Choosing a Mauser at LGS

[Grim Peeper]

I've been trying to find a mauser in my price range of around $250. I understand from what I read on this site that Swedish models are highly sought after. I also hear that yugos can be pretty good as well as german ones of course. At my local gun store they have a older mauser that they say is a yugo M98 in 8mm. I just dont understand why a yugo would have nazi markings witch is seems to have near the barrel. Wouldnt that make it a k98. If it is a yugo made with german parts would it still be worth purchasing and is there anything I should look at closer on this rifle before a consider it for purchase.

 

[madcratebuilder]

The Yugo MOD98 or sometimes marked MOD98/48 is a Yugo capture K98. These were rearsenialed by the Serbs after WWII. About half of the ones I have encountered received a new barrel. The Serbs did a much cleaner job of rearsenaling these than the Russians. Most well retain most of the German small proof marks and stamps. Mine retains all # matching parts except the floor plate, it's been force matched. Should be a good shooter.

Yugo MOD98.

 

[Grim Peeper]

That Looks exactly like the one at the shop I go to only that one looks much cleaner than the one Ive been looking at. The one at the LGS is going for $250 which is in my price bracket but how can I tell with a mauser style rifle if it has just been shot to the point of being just plain spent.

 

[waidmann]

One piece of advice I can offer is to take the appropriate caliber cartridge and try to insert it into the muzzle. If the bullet enters entirely and the brass touches the muzzle at a minimum the crown is lost. If between an eigth and a sixteenth of an inch of bullet shows between the muzzle and the brass you should be in the neighborhood. Very dark bores tend to indicate mercuric primers but its simply a clue to look further.

Everything else I know is for after you leave the shop.

I'll be watching to see if someone else has a lesson to share.

 

[Grim Peeper]

Thanks waidmann that is the kind of information Im looking for I will look at the crown. The M98 has been at the shop for a while so im a bit wary and not in any hurry. I ordered the Jerry K manual as well for more information.

 

[stan rose]

I have seen Mausers with sewer pipe barrels shoot pretty well, not match grade, plinking at 100 to 500 yards. The bellet check is a pretty good indication, but if the bullet completly disapears check and see if it is counter bored before writing it off. I have not seen any Yugo 98 with counter bores, most have been Czechs, 91/30Mosins, but if you run across one don't automatically write it off they tend to shoot pretty well. Worst comes to worst you could always get a military contour barrel from Brownells if the gun doesn't shoot that well. One last note, the Yugo captured and rearseneled 98s tend to be much nicer than the Russian capture and rearseneled 98s.

 

[Grim Peeper]

Now your starting to stir my curiousity about this rifle I will say that it has alot of character. I really dont want to buy a new barrel but I will def look at the bore more closely now and and the crown of the barrel. Thanks for all the good advice as I am not in hurry Im really going to look real hard at these mausers.

 

[Limey46]

I think the best low-cost Mauser option is the 24/52. That too is an 8mm military rifle refurbished in then Yugoslavia, now Serbia after World War II (in 1952), but unlike the guns already discussed in this thread, it's a VZ-24 model built in the early 1930s in Brno, Czechoslovakia to very high quality standards. Altogether it's a much nicer gun than anything else you'll find in your price range. I've heard people say the VZ-24 was the best 98 ever made.

 

[amd6547]

I was in the market for a Mauser for while...because I had a case of Romanian 8mm ammo in my basement and nothing to shoot it in.
Recently, I found this Yugo re-arsenaled 98k on Gunbroker...for $250.
It is like a new rifle, basically...with the exception that it has been drilled and tapped for a reciever sight, with the stock altered to accomodate it.
I have not gotten it to the range yet, but the barrel looks terrific...not surprising, since the Yugos often put new barrels on these. I have not removed the stock yet to check, but the only visible Nazi stamp I have found is under the rear sight.