Scoping my M48 Mauser - A Question

[Dorrin79]

Ok, so I got this M48 Mauser a while back.

I want to scope it, but I'm a cheap, er, illegitimate son.

So, I was looking at this nifty B-Square mount that replaces the rear sight leaf and allows mounting of a eye-relief scope.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Considering that my goal (for right now, at least) is not to build a 300 yd shooter, but rather a <150 yd deer gun, do you think this is a good idea?

Or should I just pay to have a gunsmith drill-and-tap the receiver?

 

[BHP9]

I would not drill and tap it. Not only will you end up putting more money in the gun but if you later deside to sell it you will take a beating on the resale value because it is no longer "original". You may also have to spend more money to have the bolt bent to clear the scope which adds more money into the conversion.. Not doing this will necessitate mounting the scope very high on the gun which will take your face off of the stock and result in inconsistant shooting. Also you may have to modify the safety to clear the scope and this again adds more money into the conversion.

There are many, many good deals on used commercial sporting rifles out there. They already have bolt handles that will clear a low mounted scope and safeties that do not have to be altered. many also have adjustable triggers. Most all are already drilled and tapped for scope use.

If you like Mausers there are many, many sporting ones to chose from that are used and also many military guns that were altered years ago to sporting configuration that will save you the modern day expense which will be very high of converting one today.

Converting a military gun today is basically a financially losing proposition and it devalues the worth of the weapon considerably..

 

[Midnight]

Ahem...to answer the man's question....I have never used a Mauser with a scout style scope, but I have handled a Mosin Nagant M44 with one. The B-square mounts you speak of replace the rear sight while leaving it intact in case you want to go back to strictly irons. It's a great option because there's no permanent modifications to the rifle. The scope I saw was a fixed 2.5x with an illuminatd reticle. It would be a great deer rifle within 200 yards. If you like the Mauser, and want to hunt with it, I would go for it.

 

[HarryB]

Didn't the Germans use a long eye relief scope for one of their sniper configurations?

 

[Jim K]

I am not sure the M48 will ever be a high ticket collectors item, and drilling and tapping would be an option if it is desired to sporterize it. But be warned that the M48 is NOT a standard Mauser 98 action (it is about 1/2 inch shorter) and stocks and one piece scope mounts made for the 98 will not fit.

Before anyone gets too offended about talk of sporterizing the M48, remember that (hype ads notwithstanding), the M48 is not WWII vintage, is not a K.98k, is not German, and has virutally no historical value. It has some collector value simply because it is a Mauser 98 variation, but there will be plenty around for the foreseeable future.

FWIW, I would consider buying one of the junker VZ-24's for sporterizing before the M48 simply because the VZ-24 is slicker and all the Mauser 98 parts and accessories fit.

Jim

 

[BHP9]

Didn't the Germans use a long eye relief scope for one of their sniper configurations?

You are correct they did but they had the same problem back then that we have today. The field o view is very narrow compared to mounting a scope back on the reciever.

To give you an example. I have a Leupold 1x4 shotgun scope mounted on a pump shotgun that when set at 1 power will give you a field of view so very wide that you can actually see and shoot at a deer only a few feet away. This type of advantage is lost on the far forward mounted type of scope. If the animal is just standing there and unaware of your presence (about as likely as winning the state lottery) then this scope can be used but if the animal sees you first (much more likely) and worse yet is moving this type of scope is of a great disadvantage.

Like anything in life if you want the very best of equipment it will cost you a lot of money. You of course can get by on less but you suffer from the disadvantages of doing so. I have tried many of the short cuts years ago but as my wealth accumulated over the years I upgraded what equipment I used and never regretted doing it. Buying the very best tool for the job will get the job done with the least headaches but unfortunately not all of us often have the spare cash to always do this. Looked at from a historical standpoint the longer you wait to buy good equipment the more expensive it will become and the money spent on inferior equipment is money lost that is not easily or totally recovered.

 

[RUT]

>>I am not sure the M48 will ever be a high ticket collectors item, and drilling and tapping would be an option if it is desired to sporterize it.<<

I'm with you on this one Jim. I own an "unissued" M48 for collecting purposes and a VGC M48A I got from CDNN for scoping purposes. I paid a mere $105.00 for the M48A, which made it an excellent candidate for "modification". Not being a fan of Scout type mounts or most of the other non-invasive add-ons, I bit the bullet (so to speak) and had a local gunsmith drill & tap the receiver for dual Weaver bases. He then had to modify the bolt (although already bent) to give it kind of a "swoop" so as to miss the scope when cocking. The stock was relieved slightly to accommodate this as well. Last but not least, he installed an aftermarket safety that's activated with a sort of "half cock", again so as to miss the scope. The job came out very professionally, and cost me $140.00 including parts.

Like Jim said, these will never be high ticket collectibles, and this was the only way I was actually going to get any real use out of it, what with my aging eyesight!

===RUT===

 

[surfinUSA]

Jim Keenan,

I agree. The M48 (a fine rifle) is not a military rifle per se. If anything its the equivilant of the early post WWI Remington bolt actions made on the tooling and based on the Enfied P-17s that Reminton had built for that war.

The real difference in this analogy is that the Remingtons were more refined and didn't appears as closely related to the war time gun as the M48 does to the K98. Consequently it didn't seem like sporterizing a military weapon (of course Reminton had basically done that with a slight redesign during production)

With Winchester, Remingtion and Savage going for $400 at wall mart I wouldn't dump too much money in an M48, but I wouldn't hesitate to have it drilled and tapped for a scope mount especially if it could be done cheaply and locally.

These guns, like the SKS make great woods gun that you won't cry over if they drop in the swamp mud, bang against rocks and trees or any of the other bad things that can happen to rifles out in the field.

 

[Okiecruffler]

What was the question again?

I actually have a B-square scout mount on my M48A (see there had to be someone) along with a TC 4X scope. I got the whole set up on Ebay for $60, one of my better finds. It takes some patience and a few words that Art's Granny wouldn't approve of to get everything lined up. But other than that it's a dandy mount. I haven't even put lock tite on mine and after about a case and a half of turk ammo it still hasn't moved any. It shoots 2 inch groups with the turk stuff at 100 yrds. I've never used it on a poor defenseless deer, but there are 3 coyotes that seemed to be pretty impressed with it. Look around, there are alot of used ones out there. If you have the reciever drilled and tapped you'll have to have the bolt bent (it's bent already, just not enough) as well. So then you're out smith fees, mount cost, and then you have to buy a scope. Pretty much defeats the purpose of the cheap rifle.