Unknown Mauser Mod. 98

mosinlover

mosinlover

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Hey Guys,

Please help me to ID this rifle:

I got a 98 action Mauser. It shows Yugo Kingdom crest with Model 24b mark. But It does not share any appearance of Yugo M24 or M24/47.

The action looks almost same as K98k but the stock resembles Israeli 7.62 stock (bolt disassemble hole is in cupped butt plate; finger groove; and only lower band spring).

Basically, this is a rifle with Yugo M24 marking, K98 action and Israeli stock. Please feel free to share your ideas.

Thank you and please take care.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/r639/mosinlover/1.png?width=450&height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/r639/mosinlover/2.JPG?width=450&height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/r639/mosinlover/3.JPG?width=450&height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/r639/mosinlover/4.JPG?width=450&height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/r639/mosinlover/6.JPG?width=450&height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill
 
Not an expert on the subject. But those features you identified is not unique to Israeli Mausers. For example, all later war Mausers have cupped buttplate.

Yugoslavia had all kinds of Mauser parts post war. They made K98K pattern rifles when the Russians came. Perhaps this is one where they used an old reciever? Any matching numbers?
 
hi Red Rabbit,

Thanks for the message.
It is mismatched and there is no number on the stock at all.
I thought about your point, If this is a post war refurb, they would scrapped the Yugo kingdom crest and stamp the communist one like what they did on Yugo capture K98 (M98/48).
I assumed this rifle was "converted to K98k", BUT as far as I know, the Yugo M24 action is in intermediate length and K98 is standard. Hope some expert here can give some ideas.
 
Is it still in the 8mm? To be honest I am not a Mauser expert and you have something odd there. I would have said restored sporter for sure, but I don't really know of any Intermediate Mausers with stocks like that. Definitely a cool mystery though which hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on.
 
That stock may very well be pre war as well. Because the M24 is an intermediate length action, standard length 98 Mauser stocks wouldn't fit it. The hole spacing is different. Almost identical to that found on M96 Mausers. I've seen similar stocks, that upon inspection, have been altered to take the cupped buttplate.

IMHO, it's definitely a put together from parts rifle. May have been intended as a drill purpose rifle.

More likely, quickly cobbled together to send off to an African war, where the Soviets didn't want to be blamed for any involvement.

As far as Israeli use goes, IMHO, it's very possible. Many firearms, especially 98 types, chambered for the 8x57 were sent/smuggled into Israel.

A lot of them were given a cleaning and sent directly to the field or the different fighting elements, such as Hagenah, Irgun and Leiche.

The Hagenah was I believe the fore runner of the IDF. The others, except for the Irgun were basically fringe elements that were armed to the teeth. They reportedly even battled each other.

A lot of arms went to all of these groups. Some are still being found in hidden bunkers on Kibbutz grounds, even now.

A lot of that stuff was captured from the Arab insurgents, and even their armed forces, squirreled away, never turned in to the government. The Israelis all had nasty memories and weren't about to be caught helpless again.

At first they hid the arms from the Arabs/British, then from their own governments. Israel was in flux. Different religious factions within their communities fought regularly, sometimes violently.

Then, there were the political factions. The Soviets knew that many Israelis were staunch Communists and armed those groups.

A lot of the aircraft, armor, artillery came from Soviet satellite states, such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia built or sold surplus WWII equipment to the Israelis.

Just how did the post-war Israeli air force end up equipping its first fighter squadrons with the famous Nazi warplane the Me-109s?
After approval of the Partition Plan of Palestine in November 1947, the UK, who had been the governing power continued to supply weapons and ammunition to Egypt and Trans-Jordan.

However, the entire world imposed an immediate embargo on sale and shipment of military equipment to Israel. The only exception was post war Czechoslovakia, which agreed to sell a substantial amount of German-designed rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and even fighter planes to the Jewish state.
 
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