Mauser as a hunting rifle?

[dak0ta]

Would the Czech Vz.24 be a good specimen? Or would the Swedish M96/m38 be better? I like how the Vz.24 is more compact and has a pistol grip. Also the 8mm seems to be a hard hitting round. I'm looking for a hunting rifle, so that's what I am deciding upon. Also, are these 2 options even good for hunting?

 

[Shadow 7D]

Go look up BUBBA'd
And look at the bolt / action
It is only the basis of 80+% of the modern sporting bolt action guns.
it really comes down to what you like to do, personally I would keep the intact rifle and find one that someone else has already started hacking on and turn that into a dear gun.

 

[kedearian]

I've got a yugo mauser and it's fine stock, i did swap out the rear sight for a peep sight but that's fully reversible. Decent gun, and I don't have to worry about banging the scope. I'm a pretty bad shot but I can keep 5 rounds in 5" at 150 yards. (Translated to proper forum posting - 50 rounds, in .5" at 300 yards.. all day long). Just make sure your comfortable with it and it should do fine for any deer in the U.S.A.

 

[exbiologist]

They will both make good hunting rifles. If elk are on the menu, you might consider the 8mm, but the 6.5x55 will certainly do the trick. If you aren't capable of sporterizing the guns yourself, you will spend a lot of money customizing them. My advice is to walk through a gun show or pawn shop or peruse gunbroker. There are some incredible deals on custom mausers. I love them, and for $300-$400 you can have a hell of custom rifle. $500 to $700 will get you something that cost the equivalent of $1500 or more to build.
Best deals in the world are custom mausers, as long as you aren't paying for the customizing.
Oh and it can sometimes be difficult to judge the quality of the work.

 

[Cosmoline]

You know, these work perfectly fine without any alteration. Caribou on this forum uses unhacked Finn Mosins to drop more game per season than most do in a lifetime. Leave off the scope, keep the military stock. It makes the rifles tougher and easier to handle.

 

[goon]

I like them unchopped to but that doesn't stop people. I agree with Cosmoline on that though.
And I agree that you should hit up the local shops and some gun shows and see what is available. To people like me, a chopped military rifle is of lesser value than an original. I have seen chopped Mausers and especially a lot of Enfields lately for under $200.
And either cartridge would do fine for hunting but I've found the 8mm to be more universally available and cheaper. You can still get cheap 8mm surplus to practice with but I haven't ever seen any surplus 6.5x55. And the 8mm rifles are cheaper too usually.

 

[dogngun]

I own a K98 Mauser made in 1943 that was sporterized

in the 1960's. It is a beautiful rifle, jeweled bolt, nice walnut stock with a cheekpiece, bent bolt and new safety, rebarreled to .308 Win. I bought it - with an old 4x scope and Weaver mounts for around $275. I replaced the scope with a 6x fixed power, and cleaned up the trigger pull a little, bedded the action into the stock and added a recoil pad.
It is sitting in the corner right behind me now.
There are a lot of old sportered military rifles around if you look for a while , and if you bring cash you can generally get a good deal on one. I have had maybe 6 very nice ones and several more not so well done, that I have improved a bit and re-sold...one was sold to the same shop where I bought it, and at a profit.

I'd rather find something that already has some good work done on it than try to make an old issue surplus rifle into a sporter - you can usually find a good used sporter for a lot less money than you will spend on parts and labor to make a "custom" rifle. They are getting to expensive to play with and are nice rifles in their own right.

For hunting with a stock surplus rifle, it would be hard to beat the Vz and the 8mm Mauser cartridge is a gem.


mark

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I do all of my deer and almost all of my varmint hunting with 98 Mausers. None are as issued. All are in commercial calibers except 2 which are 7x57mm. I have other commercial rifles and they are good ones but I prefer the Mausers. I build my own,doing almost all of the work myself(I hire out rebarreling). The one unmolested K98 that I have isn't used for hunting,it is much too heavy. For me and my money it's Mauser.

 

[dak0ta]

I was just thinking of keeping the rifle in military config. It looks like the Vz24 would be it. If one were to buy a sporterized mauser, what should one be aware of regarding the sporterizing?

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

^Personally, i would be catious of rifles in other than the original caliber. Re-barreling is one thing, but sometimes through the years they used chamber inserts, or other less than desirable methods. I would stick to a mauser in its original caliber, unless it has been completely rebarreled (Then check the head spacing or take it to a gun smith).

 

[jimmyraythomason]

First and foremost check to see if the trigger has been replaced or some-one tried to "doctor" the original. Check the muzzle,if the barrel has been cut,was it properly recrowned or if original,has it been counterbored. Pull the bolt from the action and check the sear on the cocking piece. If any of this isn't up to par(All of it can be fixed with replacement parts) ask for a price reduction.

 

[dak0ta]

I would like to stick with the 8mm round. It's a classic, has lots of KD power and range, and has a pretty good range of reloading capabilities. Are these good enough reasons to stick with 8mm?

 

[Dr.Rob]

Wouldn't hesitate to take my 98k out for deer/elk sized game. Mine happns to be made in '45 or so at BRNO, but it's an excellent shooting old rifle.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

My old mauser shoots great.... Maybe not in a vise, compaired to a new savage; but in the field, from the shoulder, its more accurate than me. I used to put all 5 rounds into a campbells soup can (The small ones) from 100+yards with surplus ammo. Of course in Ohio I didnt use it for deer, but it was a good ground hog gun (Perhaps a little overkill ).


If you are used to shooting an ak or an sks, do not put your thumb under your nose. You may find that it causes a bloody nose when the rifle recoils.......ask me how i know.

 

[kedearian]

I'm chiming in again, but I forgot to mention I have a Mosin Nagant that is fun to shoot as well, its about 3-4" at 100 yards, but plenty good for deer. I have seen plenty of the 7.62x54R surplus to practice with, and a few places sell the soft-point for hunting. you can pick them up dirt cheap, and if you abuse it to much, they are easy to replace.

 

[Robert]

MY VZ24 is slated to be the basis of my 35 Whelen build. If I can ever get around to it.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Hey Gus,how long have you been planning that .35 Whelen? Just sayin'.....

 

[Polar Express]

It wasn't the first gun I shot, but it was the first rifle that I seriously put a lot of rounds through. It's an old 98 German Mauser, in 8x57. I still have that gun. I need a new stock for it, as the original one was cut down to fit me when I was smaller. I don't think I'll ever sell it, it has some sentimental value, and certainly not a lot on the used market. If I dig it up, my old man has a few recipes for reloads too, that will do a nice number on North American big game.

PE

 

[blackwalnut]

I would not carve up or mutilate any of these wonderful old military rifles if they are still in orginal condition. But I would hunt with one in original condition after finding a good hunting load. I have rifles in all the military calibers. Bullets are available for them except for 7.65 X53 which has the very smallest but good selection. The 6.5, 7, and 8 have a big selection of projectiles and all the calibers are no problem to load for. Just work up a good load that either shoots to point of aim or close. The military sights cause them to shoot high at 100 yards but they can work. Good luck and have fun.

 

[SCPigpen]

My M48 did this @ 50yrds, open sights. 220gr Horn. spire point, 49grs H4350, brass I formed from 30-06 and Win LR primer.

 

[coloradokevin]

The 8mm Mauser is certainly a viable hunting cartridge, with ballistics that parallel .30-06 with proper loading. Though I've yet to hunt with mine, I'm planning to this fall, perhaps.

Accuracy on many of the nicer surplus rifles really isn't bad either, and is certainly well within the acceptable range for most hunting applications! I just recently started handloading for my M-48 Yugoslavian Mauser, and ran some tests on 175 grain Sierra Pro Hunter bullets (spitzer soft-points). When I shot these loads I was using the original (unadjusted) open sights, from a prone sandbag rest at just shy of 100 yards (I believe I measured the range at 89 or 91 yards that day, IIRC).

I shot seven 3-shot strings during this initial test, with loads ranging from the "starting" charge for H-380 powder to a "maximum" load. The average for all of these groups ended up at 1.77" center-to-center, with my best 3-shot group at 0.77", and the second best group at 1" even! The worst group I shot that day was a 3.7" group, which was very likely caused by pilot error resulting in a flinger. Needless to say, for a cheap surplus rifle, with open sights, and me shooting it... Well, I was pretty darn happy! If I can have a repeat performance on my next range trip, I'll really be thrilled

If this picture attaches correctly, here is one of the groups I shot that day (the actual aiming point was just below where I cropped on this picture... without trying to calculate the ballistics, I'd say the factory elevation setting is about right, given that the issued sights start at 200m, and I was shooting from around 100 yrds. Thus, the POI was a bit high). Keep in mind that the true capability of the rifle itself is probably not even reflected in these groups... I was shooting with the original sights on the rifle, rather than upgraded sights or optics.

 

[dak0ta]

Would you guys recommend the vz 24 or yugo m48?

 

[coloradokevin]

dak0ta,

I don't have a vz 24, so I can't really comment on them either way. However, I've been more than satisfied with my M48, and it is one of my favorite 'plinking' guns. They aren't as cheap as they once were, but I believe the prices are still supposed to be fairly decent, if you can find one (my local stores haven't had one in a while, that I can recall).

I rarely make an impulse purchase on a firearm (or anything that costs more than about $10), but my Yugo Mauser was probably the best impulse purchase I can ever recall making! I was at a gun store owned by a casual friend (about 6+ years ago), and we began talking about surplus rifles. He had a few M48 Yugo Mausers in at the time, and was trying to clear out some inventory. He offered me my rifle for $100, and threw in a decent supply of old corrosive surplus ammo (the rifle was "military new", and still covered in storage grease). Knowing what I know now, I probably would have purchased two or three of the rifles when I was there that day!

 

[evan price]

The Mauser military action has been the basis for MOST of the best rifles in the civilian world. Sporterized or military classic, those rifles will do just fine against most game critters.

The Swedish 6.5x55 is an extremely popular round in Europe and Scandinavia and has accounted for up to moose & elk sized game. It's also pretty popular here in the US and it has terminal ballistics that are quite a lot better than you might think, due to the BC of the round.

The 7.92x57 (8mm) mauser is also a great cartridge. In between a 30-06 and a 308 and leans more to the 30-06 in terms of ballistics.

 

[Opoche]

If you can still find a Yugo M48 or better yet a M48BO (they have no markings, not scrubbed, they were never issued to any country and are basically blank other than the serial)they are great. I had a choice between the Vz 24 and the N48 when I picked it up.
While I think the Vz was initially a superior firearm, the refinished and force matched Vz 24s available did not compare to the unissued state of the yugo m48BO.
Either way they are great rifles and the 8mm is a solid round. I own 4 rifles in 8mm and they are all great hunters (except the Hakim which weighs about 93 million tons, very accurate, just don't want to lug it around).

As for the swedes. I would say my M38 Husqvarna is a much better handling rifle and more accurate than any of the 8mm mausers. That said trigger time is going to be much more expensive for 6.5x55 than 8mm.
I would lean towards the M48.