Talk to me about Mausers

[eastwood44mag]

I'm looking at possibly getting one in original, C&R eligible condition.

Right now, I'm debating between German (w/ marks), or the Serbian made from Mitchells. Should I consider a Yugo? I'm looking to spend <$300 on the rifle, so Persians are out of my budget.

Advice?

Thanks.

 

[MikeH]

If you are into history, German Mausers have seen the war. You can get a Russian- or Yugo-captured one in VG or better condition easily within your price range.

Yugo/Bosnian/Serbian M48 were obviously made after the war and promptly put into storage. They make good shooters but are rather lacking in history. Mitchell's is the same Yugo-made Mauser, just prettied up.

 

[jd46561]

If it was my 300.00 to spend , I would get a rare or early code K98 . The parts will be missmatched, but you will have a more valuable and higher quality built Mauser than the Yugo M48.(which can be had for about 160.00 elseware). Mitchels is way over priced. If you want a more accurate rifle? Look into a Swiss k31, Swede m38 , or some of the Finn built rifles, Among others.With 300 bucks you can get a good rifle, take your time look and do some research on other forums. Gunboards.com , Swissrifles.com ,Parallaxbills are some good C&R forums. Good luck.

 

[Fosbery]

For some reason my wife has a problem with that sentence. We climb into bed and she looks at me with an impish grin and when I say "Mmm, talk to me about Mausers" she gets in a mood. Women, I'll never understand them.

 

[Slater]

A few years back, the Yugoslav M48/M48A Mausers could be had in excellent to unissued condition for $150, with all accessories included (bayonet/scabbard, sling, ammo pouch, etc.).

I think those have largely dried up, although KY Imports has some in stock.

 

[chrisTx]

get a C&R. you'll make up the $30 on the first rifle.

i'd get a german mauser, and AIM's M48. then you'll have a shooter and a keeper. my german mauser was about $220. my M48 was $80.

 

[longhorngunman]

You can get a Persian Mauser for under $300. Check out www.samcoglobal.com they had "very good" for $199 at one time. Just call first and make sure they ain't parkerized , some numnut did this to a few of them. Park's good on Garands, not so much on Mausers. BTW the Yugo 24/47 I got from Aim for $120 was near excellent, best bore on any mauser I have except for my own Persian . The "shooter" M48 I ordered from Aim was exactly that. It has rifling left but the bore looks like a rusted sewer pipe on the inside. Aim's also still got some .308 Enfields left, should be in good shape. Mine's on order.

 

[cracked butt]

If you are willing to spend up to around $300, don't waste it on a Mitchell's lie. Spend it on a Swede or Persian mauser, They are the best mauser rifles in that price range. I've never met or talked to a person who regretted purchasing either, and I myself own a Persian and several swedes.

 

[eastwood44mag]

So overall, get a German or Persian?

 

[longhorngunman]

Easy, get both! Every gun lover needs both but I'd probably get the Persian while you can. Yes the Germans are drying up somewhat but I've heard the Ruskies still have a lot in inventory. I believe there were only 35,000 somewhat, Persians ever made.

 

[Sunray]

There are also some Portugese contract K98's around. German made for Portugal before W.W. II, when the Nazi's were trying to impress the world with their manufactured stuff. They're just a K98 with the Portugese crest on the receiver and the same laminated stock Samco shows on their Czech made K98's. The last ones I saw were in the shop I worked in long ago. Still in the factory cosmoline. We were selling them for $215 Cdn 25 years ago. 8mm.
The Persian isn't Persian. They were Brno(Czech) made rifles. Reputedly better made than any German made K98. 8mm.
And the FN made Mausers used by the Israelis. .30-06 I think.

 

[Stiletto Null]

I was able to take a Yugo M48 and turn it into this:



If you want a great shooter, an M48's not at all a bad choice.

K98ks have historical value I suppose. Shop near me has a bunch of Yugoslavian-captured (possibly rearsenaled) K98ks.

The Czech vz24 is generally considered to be the "best" in terms of metalwork. The Czech Mausers are generally awesome, actually.

Turkish Mausers are ugly as hell, cheap, and can survive more abuse than you can.

***

Anyway, at $300 budget, that's Czech (including Persian) or German for 8mm, or of course a Swedish Mauser (6.5x55 is a hell of a nice round).

OR you could be like me and get an M48 and an SKS, and call it a day.

 

[longhorngunman]

Other posters are correct, the Persians were made in the BRNO factory in Czechlosovakia. They were made to the Shah's specs and are fantastic in their build quality. The BRNO recievers were used for years in wildcat rifle building due to their good rep. If you want just a cheap mauser to shoot cheap 8mm it's hard to beat the Turkish mausers that go for around $60-$80 bucks. Some might be a little rough but many can be found with excellent bores and are surprisingly accurate. BTW whatever Mauser you get find some Turk ammo to shoot in it. It is loaded very hot to magnum velocities and is a lot of fun to shoot. It is corrosive so clean accordingly.

 

[Stiletto Null]

A warning: if you get a Mauser with the steel "tactical" buttplate (the cupped buttplate; I think only the Yugoslavians used the things) as seen on my rifle, DO NOT FIRE IT OFF OF A BENCH UNLESS YOU HAVE A PAD OF SOME SORT.

That #@%*er hurts.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

I have a Yugoslav M48 in totally unissued condition (not any more...I've shot it) that was built by the Yugo's for the Egyptians, but because the Egyptians reneged on the deal, the Yugo's took the rifles and tossed them into storage for 60 years. When Yugoslavia went belly up, they came over here.

I bought mine for about $150 with all of the gear (oiler, cleaning kit, and the best bayonet EVER) about 2 or so years ago. You can tell the Egyptian contract Yugo's because there is no crest anywhere on the rifle - it was left off by the Yugo's for the Egyptians to put on.

It's a great rifle. It doesn't have the attraction/stigma of a K98, but it is in better condition than any K98 in the price range, and it is a Mauser through and through.


Also, let me second (and third if you really need reinforcement) that you should avoid a Mitchell's Mausers gun by all means possible. The only situation I would say buying a MM gun would be a good idea is if you find yourself with far too much extra money laying around and you have a burning desire to greatly over-pay on something.

My experiance with Mitchell's Mausers has been with a guy at the range who through a large sum of money into one of MM's "sniperized" K98's and was forced to send the gun back because the cheap scope was so poorly mounted (the mount was clearly staggered) that the gun could not hit a normal sized target at fifty yards.

If you still want a MM gun, just make a thread here and ask for the knowledge and experiance various THR's have with MM. You'll find almost no one will give a positive review.

 

[aaronrkelly]

I also wanted a Mauser - was looking at German K98s.....but they were a little out of my price range.

So I "settled" for a Yugo captured K98. Basically for $140 at Classic Arms you get a German K98 that was captured by the Yugos, scrubbed of its markings and remarked. It "is" a German K98.......with a Yugo crest on it.

I have always heard Mausers are great rifles but when I disassembled it I knew what they meant......nice workmanship.

The bore on mine was like a mirror - no damage at all. There was some slight bluing wear but it touched up and blended perfect. The only "downside" is the upper handguard - it is completely mismatched.....no hope of refinishing it to make it match....lost cause, such is the life of a mil surp collector.

 

[Cosmoline]

If you are willing to spend up to around $300, don't waste it on a Mitchell's lie. Spend it on a Swede or Persian mauser, They are the best mauser rifles in that price range. I've never met or talked to a person who regretted purchasing either, and I myself own a Persian and several swedes.

Mega dittos.

DO NOT FIRE IT OFF OF A BENCH UNLESS YOU HAVE A PAD OF SOME SORT.

Oh bupkus. I've fired tens of thousands of 8x57JS, 7.62x54R, and other slugs out of steel butted rifles. You just need to stop holding the rifle like a scoped hunting rifle. Don't lean in so much, and bring the rifle out closer to a right angle to your body so the plate is sitting more on your meat than your bone.

 

[Stiletto Null]

^^^

You've used the cupped steel buttplate common on Yugoslavian rifles, right? I've fired other stuff off of benchrests with those skinny metal buttplates and, while I got sore pretty quickly (bench is bench), the tactical plate just hurts.

 

[Cosmoline]

I've owned and fired many different surplus rifles. The only ones I've found painful were an ultra-short Iranian carbine and an Austro-Hungarian straight pull firing that crazy magnum ball. A standard size war rifle should not be painful to fire if you're holding it right.

 

[Stiletto Null]

Well, then I guess I'm not holding it right. One of the recoil monkeys (HTRN? Heard of him?) on The Other Side agrees, though, that the M48 with the standard cupped buttplate packs a wallop off of the bench...and he's one of those guys who likes playing with .500+ bore rifles.

I can shoot an M48 all day from loose positions, but benchrest pwns the crap out of my shoulder.

 

[spacemanspiff]

get a russian or yugo capture.

i lucked out on my yugo capture, they didnt wipe off everything, my action is dated back to 1935.

don't get bamboozled with the yugo m48. while its the same type of rifle, it certainly does not compare to a K98. good shooter, nonetheless, but shoulder a k98 next to a m48 and you'll see/feel the difference.