What are the best 8mm Mauser rifles out there?

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Darker Loaf

New member
I'm looking to buy a military surplus bolt action rifle to shoot corrosive 8mm Turkish ammo through. It'd be great if the gun accepted 5 round stripper clips, as all my ammunition (a couple of cases) is in 5-round stripper clips. I already have in my possession a historic Mauser, so I'm fine with a post WW II era gun.

So, what are the best (in terms of quality and accuracy) of the surplus Mausers?
 
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amd6547

New member
Yugo Mausers are usually high quality and affordable. I've seen nice M48's in the $250 range from time to time.
Two years ago, I found a Yugo refurb kar98k...they took war surplus 98's and completely rebuilt them. The one I got looks like new...found it on gunbroker for $250.
Find something online, and a local FFL to handle it.
 
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Mosin-Marauder

New member
I absolutely love my M24/47. It's very fun to shoot and is all milled. It's pretty accurate, too. With some handload I can get 3" at 100 yards. I'm not the best shot in the world, but I'm confident I could get it under 3" with practice and some more work with my handloads.

Aim has/had some M48's as well as SOG. It's basically the same except it is a "new" rifle while the M24's are updated rifles. Some M48's are stamped in some places. Some M48's re stamped in even more places. Some are milled like the 24's. All are quality rifles, though.
 
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amd6547

New member
I sure wish I had bought some of that Turk ammo when it was cheap as dirt.
Surplus 8mm has dried up, and most commercial isn't loaded to potential. S&B is one that is.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
I really appreciate your responses! I have little to no knowledge of K98 variants, so I appreciate every bit of information I can get.
 
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Mobuck

Moderator
"I sure wish I had bought some of that Turk ammo when it was cheap as dirt."
I did-3 ammo cans full @ about 8 cents per round.
 
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Scorch

New member
Best? Anything Mauser 98. Most affordable and most available? Yugo M48s are much cheaper than German WW2 K98ks and much more available. And people don't get all sweaty and indignant when you shoot them. Also, any of the South American M98 variants, especially Brazilian 1906 rifles, are very affordable, but usually show up in 7X57 or 30-06.

As far as where to find them, Google Yugo M48.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
German 98s are, of course, pretty good.

A little farther down the expense ladder, you'll run into the Yugos.
The Yugo M48 is pretty decent.
My own preference is for the Yugo 24/47. It has solid bottom metal, whereas the M48 'redesign' went to stamped sheet metal (for some other parts, as well).

There are a few less common Yugo variants, but the M48 and 24/47 are abundant, affordable, and typically of "shooter grade" quality, or better. ...But still not something that you'll lose sleep over using to shoot corrosive ammo.

Oh... they both accept stripper clips, as well. (Very nice when chasing rabbits in the desert. ;))
 
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emcon5

New member
Some people seem to think that "corrosive" primed ammo is caustic and will damage the gun, and this is not true. It is only corrosive because of salts in the priming compound, which will attract water, and therefore lead to rust if the salts are not removed. All this means, is if you shoot corrosive ammo, you just need to clean the gun shortly thereafter. You can clean at the range if you want, but it is not necessary. Just clean it before the end of the day and you will probably my be fine.

I live in the desert, with so little humidity here, I could probably get away with waiting a few days (weeks?) but I never leave it that long.

In reality, every round fired through almost all military surplus rifles up to the point they ended up in the hands of a collector, was corrosive.

All you need to do it remove the salts, and that is really easy, as salt is water soluble. I pour hot water down the barrel, but a wet patch or two will also work.
 
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Mosin-Marauder

New member
The M48 has all milled parts. The M48A has a stamped floorplate. M48B (which is still marked as an M48A on the receiver) has the stamped floorplate, magazine, barrel bands, and trigger guard. SOG sells all the variants, but for some reason theby have the M48A as costing more than the milled rifle. Aim seems to only sell the M48A, but it could be Luck of the draw.
 
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Hawg

New member
Shoot the one you have, just clean it with hot water. It's undoubtedly seen a lot of corrosive ammo in it's day.
 
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kozak6

New member
The Czech and Persian Mauser's are excellent, and would be good choices.

You could try pawn shops and gun shows. Most pawn shops are worthless, but not all of them.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
I'm stuck with the ammo, basically. I'm not sure how many 1,000 rounds I have. I'll have to do some calculations. I wouldn't shoot corrosive, generally speaking because I've had some bad experiences from just people shooting next to me and rusting guns from a 5.45 AR 15 shooting corrosive ammo with an aggressive break.

I'd never shoot corrosive ammo in the presence of any other firearms other than the fire arm shooting the corrosive ammo itself.

I really appreciate your comments regarding the shooting of corrosive ammo and K98 clones.
 
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amd6547

New member
The Turk ammo is hot, and not recommended for semi autos, I heard.

Some time ago, I was on a job near Aim Surplus, and stopped in to buy a Yugo 24/47. At the same time, I also bought a crate of Romanian 8mm steel case in two spam cans.

That 24/47 didn't thrill me, though. I prefer turned down bolts, for one thing.
And it exhibited some failures to eject. So I traded it away.

So, like the OP, I had a crate of ammo, and nothing to shoot it in. That's when I started looking.
I found this Yugo on Gunboards.
I believe it was $225 and $25 shipping. My club did free transfers.
Refurbed from German 98's, all the original markings were removed and the Yugo crest added. Looks like a new laminate stock. Rifling looks new, and may be, as the Yugos often fitted new barrels on these.
The only detraction on this otherwise new looking kar98k is that the previous owner drilled and tapped two holes for a receiver sight, and cut out clearance in the stock for it. This rifle shoots great.

 
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salvadore

Moderator
I purchased a 24/47 about 5 years ago for $149. The least fun was firing up 100rds of S&B ammo for the brass. Since then it's been a dandy cast bullet rifle.
 
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ThomasT

New member
I have been looking at these. And they may have stamped parts but that doesn't bother me much.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.a...=Yugoslavian+Model+M48/M48A+8mm+Mauser+Rifles

I did have a 24/47 and wasn't real impressed with it. None of the numbers matched and it was over stamped. The stock had at least 9 repairs to the wood that I found. The rear site was a little to the left so the front sight had to hang off the site base for the gun to shoot to point of aim. I bought a Mojo site for the rear. So the 48 models look pretty good to me.
 
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