1891 argentine mauser or Yugo m24/47

[ME Woodsman]

Which would be a better option for turning into a hunting rifle? Im looking to use this on black bear and whitetail deer.

Im totally new to all of this so any good resources would be of good use.

Ive also heard that you can rechamber? a 1891 mauser to a 7x57 how do you go about this and how much would it cost?

I have an argentine mauser 1891 picked out already for 199.95 all matching serial numbers Gxxxx good buy? Or should I go with the yugo?

 

[nathan]

The m 24 47 is underrated but in my opinion is the best no nonsense 8 mm Mauser out there. The design is so simple and no frills. It aims so naturally and shoots tight groups. I got one in VG condition with like new bore and it likes the Prvi Partizan 196 gr SP well.
And nice thing is it shoots to point of aim at 100 yds even set at 200 meters on the rear sight.

 

[dogngun]

The 8mm is much cheaper to shoot and easier to find than the

Argie round, but the Argie rifle is a minor work of art as far as craftsmanship.The Yugo is a fine rifle but a bit more utilitarian than the Argie.

Both are very strong, reliable rifles and would be great for big game hunting.

mark

I just looked up current prices and find 7.65 Argie Mauser hunting ammo from Privi is around $18/box, so it is not as out of line as it was once...

 

[Oceans]

The Yugo is a '98 action and far more the modern rifle than is the 1891 Argentine. The Yugo also has an internal double stack magazine. Take the Yugo and don't look back. Do have the rifle, as you would any surplus rifle checked out by a gunsmith for proper headspace/function, but generally the Yugo Mausers are very sound and reliable, as are the Argentines too, but the '98 action had all the Mauser advancements and makes a superb hunting rifle.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Ive also heard that you can rechamber? a 1891 mauser to a 7x57

Not without rebarrelling. The 7x57 Mauser has a bullet diameter of .284" and the Argy 1891 uses the 7.65x53 cartridge with a .311" diameter bullet.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I've never shoot a Argentine, but I would go with the Yugo. I have several and they are really nice bolt guns. You can find post war M48's, M48A's that are in near new condition for around $200. The 8mm should have no problem taking any North American game.

 

[jdh]

Numbers matching 1891s are a work of art and are getting hard to find. Leave it in original condition, Please.

The yugo is a stronger action and the market has a good supply of non-numbers matching examples to serve as a base rifle for a bubba job.

 

[NCsmitty]

As others have noted, the Argentine Mauser is a wonderful example of old world craftsmanship and metallurgy and should be treated as such. They should be used with the lower pressure rounds that they were designed to shoot.

The Yugo 24/47 is perfect example of a modern rifle made with modern steel and is a much better choice for hunting and shooting in general. It is basically a M98 style action, in an intermediate length action, and the 8x57 cartridge is a potent round, capable of getting it done. It can be converted to about any round that fits the magazine, by rebarreling, if you're so inclined.

I recommend buying the 24/47 before the versions in good condition disappear from the market. It will happen eventually.




NCsmitty

 

[jimmyraythomason]

bubba job.

Arghh! How I HATE that phrase! I also vote for the Yugo.

 

[dogngun]

One more time, if I may - I find some 98 Mausers that were

already sporterized - to one degree or another- for sale very cheap. I own a K98 re-barreled to .308 Win with a bent bolt handle, low scope safety, mounts installed, jeweled bolt, beautiful blue in a walnut stock for around $275. It is a great rifle, very usable, the work well done maybe in the 1960's - and no one else has another one...

Take some cash and shop around - see what you turn up... it costs a lot of money to make a military rifle into a usable sporter these days, and I find it is much better to buy one with most of the work already done, or else just buy a sporter right off...

Remember, too that once you sink that money in to sporterizing a surplus rifle, you won't ever see that cash again - you will be lucky to get two hiundred bucks for it.


mark

 

[Dean1818]

+1 on the Yugo

Have 2

Worth the coin

Great shooter

 

[jimmyraythomason]

it costs a lot of money to make a military rifle into a usable sporter these days,

VERY true!

Remember, too that once you sink that money in to sporterizing a surplus rifle, you won't ever see that cash again - you will be lucky to get two hiundred bucks for it.

Also VERY TRUE! Do it because you WANT to, not to save bucks or you will be backing up.

 

[blakeci]

the gunshop near me seems to always have ones already sporterized. There are already plenty on the market, please for the love of God don't make another out of a serial number matching one. Especially if you are only interested in the final product and not the challenge of doing it yourself.

 

[Slamfire]

An all matching, which is I assume, all original Argentine rifle should not be chopped up. You will find that converting the thing to a decent sporter configuration will cost you around $600.00. The resale value of the converted rifle will be as said, a couple of hundred bucks at best.

One other thing, an1891 Argentine is made from 1891 materials and the design, good materials or not, is not as safe as later Mausers. People here are fooled into thinking Argentine Mausers are "high quality" through and through because of the machining, but metal technology and processes were positively primitive in 1891. The metal quality is variable, and poor. The receiver is made from steels that today, untreated, are used as rebar. No one today makes receivers from such low grade materials.

I suspect the Yugo receiver is made from plain carbon steels, but the metal technology is vastly better as you get closer to WWII and further from WW1.

A M98 action is also the best action ever designed, the best balance of strength, safety, reliability.

 

[Maj Dad]

I own both, and for what you want to use it for the Yugo is the better of the two. I have an unaltered (save sportering & glass bedding the fence post that masqueraded as its stock) Vz-24 in 8x57 and a Yugo 24 rebarreled to 308 (with a surplus 03-A3 bbl set back & rechambered, and sporterized stock bought for $150 last fall), and a nice M91 rifle that I won a High Power match with back in the 70's, so my opinion is not unfounded. Both rounds would be effective, but like many have pointed out the M91 has a weaker action compared with the 98, and I would opt for the 98 actioned rifle especially if reloading. Some of my 8x57 reloads are easily as hot as 308 factory pressure levels, and pushing the M91 in 7.65 Belgian Mauser (it's original designation) to those levels is unwise. There was a thread in the past several months (as there almost always is ) that talked about the M91 action ad infinitum/ad nauseum. Having said all that, if you want to use your M91 as is, with factory loads (NOT the hot Norma loads, though ) or moderate reloads, go for it - it will kill black bear & deer as dead as any 8x57. I used to use mine in a deer stand with 80-100 yd ranges & drop them with one shot. If you're tempted to chop it up, offer it for sale or trade here (or elsewhere) and I feel sure you can get your money out of it and get the stronger 98 actioned rifle of your picking. I paid $40 for my M91, and thought about sporterizing it, but even back then I was reluctant to chop up historical weapons. I still am, but I recognize that so many of these Vzs & Yugos are floating around that they're pretty much fair game. Just spare the Argie that fate.
Solamente mis dos centavos...

 

[browningguy]

THis is a VZ 24 in .275 Rigby (aka 7x57), I had it built with a 24" barrel, B&C stock and it's a fine rifle.



This is a sporterized 1891 Mauser, done in the '50's it jjust had some stock carving, removed the hand guard, and a peep sight added.





The more modern Mauser makes a better sporter, the design handles pressure better and the steel quality may well be better. I love my 1891 by the way, very accurate and well made, but I only shoot it with low pressure handloads (180gr. @ 2400 fps).

 

[ME Woodsman]

So chop the yugo and collect the arg? I might be sacrificing something for my hunting trip in November but im tempted to buy the arg and yugo now. I knew when i saw that 1891 mauser i wanted it for my wall but then again the whole point of my sudden found interest in surplus rifles was to turn one into a decent hunting rifle. This was all great advice I appreciate it. thanks guys

by the way how much am i looking at to turn it into a hunting rifle and how is the safety on the yugo?

 

[dogngun]

Back in the 1960's when my K98 was sporterized, you could have a gunsmith do it and still come in only a little more expensive than a high quality commercial sporter, but gunsmiths back then were charging maybe a dollar or two per hour...Depending on what you want done, and starting with an issue 98 Mauser military rifle, you might get away with $800, but not much below that...
My K98 as taken down to the bare steel, polished, re-barreled with a good commercial .308 Win barrel. The bolt handle was bent low and polished, the bolt itself was jeweled and squared to the receiver, the safety was replaced with a Buehler low safety to clear the scope. the reveiver was drilled and tapped for scope mounts and Weaver mounts installed. The whole thing was very nicely tank blued, leaving the bolt and handle in the white, and put into a commercial walnut stock with a recoil pad and sling swivels. When I bought it, it had Weaver steel mounts and an imported 4x scope...I replaced that with heavy weight steel mounts and an old US Redfield 2.5 x 7, replaced the stock with a black plastic one and just added a Timney Sportsman trigger last weekend. I have under $400 i .243n it as it is now.
BUT remember, the hard and expensive work was already done when I bought it.

I am sure prices will vary from place to place, and I may be way under - I doubt I am high on the estimate.

mark

Reading this, I realize I forgot the cost of the scope...I had bought it earlier for another project tht got changed around an I never used it...it was around $200 by itsef, and I was very happy to find it for that price.

The safety on the Yugo is the standard Mauser 3 position safety at the end of the bolt...works great, but it is too high to be used with a scope mount and needs to be changed, as does the bolt handle...

FWIW, if I wanted another bolt military rifle to hunt with as is, I'd buy that Argie and just clean it up good and use it as issued. That rifle is a steal at that price.
Last time I wanted to sporterize a surplus rifle, I decided to just take the money and buy a new Savage .243 instead.

 

[Gelgoog]

The 1891 is a much better rifle. These were built during the golden age of rifle craftsmanship. the yugo was built to make mausers as cheap as possible.

Now the 1891 has been one of the preferred hunting rifles around the world for over 100 years due to its smooth action and fine build. As a consequence, a ton of 1891 argentines have been sportorized already, which means you should have no reason to convert one that is in original condition. Gunbroker is littered with sportorized 1891s and since they were chopped up they command much lower prices which works to your favor.

Ammo shouldnt matter because you should not be using surplus ammo to hunt with in the first place. 8mm and 7.65 argentine are easy to find in new production.

as to the strength of the 1891, well its perfectly fine to use modern production or surplus ammo in these guns. The mauser is still a very safe action and still quite strong compared to alot of its milsurp competition. Unless you are handloading then you do not need to worry about the strength of the rifle because no production ammo is going to be made which would ever cause worry.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Browse.aspx?SearchType=0&Timeframe=0&Keywords=1891&Cat=3022&Sort=4&Items=50

 

[DPris]

I have a 24/47 here that put three holes under an inch at 100 yards last week.
Unaltered issue configuration, military sights.
I can't get my scoped .308 Weatherby Vanguard to do that.
Denis

 

[ME Woodsman]

Im buying the 1891 mauser tomorrow for collective purposes and will post pictures.

 

[ME Woodsman]

Well i went today to look at the mauser with my dad and i noticed the top half of the stock was missing and upon examining the bolt there was something funny about it so i decided it was not worth my time nor $199.95