Original Factory matching serial numbers on all four rifle parts.
Bolt, receiver, stock and floor plate. The rifle looks as it was made. The bluing is almost as it was in made in "43". No scratches no marring just a good bluing. The stock is in mint condition. Not a dent or ding any ware on the teak. W/ Cleaning rod and front site hood, leather sling with brass studs and leather covered keeper plate.
Plus it came with ALL original accessories that was issued at the time to German soldiers. A unissued and unused bayonet. (I put the first scratches on it by drawing it in and out of its scabbard) beautiful condition. The teak is in factory new condition not a mark on it. Orig. Leather frog, Orig. ammo pouches (2), Orig cleaning kit with the hard to find spring loaded steel Muzzle bore guide. All in new original condition.
I had to post this info because I am desperate for some feed back on this kind of rifle in this kind of condition. I have been buying and collecting guns for over thirty years and this is the first one to peak my interest in a while.
Well not really my M1 puts a hell of a smile on my face.

Anyway any and all feed back is welcome. I also bought some Romanian ammo. 154gr. on strippers. They say they are NON corrosive but I take that with a grain of salt and clean with Eds Red. Works great.

Thanks all, Semper Fi mac

 

[Big Dog]

New indeed. The vast majority of these rifles were made in the '90's, using unissued spare parts and new wood. The receivers are dated in the '40's, but that's not when the guns were assembled. They were assembled specifically for the US collector market. Some were later used in Clinton's dirty little Balkan war adventure, but they have no WWII provenance. Still, I like my M48A, from the standpoint of a good looking shooter.

 

[Dale]

I have both the M48 and 48A and both are primo guns.

What can I say??? They're great and in great condition.

I bought both for $85.00 each...................Remington...Winchester.......SAKO......Savage....all youse guys...beat that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yepper....fer sure!

 

[Barbade]

Hey Big Dog,
Thanks for the reply. It came with a cert. of auth. from Mitchell's Mausers. www.mitchellsales.com

According to them these rifles were kept in storage only to be removed every five or ten years to be inspected, lubed, test fired and then packed away again. They guarantee that these rifles are complete as they were made in the 1940's. The parts are all orig. and the wood is as old as the rifle itself. It's impregnated with preservative. You can see the way parts of this rifle are caked with layers of old grease. I respect your opinion, especially since this is my first Mauser but I believe this to be an orig. Yugo/Serbia M48A.
Question. What tends you to believe that this particular rifle is a mass import. And I know it did not see WWII .

Thanks, again

 

[nlinc]

These rifles entered production in 1948 (Thus M48). Not a lot is known about when each specific rifle was produced, since the rifles aren't dated (the 1943 part is just a crest, and if yours says Preduzece 44, thats just a factory name, and may be in Cyrillic lettering). a LOT more info can be found HERE The historian for the Zastava arsenal posts (or has posted) there. It's the most comprehensive information I've been able to find.

 

[Big Dog]

While Mitchell's Mausers do have some very nice guns, conditionwise, the Mauser guys on many forums have serious issues with Mitchell's . . . uh . . . imaginative descriptions of their rifles. Some have used the 'L' word. Many other vendor's have rifles just as good for half the price. And they don't mistakenly equate them as being the same thing as Kar98K's, which Mitchell's has done in their ads.
The M48 is a very nice rifle, but IS NOT a WWII rifle, and is a quite diferent action from the Kar98k. Parts don't interchange.
Doc AV on Gunboards made the following posting, on the subject of the Yugo Mausers and Mitchell's practices:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aside from the Deceptive and Misleading advertizing in the Mitchell's ads (which probably a good shyster lawyer could say was "not Misleading etc"), the Zastava Rifles offered (M48/24 and M48/63 are basically reworks (or assembly) of M48 Intermediate action Mausers in two different barrel lengths and stock styles. The M48/24 is exactly that. The M48 assembled with a M24 FN style stock ( copy of the original Yugo M24 style.)

The M48/63 is simply a copy of the FN Gendarmerie carbine (M24 style again) with shorter barrel, rear sights and stock.

Basically Both rifles are just a "Re-edition" of existing models of another era.

As to the BS in the Mitchell's Ads, the machinery was all FN supplied in the 1920s ( and most of that came from varied sources, such as WW I german reparations etc, but also from elsewhere (Belgium, Switzerland, USA, England etc);
None of it was supplied to "Serbia" ( Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1940s, Federal republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 onwards.
(The "Crest date of 1943 found on all Post war new and refurbished M24s, 24/47, 48 and M98/48 rifles out of Yugoslavia: Implying that the "Crest date of 1943" signifies "manufacture by German occupiers" is just plain ignorance.
Serbia became an independant state onbly in the 1990s, when they finally realised that Yugoslavia was dead and gone. (Serbia caesaed to exist as an independant country in 1914-15 when overrun by the Austro-Hungarian Army.
The most glaring misrepresentation is "German K98-M48"....speaks for itself. The M48 was a developmental upgrade of the Yugoslav M24 design, originally a FN M24 (intermediate receiver design...totally different from the German (sic) "K98"...if you want a "K98" go to Poland, or pay thousands of dollars for an original "Kar 98" ( 18 inch barrel) with 1900-1905 dates....

As to "German quality" because of the supposedly "German machinery" used ( what about the Workers, were they German too ??( I thought this was in Wartime Yugoslavia, according to the previous BS...).

As P T Barnum said back in the 1890s "There's one born every minute"

and also, more pertinently, "You can make Bank on the eternal gulliblity of the American Public"

Barnum knew what he was talking about.

Regards, Doc AV

 

[gunssb]

Also came across a lot of interesting and angry posts about the so-called "Tanker" Yugo :nod:
Well in their defense at least they don't stamp little waffeamtps all over a Yugo :insane:

 

[Big Dog]

I'm not knocking the Yugo - I love mine! I just want the owners to know the true history of these guns, and not think they have something they don't.
That's the beauty of collecting Mausers - so many different kinds, with differing histories. All valid collector pieces , even if they weren't used in the Siege of Stalingrad.

 

[Barbade]

Alright Big Dog, gentleman and I use that term loosely. I'm totally confused.... What the Hell do I have. Will it shoot? Is it a good strong rifle? Is it a piece of !!!!!. Why is it so good "new" looking and is it Military new? I'm totally confused as to what the hell I have.... Is it worth anything.
I don't mean allot but is it worth near what I paid for it and all its accessories. Which are brand new. Everythinh I listed above is brand new for that era.
Don't get me wrong I am not rich but I did not think paying $290. bucks for a good shooting rifle of that era was bad. Especially one that I thought is that old. (is it) I'm confused. give me a valium. Thanks guys

 

[gunssb]

Hey! take it easy I'm sure it will shoot pretty good especially since the bore must be in pretty good condition. It's just that collectors get anal about the war history of firearms - it's because they are collectors and want a collectible piece with actual war history. Hope you enjoy your gun :right:

 

[Big Dog]

Whoa, B - no probs! It's a good rifle, and should shoot very well. And you couldn't buy a sporter of that overall quality for anything approaching the price. :right:

I have found that military rifles seem to prefer the ammo of their own nation. Ie., my Yugo M48A likes Yugo 8mm ammo, while my Turk '03 likes the hotter Turk ammo. Makes since, as the sights are calibrated for the ammo their soldiers would use. Turk ammo tends to shoot high in my Yugo M48A.

 

[Barbade]

I've since calmed down since my last post and realized that I did buy a good rifle in great working order. With yes a VG bore and I realize what I bought was not a WWII battle field pickup. I just wanted to own a piece of history. I think the World War II generation was the last greatest generation. The people who fought and died to me are all heroes. I got a little crazy in my last post sorry about that.
But I WILL research a little better before I buy my next Mauser. Actually I looking to buy a nice SKS.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Yugoslavian_Model_59_66_7_62x39_SKS_Rifle.html

This Mauser is my first import. My cache consists of Garands, M1's, AR's even some older 1878 rifles and a lot of in betweens. Actually I've lost count. Like I said this is my first European rifle and I do not want it to be my last. Thanks all

O yea how do you post a pic. When I go to the insert image button it asks me for a "text to be formatted"???

 

[rebel727]

O yea how do you post a pic. When I go to the insert image button it asks me for a "text to be formatted"???

You have to register at a host site. I use picture trail but there's a lot of hosts out there. With picture trail you just upload your pics then move them to your folder. When you're ready to post a pic go to picture trail and click image url's you will then be directed to your folder and will be shown your pics, below each pic you will have two lines of text. The top one is the one you want. left click to highlight, right click and copy. Then come back here and where it asks for text to be formatted right click and paste.

 

[Big Dog]

Barbade, the Russian and Yugo-capture K98's are a good inexpensive way to get a WWII Mauser. They are refurbed, but if you're lucky, they will still retain some or all of their markings. Often though, the Nazi eagle marks are scrubbed. My buddy has a nice '42 dated K98 Russian capture.
The Yugo M59/66 SKS is my favorite type of SKS. You can pay extra and get the unissued guns, but I got one that was used in the Balkan War. It has the typical 'grafitti' the troops carved on their guns there. Still shoots great too! It's got loads more 'character' than my commercial-market Norinco SKS.

 

[gunssb]

Yup - Yugos with the "Preduzece 44" mark are true K98s so have history :right: From the few examples I've seen, for some reason the Yugos seem to be more thorough in their efforts to get rid of Nazi or Waffe inspection symbols (they were scrubbed off from everywhere even the barrel bands) compared to the Russians (who seem to usually just ping the swats & didn't seem to care much about inspection marks) :hmmm:

 

[gunssb]

No problem :right:

 

[MakarovManic]

More on the Yugo M98/48's

Yup - Yugos with the "Preduzece 44" mark are true K98s so have history :right: From the few examples I've seen, for some reason the Yugos seem to be more thorough in their efforts to get rid of Nazi or Waffe inspection symbols (they were scrubbed off from everywhere even the barrel bands) compared to the Russians (who seem to usually just ping the swats & didn't seem to care much about inspection marks) :hmmm:

The Yugoslavians were extreme in removing any German markings from the M98/48. HOWEVER, every once in a while, you will find one (as I did), that had inspector's stamps, waffenmants in a far greater quantity on this particular K98. A beautiful weapon, very nice bore, excellent accuracy (there's a lot more I could say, but you get the idea). This particular K98 is second only to one that I have with no import marks that you can *feel* the history oozing from the wood and metal.

---MakarovManic

 

[save99]

hi yes just wondering where i can find a straight round barrel for my m48 in 8mm.

 

[toolman]

hi yes just wondering where i can find a straight round barrel for my m48 in 8mm.

Are you meaning a non-stepped sporter-type barrel? If so, you can find them pretty often on E-Bay and also @ Brownells - World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools and MidwayUSA - Shooting Supplies, Reloading, Gun Parts, Ammunition, Rifle Scopes & Airguns. There are a lot of other places but these are the biggest players selection-wise.

 

[waltham41]

Another good Mauser, if you do not mind long guns is the 1903 Turkish mauser. It is possible that the one you get was used against the British in the battle of Gallipoli in WWI.

You can get one of them for under 100 bucks and it is easy to see that they have not been rearsenaled. Most of them have little blueing left, but many are very good shooters. The wood is a toss up, you may get great wood, or poor wood.
Watch out for companies trying to give you the "these are special rifles never to be seen again" speil and trying to sell them for 300 bucks.

It is best to try and personally look at one before buying.

I have 2 and I love them.

I also have 2 of the Turkish Mausers that were made during WWII but they stayed neutral and those rifles were most probably not used in combat.