Got the 8mm Mauser (pic to come soon)

[357Texas]

Got the 8mm Mauser (pic are here)

I got my Yugo M48 8mm w\Bayonet s\n is A451++ out of lay-way today and got just a few ??
1st what is the max range I should get out of it?
2nd what ammo should I use and what ammo should I stay away from?
3rd can anyone tell me what year it was made?
Thanks for any help and or any web sites
John

 

[jefnvk]

M48, or M48A?

IIRC, M48 was made between 50-52, and the 48A made after that. Can't be anymore specific, though.

I haven't really found any bad ammo. A lot of people don't like '47 Turk, but I never had any problems. 1 or 2 split necks AFTER shooting per bandolier, if any. Probably the best would be the Yugo, although I have never tried it.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/yugom48/index.asp

 

[spacemanspiff]

just be sure to throughly clean the barrel with at least hot soapy water, if not ammonia/windex/anything that will neutralize the corrosive salts in the cheap surplus ammo.

 

[Feanaro]

1st what is the max range I should get out of it?

The real question is what is the max range you will get out of yourself? It will be "effective" up to, oh, 800-1000 yards. But most likely the best you'll get is 500 yards, sans optics.

2nd what ammo should I use and what ammo should I stay away from?

I'd try the Yugoslavian 198 grain rounds, probably what the rifle was zeroed for. I can't think of any bad surplus 8mm. Be aware that most US made 8mm is rather wimpy, much like a man who enjoys soap operas and cries during chick flicks. All the more reason to use cheap surplus.

3rd can anyone tell me what year it was made?

Last I checked there is no way to determine that.

 

[Man-O-War]

ALWAYS treat surplus 8mm as corrosive. A guy at a small gun shop sold me a few boxes of 8mm as non corrosive. Seemed plausible to me, the only date I could make out on the box looked like 1952. I am not sure if it was Czech, Romanian, or what. Anyway, I shot about 20 rounds through a Turk Mauser and didn't think anything of it. About 6 months later I happened to be looking at the rifle on the rack and noticed rust on the crown. When I looked down the bore I was sick. I could barely force a cleaning rod down the barrel. I cleaned it for several hours and got it fairly well cleaned up but there was some pitting. Then I remembered I had also shot my other Turk Mauser on that day, but had since sold the rifle to a friend. I told him immediately to check his out. Sure enough it was corroded also. I cleaned it up for him and offered to buy it back but he was happy with it.

Please do not make the mistake I did and ruin a good rifle.

 

[cracked butt]

I shoot mainly handloads out of my M48, as the turk stuff isn'e exactly too accurate in my M48, I've also recently tried Yugoslavian surplus ammo which gave suprisingly good results.

Have fun with it.

 

[357Texas]

Pics are here

Got the pics on they are not the best but here they are.

 

[creator0203]

i believe on the left side there will be a bunch of yugo letters than a space and two numbers
those two numbers are the year or manufacture.
mine is a 44
they were made before the fifties
the ones around 44 were made during the war
its kinda cool my m48 might have seen action.
still a beautiful bore, great gun. TACK DRIVER

 

[cracked butt]

i believe on the left side there will be a bunch of yugo letters than a space and two numbers

The '44' refers to the factory in which it was made at. The funny lettering on the receiver reads roughly "Preduzece 44" which translates to 'factory 44.'

All M48s were made after the war, and production on them started in 1950.

 

[MilsurpShooter]

Bent bolt would most likely mean M48A. The difference between the two is sometimes a bent bolt, but more easily identifed by the milled vs. stamped floorplate. The stamped floorplate will have small lines around the edging, while the milled is missing these.

As far as ammo goes I would definately stay away from the 50's era Ecuadorian surplus. I've had a constant sticky bolt problem and some FTF out of these rounds. I have some 8mm yugo on links that my rifle seems to love, but just note that at 100 yards they usually shoot high, think they are mainly zero'd in for 200 yards.

I would highly suggest picking up this book

https://lockbox.dwave.net/northcapepubs/#anchor7059829

if your interested in the history of these guns.

 

[cracked butt]

The M48s, M48As, M48 BOs will all have bent bolt handles. The M24 and 24/47s will have straight bolts.