8mm Mauser? A Mil-Surp Question

[Dorrin79]

My neighborhood gun shop has a pair of Mauser 98's for $150 apiece. The are labeled as M48 models (which I believe makes them yugoslavian?) and chambered in 8mm Mauser.

Both appear to be in excellent condition (I didn't check the bores though) and I am considering getting one.

My questions are thus: Is this a good price for this rifle? Are these rifles good variants of the Mauser?

What exactly is 8mm Mauser? Is it the same as 8x57JS? How are the ballistics on this round?

Thanks,

 

[GD]

These are fair prices for a M48 Mauser in excellent condition.
They are postwar K98ks.
Most people I know who have one state that they shoot about as good as any other K98k model.
8mm is 7.92x57. This ammo is very common at this time. You can choose Turk, Yugo, and Czech surplus for very low prices (Under 6 cents per round) to more expensive commercial ammo. They all will shoot in that M48.

 

[telewinz]

GD is correct...

Just because $150 is a fair price doesn't mean it's not a great price. In a few years those M48's will go for 50-100% more. Message; buy now instead of later and save a few dollars. Except for my Kar98k the M48's would be in my gun collection and I only collect semi-auto military. Get you 8mm surplus now, AIM has it for less than .09 a round including shipping and its great stuff.

 

[cracked butt]

If the bores are bright and shiny, the price isn't bad. ARe they M48's or K98 refurb? You can tell the difference in that the K98 handguard stops at the front of the rear sight while the handguard on the m48 goes under the rear sight an all the way back to the receiver ring. The Yugo rearsenalled k98's sell for about the same price, if not a bit more but in terms of functionality and quality are much better than the m48. The M48's tend to be very accurate shooters . If it is an M48, ,check to make sure that the safety lever can be moved freely when the bolt is cocked and in battery, if it is difficult to move from the fire to safe position, I wouldn't buy it. If its an M48A which is apparant by the odd looking stamped floorplate, make sure the bolt is smooth on lockup and opening as these sometimes have problems with rough bolt lugs.

 

[DougB]

I think that price is equal to the condition (i.e. - excellent price if the rifle is in excellent condition, very good price if condition is very good, etc.). I see in Shotgun News, etc. that quite a few distributors sell VG-Excellent rifles for about that price. When people say it is just a "fair" price it sounds to me like they are comparing it to dealer (wholesale) prices. If your shop will sell you a nice one for that, I think its better than a "fair" price - we do need to allow them a little profit, don't we?

One thing to be aware of is that even though these M48s have a turned down bolt, they probably aren't turned down enough to work with a low-mounted scope (they make sort of a wide arc). I have a couple of these (paid about $160 for each of them with accessories a couple of years ago). They are nice rifles.

Doug