M48A Recoil

[nathan]

Today I went to shoot the first time the M48A I bought from a Pawnshop for $130 back in Nov. Gun is excellent condition. I didn't refinished in any way. Wood is walnut tone and I brought several ammo types. Turk 8 mm dated 1942, Romanian 8 mm dated 1974 and Yugo 8 mm I got from Centerfire.
Front sight is original post and rear sight set at 200 m. I shot at 25 yds using Yugo. Windage was dead on. An inch above POA. The Yugo was the smallest grp about 3/4 inch with 3 rds. Then at 50 yds I again used the Yugo 8 mm and it printed 3 inches high from POA. At 100 yds the grps were hitting 5-6 inches high. Not back really. QUite satisfied. The gun loves the Yugo but the Romanian seem to give around 4-6 inches grps. The Yugo ammo seem to be always tight same with my Yugo K98. Well, Century Arms will be my next call as they have special sale on this. THe Turk ammo did well around 2.5 -3 inch spread at 100 yds, 6 in high from POA.
While on the Range, there s this guy who had an evil look on M48A while it was on the rack. I think he hated the big booms of my Turk ammo. Can't help about that though. Overall I love the mausers. They are simple, robust and cheap right now. But best of all I will always treasure my K98 among the rest.

 

[BigG]

Make sure you wash out the barrel with water. That ammo is corrosive. You can stick the muzzle in a pail of hot soapy water and pump it up thru the bbl with a patch. The hot water will dry itself. But no cleaner will cut the corrosive salts except H2O.

Like the M48s, beautiful Mausers!

 

[nathan]

Thanks BigG. I used Windex 50 percent with 50 percent H2 O. Sure does its sticky esp the Turk stuff. As for the Romanian, its nice looking ammo but not accurate on this gun. How about yours? Looks like a lot of folks have similar experiences.

 

[BigG]

Nathan, good deal. I haven't bought a surplus Mauser yet, but realize they are a smoking deal. Maybe when things settle down I'll lay in one.

 

[spacemanspiff]

when you are cleaning the barrel with the hot soapy water, (and this is probably a dumb question, but i'm new to rifles) do you remove the stock?

i used remington 8mm ammo, i figured i didnt want the hassle of shooting corrosive ammo, would i ever need to do any other cleaning to my barrel other than hoppes?

 

[BigG]

If you're careful, you can just pull the bolt and stick the muzzle in the bucket and pump the water almost out of the chamber but not quite. Run the rod back down with the muzzle abve the bucket and break the vacuum, repeat a couple times and you have de-corrosive-ized it. Now you can clean it as normal. Wipe out the action with a wet rag also paying especial attention to the bolt face.

You can also get a squeeze bottle with a long tip and shoot water thru the barrel from the chamber end if that sounds better. The main thing is get some water through there to wash out the corrosive salts.

Yeah, factory 8mm is an an all around good idea too. Lots of people balk at paying for factory ammo when surplus is so reasonable, though. I understand the American factory 8mm is woefully underpowered compared to the original loads due to the old guns that people load brand new ammo into. The really old mausers (pre-98, iirc) had a .318 bore v. the Model 98 .323 bore.

 

[Stinger]

When I shoot corrosive, I just run 5 or 6 Windex soaked patches down the bore, dry the bore, and then clean as usual.

No buckets, no mess, no rust.

Stinger

ps. Of course I use the Windex on the chamber and bolt as well.