What is the best 8mm surplus mauser?

[M.E.Eldridge]

I want to know what you guys think is the best 8mm surplus mauser rifle readily available on the market.I shot a k98 and found the recoil to be a bit stiff for an enjoyable range session and was wondering if any of the other Mausers are slightly more user friendly. I've been looking at a Turkish mauser as it feels like my 91/30.

 

[cracked butt]

Persian 98/29 is the best, bar none.

I'd put a 98/22 a very close second, they are as accurate if not more accurate than 98/29s, but most of them have sights that start at 400 yards and most of them are in pretty beat up condition.

 

[kentucky_smith]

recoil should be about the same on all of them, unless you get something with a 30" barrel.

 

[Ad Astra]

Buy good brass, reload it with a milder load, go home happy.

There are a lot of historic rifles and good buys out there. Recoil shouldn't keep you from having fun....My Yugo M48A has a great bore, mismatched bolt, and a few waffenamps. A typical shooter, and well worth the $129. IMA had the correct bayo $20 and K98 sling with the "frosch" keeper.

 

[50caliber123]

I've had good luck with the laquered steel cased Romanian. It's manufacture is late 1970's, and its steel-cored. Shoots very accurate, but is extremely dirty and comes out of the gun hot. They're loaded hotter than other surplus rounds that I've fired, so don't use it in an old gun that's in poor condition.

 

[longhorngunman]

I'll second the Persian 98/29 as the most valued mauser, especially the ones that can be found in unissued condition. The Czech Vz24's are very nice too, great workmanship. The Turkish mausers are cheap but usually good guns for the money as long as the bores are good and the headspace is OK. I haven't found the Romanian surplus to be any hotter than the other 8mm surplus. You can find Turkish ammo very cheap and it is the hottest 8mm by far. I've read reports of guys who have chronoed the stuff at near magnum velocities.

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

Buy good brass, reload it with a milder load, go home happy.

There are a lot of historic rifles and good buys out there. Recoil shouldn't keep you from having fun....My Yugo M48A has a great bore, mismatched bolt, and a few waffenamps. A typical shooter, and well worth the $129. IMA had the correct bayo $20 and K98 sling with the "frosch" keeper.

Sounds like a good idea. I've no problem with the recoil from an M44,which is a pretty stout kicker, but that k98 was painful. Perhaps its just the gun's design itself,as I didn't care much for its feel when I shouldered it(it had be bubba'd).Yugo M48as seem to fit me nice,so do the Czech mausers.

The Persian mauser is a bit out of the price range I want to pay. I can get a nice M48A with bayonet and sling for $100.00 in great condition from a local gun store.The czech mausers are $125.00 and some Turks are $59.99, so maybe I should buy a Yugo and a Turk.

 

[rust collector]

Czech vz24 is a good one, and Turks are fun as well. Can hardly go wrong with any Mauser.

US commercial 8mm will be loaded a lot milder than the surplus stuff to keep from blowing relics up.

 

[MCgunner]

It ain't a Mauser, but my Egyptian Hakim, which set me back 80 bucks when I bought it in NRA very good condition, never fired dropped once in the sand, is one heck of a fun 8x57 throwin' monster of a rifle for impressing folks at the range. It's pretty accurate and you can rattle off ten of those bad boys as fast as you can pull the trigger without much muzzle climb. That gets everyone's attention.

 

[spacemanspiff]

the surplus 8mm ammo is pretty much all going to reach out and touch your shoulder. buy a box or two of freshly manufactured ammo (winchester or remington) and see how your shoulder likes that? could always go the sissy-route and slip one of those rubber pads on the butt.

as far as the best shooting mausers, gotta be a swede. mind you, its going to take some effort in reloading to find the right load, but its accurate, and fun to shoot.

 

[tom barthel]

mausers

I an biased. I favor the M-38 sweed over all. I am looking for an after war mauser in VG condition. There are lots of Yugo 24/47s and 24/52s out there some where. Most of the old Nazi mausers are pretty well worn out. Surendering German soldiers generally threw the rifles in one pile and the bolts in another. I think the origional .323 bullet was about 150 grains and moved out at 2800 to 2900 fps. The 196 grain bullets are going about 2600+fps. Some loading manuels show the 200 grain bullet at about 2700 fps. These rifles are good for anything on this earth. They are hard kickers. Most American 8mm is loaded down for those people who don't know the differance between the J bore (.318) and the JS bore (.323).

 

[chunk]

i have a 24/47 and i really like it. shoots great, today i bought a m-48a.i hope it shoots as well...i also picked up 4 spam cans of romainian surplus. next im thinking k-98

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

Bought the Turk Mauser yesterday and had a chance to shoot it at the store indoor range with new commercial ammo and was comfortable enough to be enjoyable. Feeling adventerous I decided to try a few stripper clip of surplus. The recoil was an umph! but not nearly as bad as that bubba'd k98 I shot. I also think I might get the Yugo or a Czech next time I'm down there. Thanks for the advice.