M-48 Yugo mauser good or not?

parabelum23

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Hi all,

Looking at some Yugo Mauser M-48 lately. Are they good shooters? I have seen two M-48A last Saturday but still unsure if I want to buy or not. I am still super happy with my Swedish M-96. I am slowly getting use to shoot it and to use the diopter. I like the iron sights but it is a little different with diopters...

Considering that a K98 is about $200-$250 more than a M-48.. and the M-48 is often time in better shape... it is tempting to buy. What is your experience/comments on the M-48. I know there is K98 fans out there, but is there any M-48 fans?

Cheers and thanks for your comments!
 
They are your plain jane mauser type rifle but are good shooters. If you get to pick make sure it's got a good bore , nice receiver and a slick bolt. It will shoot. I have a m48 BO that I bought from Marstar years back and it is a reliably decent shooter.
 
Are you sniffing around on tradex? Please buy them up so it forces tradex to get in some new rifles.
 
They are great rifles.
I had two over the years.
The M48BO's anyhow. Just unmarked versions of the standard ones. Back when Marstar brought them in literally brand new in the grease!
They shoot very very well. With modern Prvi 8mm brass cased ammo it was scary accurate.
Built like a damn tank as well. Just rock solid all around.

The only reason I sold them over time is the cartridge. While I have much love and respect for the 7.92x57 round and its impressive power. It's a very versatile cartridge just like the .30-06. You can load light and very very fast or ramp it up to the 200 gr+ for heavy hitting slow loads etc It really is a reloaders only chambering though. I never had the time to get into reloading and I only keep guns I shoot so I sold them sadly.

I still think the Yugo Mausers are one of the best looking of all the milsurp rifles as well. I like the look of them even more than the K98's with the upper hand gaurd wood coming up around and behind the rear sight. Maybe second only to a 1903A3 ;)
The only other gripe I had with them is the butt stock as well. Very slippery and hard to keep in the shoulder it being polished smooth steel and a sharper downward slopped angle on the stock. I just put some thin physio stretch band on the end of the butt and taped it on as a non permanent fix for that lol

Highly recommend the rifle and even more so if you're into/set up for reloading 8mm Ammunition. You won't regret it. Excellent bang for buck on the M48 rifles.
 
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The M48s can range anywhere from OK to excellent in condition. The same goes for their bores. If they have vg to exc bores they will shoot anywhere from well to exceptionally well with ammunition they like.

Just understand, they have very small sights with a small V notch on the rear sight and a small inverted v barleycorn style front sight. If you have aging eyes likely one or the other or both sighs will be out of focus.
 
The M48 is a fine rifle. If I were buying a Yugo bolt gun I would get one of the Yugo overhauled German K98's, They are marked Preduzece 44 on the siderail. The Yugos buffed off(usually) the German maker code on the receiver and often rebarreled them. I just like the look of the German style K98 stock better. Either one of them is usually a fine shooter though maybe not quite as accurate as the Swede.
 
I used to collect Yugoslavian rifles and I've owned nearly every variation.

The M48 and its variations, including the Yugo made M24s are the worst in quality. That's not to say they're bad quality though, they're still good quality but sometimes they are slightly out of specification. Many of them can be had new in the grease though.

The M98 are k98 captures that have been rebarreled and they are really nice. Almost universally mint bores on those rifles.

The FN Made M24s are also really nice as well.

I would go for the M24/47 as mentioned. They're essentially just rebarreled M24s and for some reason are the cheapest variant in Canada. Maybe it's because of the straight bolt handle, I'm not sure.

Don't expect Czech or German quality on the rifles and you'll be fine.
 
Thanks to all for your comments. I read them with great interest and learned a lot! Certainly the option to buy a M-98 from Tradex appears an interesting option for me. I bought my Swedish Mauser from them and it is a great rifle.
 
I have an M48BO from Marstar as well. Its beautiful to look at and beautiful to shoot. I picked up a few hundred rounds of S&B commercial ammo with good brass for reloading, which I prefer 180gr soft points for hunting.
 
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