8mm Mauser help

[bproffer]

I know absolutely nothing about C&R Rifles other than I bought a Mosin Nagant 91/30 from Big 5 years ago...

Anyways, I bought a 8mm Mauser a couple years back because it seemed like a good deal and basically forgot about it. I have never shot it and it appears to have been shot very little. Importer mark on the barrel says Zastava Yugoslavia. The date on the crest is 1943 and under the crest says M48A. That's all I know other than it appears to be in great condition other than a few small scratches on one part of the stock.

Anyways, if I could get some info on the rifle such as origin, value, etc...that would be great!

[bproffer]

This last photo shows the only scratches in the stock...



Thanks for the info!

[GDM]

M48 A has a stamped butt plate. I have a plain m48. Wonderful Mauser. It was made after ww2 if I remember correctly.

[emcon5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M48_Mauser

[watt79]

The date on the crest is unrelated to the rifles date of manufacture. As far as I know, there is no reliable way to pinpoint when these rifles were made.

[Emdawg]

Don't know much about, huh? Well you don't need it, so just let me take it from you. I love Mausers.

Anyways, the M48 series of mausers were from Yugoslavia. During WWII the Kingdom of Yugoslavia got overrun by the Nazis. The Yugoslavian weapons plants (Zastava) were forced to make K98s for the German war machine. After the war, the Yugoslavians (now a Commie state) decided to use the leftover German tooling to make their own rifles. From 1948 until the mid 50's they made the M48 rifles, which had begun to be phased out by the AK series of automatic rifles.

Very nice rifles. Love mine.

It shoots standard 8mm (8x57) mauser. That particular rifle might fetch anywhere from $250 to $400. All depends how much you want to let it go for and if someone wants to buy it. It looks to be in excellent shape, so you should get what you ask. Then again it is a M48A, so the quality of metalwork is not the same as in the M48. Not much of a difference, but it is there.

If you don't want it, then I'm the man.

[GeeDog]

Love my M48BO. You should get yourself a nice bayo, a bunch of ammo an shoot that thing. I was hitting one gallon jugs at 100+ yards shooting off-hand the first time I took mine out. They're really nice guns.

[bproffer]

Love my M48BO. You should get yourself a nice bayo, a bunch of ammo an shoot that thing. I was hitting one gallon jugs at 100+ yards shooting off-hand the first time I took mine out. They're really nice guns.

You mean like this one?

It is in great shape as well, but the serial # doesn't match the rifle.

[GeeDog]

That is a nice one. Now you just need to get that scabbard into that frog.

[bproffer]

OK, so what about the VZ24? Says R guns is the importer. How does this compare to the M48A? I noticed the floor plate has a different ser. # than the rest of the rifle, and the ser# on the bolt seems to be engraved with an etching pen. So is one more desirable than the other? If you were going to use one as a shooter and the other as a safe queen, which one and why?

[GeeDog]

I don't have a VZ24 so I can't compare and contrast. But truthfully, I don't believe in safe queens. I've got 17 guns and shoot them all. Of course, none of mine are so rare or valuable (other than to me) where I'd worry about putting rounds through them regularly. But I would like to add a VZ24 to the collection. I like the short barreled rifles. BTW: Looks like you need a capture screw for it.

[bproffer]

I had to look up what a capture screw was, lol. Yep. Appears mine is missing.

[Emdawg]

The Vz24 is the Czech version of the G98. They made those for their own use and export to other countries that bought them. It is hard to see one in good shape like yours in this day and age.

They are quality rifles and were some of the best non-German mausers.

[Syntax Error]

Another thing to note is that the Vz 24 (Czech-made Mauser derivative) has parts compatibility with the original Gewehr 98/Karabiner 98k, but the Yugoslavian M48 does not as it's about a centimeter shorter in the action and bolt, rendering those parts incompatible with German/Czech/Belgian-made Mausers.

[Emdawg]

Another thing to note is that the Vz 24 (Czech-made Mauser derivative) has parts compatibility with the original Gewehr 98/Karabiner 98k, but the Yugoslavian M48 does not as it's about a centimeter shorter in the action and bolt, rendering those parts incompatible with German/Czech/Belgian-made Mausers.

Very very true. Never mix parts with a M48 off other mausers.