Several questions on Mausers

[bugeater]

1. Which are the "best" Mausers
I'm sure German are the best but is Yugo, Czech, Spanish or Turkish better than any of the others. And is there any to stay away from.

Our local shooting range has several Mausers for sale on consignment (some guys cleaning out his basement) that are pretty cheap.
A "I think" tiger maple Mauser in good condidtion for $150. There are two Czech Mausers and one of them is serveral pounds heavier than the other. And I assume maple is harder and heavier??? The other one sells of $119. Also there are two Spanish Mausers one chambered in 308. Each are $119. And 1 Turkish Mauser for $99 I think.

2. Same question about SKS's are Chinese, Czech, Russian or Yugo which is better?

 

[spacemanspiff]

most of them are fairly good, for being 55+ yr old shooters.

collectors of mausers will probably say different, and there may very well be good reason for that.

DB can you get us some more details on the mausers? any description of markings or crests or stamps on the recievers? date codes, that sort of thing? the underside of the barrel usually has the import engraving, if it doesnt, then its probably one that a soldier brought home, and at least to me, would be nicer to have.

about the yugos, are you talking the m48? m48a? or the m98?
of the three, if i had a choice, i'd go with the m98 if its in good condition. you can always find a m48 or m48a, theres no short supply of those. not that the m98 is rare or tough to find, i just dont see those for sale much in looking at online auctions or in the ads of shotgun news.

if you want something with a little more historic value, the k98's the russians captured still have all the original german insignias, price is getting a little higher, around $300 and up.

dont get too caught up thinking about matching serial numbers, as the rumor i have heard is that many with matching numbers were done so at the time the were rearsenaled after the war ended, they had all kinds of parts laying around and they removed the original numbers and put new ones on so they would be matching.

 

[dakotasin]

don't know anything about sks'.

of the mausers, the czech mausers are pretty good. assuming the heavy and light mausers you were looking at were both czech's, the heavy one is probably a 98/22 - longer barrel, stock... the other one may have been a vz - both are regarded as being pretty good.

don't know much more about them. i have a turk sitting here, but i'm still knee deep in my brno (cz, czech, whatever) project, and haven't had time to tear the turk apart, yet...

 

[P95Carry]

Spanish Mausers one chambered in 308.

Be a tad wary of these - at least, re using full power .308 ammo in them. Assuming we are talking same deal - mine is a 1916 Spanish in .308 ... small ring I believe and .. there was (is - out there on web somewhere) a report suggesting that over time bolt set back might be a problem .. and thus lead to headspacing problems. Not as strong as desirable.

I quite like mine but use it to ''play'' with cast bullets ... 180 grain gas checks - at quite modest velocities ... 1900 fps or so .... no harm to the gun .. and fun. they are also IIRC actually, technically - called carbines.

Here is the 1916 ...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quick comment on the Turk .... I found mine very uncomfortable to shoot in std form ... converted it to the fugly ATI furniture (modelled IIRC after a Steyr) ... but it shoots cheapo 8mm all day and despite looks is very comfortable. I like it a lot. With 3,500 rounds spare remaining - it'll entertain me a while yet!




.

 

[browningguy]

The Czech actions are usualy pretty good as already noted, I had my 275 Rigby built on a Czech VZ24 action and it's a fine gun. Lot's of customs get built ont he VZ24 action. The Yugo's are also rumored to be good rifles but I don't have any personal experience with them.

The Turks are a little problamatic, genreally ok to use as is for a plinker but not known for being as accurate as the Yugos and VZ24's. Although I'm sure someone has one that will shoot .3's all day I just haven't seen any of them personally.

For the Mausers I would rate them in this order, Czech, Yugo, Spanish, Turk.

For the SKS models the order for most collectors would probably be Russian, Yugo, other eastern european then Chinese. I've got a Yugo 59/66 and have shot most of the others. The Yugo is definately first in my mind for a shooter. You can get one essentially new for $160, and they come with a good recoil pad which, although there is no recoil to speak of, makes it easier for many to shoot. And, as a no cost bonus, they come with that bitchin' grenade launcher.

 

[Bwana John]

The best Mausers I have seen are the Persian Mauser, and the 1909 Argi.

 

[SmershAgent]

The market is really saturated with Yugoslavian SKSs these days. A lot of places are practically giving them away. If you're interested in surplus rifles, I'd highly recommend you get a C&R permit. This will allow you to buy from on-line wholesaler; you'll save money and get the rifles shipped to your house.

I'd say the Yugo SKS is the best one to start with. It's a great beater rifle, and since they all are essentially the same mechanically, it's a good one to practice breaking down and cleaning. In my experience, Albanian models are generally the rarest, with prices easily exceeding $300. Next is probably Russian, with prices in the $200-$300 range, followed by Chinese - $200-$250. These estimates vary depending where you live, I'm sure.

 

[bugeater]

Both of the Yugo Mausers are the same size M48, pretty sure, its just one is obviously made of different wood much denser and smoother. One was made in 1939 not sure on the other.

There is a bunch of Yugo SKS at a pawn shop here all between $120 to $150. They also have at least 10 Mausers but they want too much for them over $170. I'm leaning toward getting a SKS, much cheaper to shoot. I've seen 4 different Mausers in the past month around 150 so they will wait.

My Enfield rocks Aeon! I'm getting better but man I'm out of practice. Shot it today and a different gun store is getting some SP 7.62x54 so I can shoot my M-44 again.

 

[cracked butt]

What Bwana John said.


The top of the heap mausers are german and Swedish made M96s and Swedish made M38s.


Prewar German 98s are very well made.
As far as affordable shooters go, a Czech 98/22 or VZ-24 is very well made, though most of the VZ-24s I've seen are nearly worn out. A 98/22 is an almost identical rifle to the Persian 98/29, though the persian rifles are almost like new.


Turks are fairly good rifles, though they all have had a hard life
Yugos are good rifles, though their quality is sometimes iffy.
Spanish- unless it were an FR-8 (world's only bolt action assault rifle ) I wouldn't bother with it. These are easily recognized- they have a hooded front sight, a flash hider, and a storage tube under the barrel that looks like a gas tube.

 

[cracked butt]

Both of the Yugo Mausers are the same size M48, pretty sure, its just one is obviously made of different wood much denser and smoother.

The yugo M48s were made with 2 different types of wood- one that is blond in color and has a greasy sort of texture to it, and the other is a sort of dark red in color.

 

[jefnvk]

No Yugos were made until after the war. M48 has a milled floorplate and barrel bands, and M48a has stamped ones. I had a Yugo, and have a German. The German is obviously a higher quality of finish. That being said, my Swedish Mauser will put both to shame, although that shoots 6.5x55. My uncle has an Argentine Mauser that is one of the most beautiful guns I have seen. But that again shoots a different caliber. The only Persians I have seen are covered in cosmo, but they did seem to be in good shape and looked nice.

That is not to say the Yugo wasn't a good gun, it would keep up with the German all day. It just wasn't as smooth or as nicely finished. Plus, mine looked like it quite possibly seen some action, where as the German one was likely refinished.

I'd probably go with BrowningGuy's order. Yugo or Czech are going to be the best. All the Turk's I have seen are real rough. Just wasn't impressed with the Spanish either.

For the SKS's, I like my Yugo. $180 OTD, unissued with the logbook to prove it. It was pulled out of storage three times to test fire. IIRC, the birthday was June 19, 1979 (don't have the book with me right now). I know more about that rifle than any other one I own. Heck, I knew that it had 145 shots through it before I bought it. I challenge you to find a new semi-automatic that works well for $180.

Albanians are the rarest, IIRC only about 6,000 remain worldwide. Russian and Chinese seem to be about the same price around here, $250 to 300 or so. As for Czech, that's a new one on me. I didn't know Czech made SKS's

 

[cracked butt]

s for Czech, that's a new one on me. I didn't know Czech made SKS's

They made a rifle that looks a bit like an SKS, but its not an SKS. Czech SHE VZ-52

 

[spacemanspiff]

you know DB if you buy one and find you like it a little less (grass is always greener....) you can always find someone willing to buy it here.