Two points I will make:
1) I like 8x57 more than most comparable caliber a when loaded to euro pressures, not the anemic US loads the lawyers imposed fearing people will shoot them in a gew88.
2) I don't know anyone who bought an m48 as a cost effective k98 lookalike, apart from Mitchell's Mauser customers. I bought mine as it is a cost effective way to get an as-new matching 8mm military Mauser with a prefect bore, large ring 98 action, that is rugged and fun to shoot with irons. I often carry mine around the property and shoot pests with it because it's fun and eccentric to use this gun over a .22lr or whatever. And I can shoot milsurps matches with it. It's built like a tank as well.
If I wanted a matching nazi k98, that is what I would buy. And then it would sit there looking pretty as its too valuable to shoot much.
Very impressed. It has a little newspaper stuck to the cosmo and it's greasy as hell - but it's mint. Bolt/receiver/magazine/stock all have matching #'s, stock is really nice and dark, rifle looks gorgeous. Not the best pics, but I'm really happy with my purchase. This was a "Do you trust me Weimajack handpick" and I must say, it's awesome. Just got it and didn't clean out the bore yet, but I'm sure it's just as minty as the rest. Sling looks near new and the ammo pouches are in great shape. Unlike many other surplus M48's, the cleaning rod and sight hood are intact. The one I got from CT came with nothing.
Now I have a cleaning job to do
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As a bit of advice, there is no compelling reason to remove the buttplate on these rifles for cleaning or degreasing. If you do, you run the risk of chipping the toe, like the last poster did.
Personally, I leave the buttplate be, along with the bayonet lug and recoil bolt.
I checked that right off the start. I'm used to the K98 rear sight which seems to give a clearer view. Might be some bad habits in there.It's probably shooting high because you have the sight set to 200m.
Here is mine. There were 6 ordered from Tradex for my buddy's shop, and this one was the one I thought was nicest. I had hoped there would be a walnut stocked M48B, but there was only one and it was a beat up refurb with a re-numbred walnut stock and obviously renumbered bolt and floor plate. Interestingly, that one was still in the cellophane bag that some dealers are charging a premium for. I passed on it and settled on this nice elm-stocked M48.
PS: If I was buying again, I'd get one from Weimarjack. He's at least taking photos, hand selecting and grading this guns. Not even Jean at P&S is doing that this time. And to be frank, half the rifles I picked through were pretty rough, so it's worth getting a hand pick IMHO.
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I did shoot it today also. I had thought I got most of the cosmo out, but after 10 rounds in the hot sun, it started leaching out of the handguard again. I suspect it will do this for some time to come. Oh well.
The bore is about perfect and the rifle grouped reasonably well at 100m using old Turk 154gn surplus rounds. With these hot rounds, the gun was shooting about 6 to 8" high, which I expected as the battle sight is 200m. I'll try some 198gn ullets next and see what it does.