Yugo M24/47 Mauser...tell me things and stuff.

[Oldcarjunkie]

Oh and to the OP and other 8mm newbies..
If you find some Turk 8mm, remember its ok in a bolt gun but supposedly too hot fr a semi auto. also a lot of the old Turk or yugo might not go off first try, if it doesn't ..wait 30 sec before opening bolt. A lot of the time the old ammo hang fires. You can re cock the bolt on the same round and it will most likely go off second try. Just make sure you wait if it don't go off right away you don't want to open the bolt when it's going off.

 

[kazan182]

Samco also sells surplus Iranian 8mm mauser ammo. Unsure of how good it is. I remember looking it up and read mixed reviews. Most complained about the packing methods for the loose ammo. 400/$120

"Caliber 8mm Mauser (7.92mm) Ball. Manufactured in Iran in 1950's when Iran was a friend and strong ally of the United States. Brass cases, FMJ, 198 gr., Lead core, Corrosive, Berdan, Packed, Loose"

http://www.samcoglobal.com/Ammo-8mm.html

Someone here probably knows a lot more about it.

 

[yellowsled]

Idk about the ammo, but I would love to have the crate. That is cool

 

[CasualObserver]

Samco also sells surplus Iranian 8mm mauser ammo. Unsure of how good it is. I remember looking it up and read mixed reviews. Most complained about the packing methods for the loose ammo. 400/$120

"Caliber 8mm Mauser (7.92mm) Ball. Manufactured in Iran in 1950's when Iran was a friend and strong ally of the United States. Brass cases, FMJ, 198 gr., Lead core, Corrosive, Berdan, Packed, Loose"

http://www.samcoglobal.com/Ammo-8mm.html

Someone here probably knows a lot more about it.

I read enough to scare me away from it. Been looking for some Yugo at a reasonable price... until them I'll just shoot some Privi P I have stashed away.

 

[waterdog]

Got some of that Iranian stuff, and yes - alot of hangfires. It will scare the heebeezeebies out of you. A few FTFs as well. When it does go off, it seems pretty accurate.
One good thing, it will cure you fron a finching habit if you have one.

Have some if you are close to Southern Maryland I can let you have if your interested.

 

[Machodoc]

"I will NOT get interested in Swiss rifles!"
"I will NOT get interested in Japanese rifles!"

Why do I feel like I need to write those on the black board 1,000 times each?

 

[Bravo757]

Catch the Mauser Bug - I Dare Ya... and I gurantee You'll love IT!

Who said one Mauser leads to many many more? That's hogwash - One Mauser leads to dozens and dozens more - especially when you buy the Yugo's for less than a buck and a quarter.. OK used to buy them that cheap or cheaper. I love trolling auctions for a good one that no one else was on. I've even sporterized a few and they all shot better than I expected - plenty of bet takers at the range look at one of my old girls and just know the old stuff can't be as accurate as there brand new $750.00 plus plus plus guaranteed sub minute of angle wonder gun and what you know.... they knew how to make a really good rifle back then too.

You absolutely must take some time to learn about the reason the Yugoslavian's had all these Mausers in country in the first place....

Once upon a time in a soon-to-be-communist land far far away, a dictator with a little mustache came a knocking and invaded our poor little country. But this little enclave decided not to stay a Hitler slave and gathered as many arms as they could, organized as well as they were able and became the only German occupied country to kick out the German's without major allied help - actually they had almost no help from the allies. But the little country that could - realized that it's future safety was not going to be as easily taken as it was by Hitler's boys.

So they decided to stockpile a rifle and as many as 200 rounds for every person over a certain age could have the ability to arm themselves and fight back another invasion from the start.

They went to the old stockpiles of Mausers that Former King Karrol had made and delivered in the 20's, the Model of 1924. In 1947 they began to refurbish these rifles, many had been used against the Germans to the point of wearing the rifling out of the barrels, these arsenal refurbished rifle are the model 24/47's. One of the steps to refurbish these rifles was to scrub the receivers clean of the old Markings on the top of the receiver. They were ground down to make a place for the Country’s new marking. On some examples you can see the original marks and serial numbers where they didn’t grind them completely away. I think they’re great. You can trace the history of the receiver back to its original FN build date in Belgium.

The Mauser Model of 1924 was a designed commissioned by King Karrol because he wanted a unique Mauser Version for his country. The uniqueness comes in the form of a "Large Ring Receiver" outside diameter but a small ring receiver length which equates to just at a quarter of an inch shorter receiver length than the Mauser 98. So the Model 1924 was the first of a long line of Yugoslavian "Large Ring - Intermediate Length Mausers" This configuration/design was a personal favorite of Mr. Paul Mauser himself, who on any number of occasions attempted to sell the idea to buyers on the very real merit that the shorter length equated to a slightly more rigid receiver which in turn produced slightly better accuracy. But it was Fabrique Nationale who gets the credit for standardizing the design and actually building it - Mauser proposed a shorter length receiver as the best to build a sniper rifle on - he also was a pioneer in barrel harmonics - the real reason for the steps in the Mauser barrels.

Anyways, there just wasn't enough 24/47's to fill Yugoslavia's goal so the powers that be decided to buy an entire Belgium FN Mauser factory and have it shipped into country. This factory was setup and started to produce what else but "Large ring intermediate length" Mauser Rifles - that year was 1948... so enter the Yugoslavian Model '48. These were new built rifles with specific features like a stock strong enough to fight with - notice the extra thick wrist in the stocks and some of the best built barrels produced for a military gun of any time. They were never meant to be show guns but they served as the fighter they were meant to be. Unfortunately the proof of how good a battle rifle the model '48 was came from their use in the Yugoslavian civil war/wars depending on the religion.

On about 1949-50 they made a slight design change to save some money but the changes were in the form of stamped trigger-guard assemblies. In 1951-ish some were made for export to other countries and there's one batch made for the Egyptians that was never delivered and they have no stamp on the receiver - they're called the B.O. Model which stands for without markings. These are a collector piece in their own right. I'm lucky enough to own one of these that were part of the sample sent to Egypt for evaluation to close up the deal.

Then in 1952 looking for cheaper ways to keep making guns to store for if-and-in-the-event-of-invasion they came across another stockpile of those old Model 1924's. Well off to refurbishing and these became the Model...you guessed it 24/52 and they don't pop up to often but a great piece to have for the history of it all.

So who gets the award for longest running production of Mauser bolt action rifles…….The Country formerly known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which became just Yugoslavia, which morphed into The peoples Republic of Yugoslavia, That sorta split into Bosnia Herzegovina (sp?) that was by some known as Slovekia and is Now Serbia. But whatever the country is called there’s a lot of history in them-thar rifles.

Anyways Mausers are still being made in the same city - Kragujevac where the whole thing started for them. Today that city’s in Serbia and the name of the company is Zastava.

 

[Chaunsey]

awesome write up!


although you also forgot to mention the yugo captured and reworked k98's

mausers are definitely a hell of a disease, there are more variations than anyone could ever possibly hope to own...and yet i hope to own them anyway.

 

[Threeband]

Great write up, Bravo. You really tempt me to amass more and more Mausers.



But to clarify:

Once upon a time in a communist land far far away a dictator with a little mustache came a knocking and invaded our poor little country. But this little communist enclave decided not to stay a a Hitler slave

Um, ... the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was not communist before the war.

 

[Bravo757]

awesome write up!


although you also forgot to mention the yugo captured and reworked k98's

mausers are definitely a hell of a disease, there are more variations than anyone could ever possibly hope to own...and yet i hope to own them anyway.

Excellent Point and You're Absolutely Correct My Friend - those captured K98's are a great story in and of themselves - again I love the Yugo/Mauser history

 

[Bravo757]

Speaking of history - two of my favorite Mausers are ones that lived in many countries over the years - I'm trying to get pictures but I can't get the light right for you all to see the stamping - there real faint.

Anyways on started life as a Model 1924, King Karrol Crest was then scrubbed for refurbish to 24/47 but that crest was real light and then Israel crossed it out and put the small Star of David on it - it now has a Norwegian made K98 barrel and a reworked Brazilian stock complete with gap in the back because of the shorted receiver - that's why i was able to get - everyone else that picked it up just saw a bad stock job but missed all the history. The other just a barreld action but is a Borcheswalde factory made in 1918 - which may have been used in WWI and then reworked to K98 for WWII evidenced by a new German serial number added and then also made its way into Israel and it has the big pretty Star of David crest on it - its wearing a near perfect K98 style 7.62 barrel that was put in most likely in Israel bu the just think a receiver that was definitely intended for use in Hitler's Army, may have been used in WWI and them found its way into a Jewish Armory - Imagine the stories it could tell and all the passport stamps it would have.

 

[Threeband]

I have long thought those Israeli K98s are very cool, partly for the ironic history you mention, and also for the practical rebarreling in 7.62 NATO. Are they all right for commercial .308, or does it vary from gun to gun, depending on headspacing?

 

[Chaunsey]

ive got an israeli myself that i restored, came to me in terrible shape but a good price for a project.

its one of the FN contract israelis though, not a rework.

these rifles are chambered for 7.62 nato, which has a lower pressure than .308 specs.


that said, these are proper 98 mauser actions and should be perfectly safe even with .308 loads.

though personally, i would still try to stick to 7.62 or soft .308 loads, because even if safe, it may wear out the rifle faster to shoot what is essentially overpressure rounds in it constantly.

 

[Bravo757]

But to clarify:

Um, ... the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was not communist before the war.

Yes - but the story wouldn't have flowed as well - No But Seriously point well taken - Its nice to see someone know history - we need more of that.

 

[Threeband]

Once upon a time in a mountainous land far far away a dictator with a little mustache came a knocking and invaded our poor little country. But the fiercely defiant people of this rugged land were determined not to become the slaves of Hitler and gathered as many arms as they could...


Something like that?

 

[Bravo757]

Um, ... the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was not communist before the war.

... But the story wouldn't have flowed as nice - No Seriously... I appreciate the Point of History

 

[Bravo757]

I have long thought those Israeli K98s are very cool, partly for the ironic history you mention, and also for the practical rebarreling in 7.62 NATO. Are they all right for commercial .308, or does it vary from gun to gun, depending on headspacing?

All individual headspacing - the best of the old girls have their own "personalities" - and that's why we love 'em so much - well at least that applies to me.

And Chausey's on it - the Mauser is one tough old gal by design. Given proper headspace, any large ring Mauser - full or intermediate length - will handle as much as, or in some cases much more pressure than most anything else made then or now.

For what its worth, I won't shoot commercial ammo except to get some brass if needed, I'm a helpless handloader. I work up individual loads for all my shooters and I've found they all shoot great when loaded to a range of about 87-93% of what my manuals average out to maximum. So the pressure issues of 7.62 Nato vs. .308 Winchester are sorta lost to me plus if you're ever concerned about pressure problems there's more and more "Low pressure" commercial ammo available - - OK I mean manufactured and advertised but it too falls under the same high demand/empty shelve problem we have

Here's a safety issue - always slug a milsurp barrel. This goes far beyond the old "Standard" 8mm vs the "Newer Standard" 7.92x57mmJ or JS or just S confusion - I'm talking all milsurp barrels. Best advice I ever got and I took the guy words to heart one boring day and I found a wide range of diameters. And they did not correspond to wear and use. Some of the best looking/new perfectly new barrels measured the biggest and some of the almost sewer pipes measured the smallest - just a few weird cases over the years. This mystery took a while to figure out. When it came to the Israeli 7.62 rifles I have, and one is a Norwegian made barrel and its just beautiful pristine but measured 7.53 - crazy right??!! Norwegian made anything enjoys a great reputation of precision. One of the other 7.62's again beautiful pristine "new" looking measures 7.79... what the fruitcake!!!???? Well come to find it was all about availability then too - the Israeli's were buying everything they could get there hands on - even seconds and full well understood the pressure issues but relied on the strength of the Mauser design.

At any rate when production quality falls second to production for war time need the results can be less than one-size fits all so be careful and work from actual measurements.

On the flip side, in my experience the Yugo's have great overall tolerances and I mean from the model 1924's straight on to the 24/52's, the B.O.'s and even the captured K98's - if the Yugos put the barrel on then its a good barrel dimensionally. At least by my measurements - combine that with the slugging parties I've had with a couple good friends over the years and its been dozens and dozens measured. And generally to the barrel the measurements will follow wear and usage. The biggest variations have been examples from Israel, next best Germany and then all the Norwegian barrels, save that one that was sold to Israel I have, are so perfect its ridiculous. Most of them have been chambered in 30-06.

 

[DennisCA]

Classic Arms has some too:
http://www.classicfirearms.com/c-r-eligible/m2452crifle
BTW - Here's mine:

I love mine - one thing though any distance under 200 yards (mine at least)
tends to shoot high.
I did recently replace the firing pin spring, I was getting a lot of "soft-strikes".
Which wasn't that hard, just went to youtube and watched a couple of video's.

 

[Bravo757]

In Mauser's Own Words...

Hey Folks - if anybody is even remotely interested in Mauser Rifles - check out what the man said himself

http://www.paul-mauser-archive.com/index.htmHey Folks - if anybody is even remo... http://www.paul-mauser-archive.com/index.htm

 

[Bravo757]

DennisCA - shooting high is exactly what's it's supposed to do - its a front sight height issue - look around and you'll see front sights made to correct that little "non-battlefield" problem - but you'll have to search for K98 sights.