What kind of 8MM Mausers are out there?

[KennyTHX]

I shot a buddy's 8MM for the first time the other day and went online to look at the prices of K98s--to find that his was not a K98. So I took a look at the Yugo 42s, and that doesn't look like it either.

His rifle had a bolt that stuck straight out like a Yugo, but the metal on the butt-plate was only 1/8" thick and didn't have that part extending up the butt about an inch like the Yugo does.

Past that I don't remember more detail than that. I think it's a "Turkish" one from what I've seen on Google, but I can't find a model name and only one guy's blog site that mentions the Turkish model.

It was a nice rifle, I was just trying to look up prices on one.

 

[Cosmoline]

Lordy, there's a very thick book just on military Mauser rifles. Many dozens of nations issued variations. It could be a lot of things, but off hand it sounds like a classic VZ-24 BRNO Mauser with a straight bolt. The Turks are interesting, but usually well worn with obvious markings.

 

[KennyTHX]

Seems like that's probably it. I don't really remember the circular metal piece on the butt ( I'm assuming the strap connects there? ) or that fuller in the stock underneath the rear sight, but I wasn't paying that much attention--the straight bolt handle I thought was rather interesting though.

I do remember the sights were kind of weird... The rear sight had a "V" cut into it and the front was an inverted "V", so it kind of sat inside the rear sight picture like a pyramid, or like a "W" shape.

 

[451 Detonics]

You can tell a lot from the crest/name on the receiver, it is the biggest clue to the origins of the gun. Other clues are the proofs, the language on the receiver or barrel and ever the kind of numbers on the sights. The 98 Mauser and variants were probably the most prolific bolt action ever made. It was made in quite a few countries both as licensed and unlicensed copies. To a dedicated collector this all makes a huge difference when they look at buying a Mauser, to the guy who wants one to shoot it really doesn't matter much.

If you are looking for a shooter your first concern should be the bore. From it's conception up to fairly modern times these were shot with corrosive ammunition. Guns that were properly maintained will have great bores, rifles that were treated indifferently will have dark to badly pitted bores.

I think one of the best deals in Mausers right now are the Yugo 48's. A good clean example with a good bore will run between $200 and $300. With it's semi bent bolt handle and scant pistol grip stock it feels very similar to American bolt action of the time period.

 

[SWModel19]

The circular metal thing is for working on the firing pin in the field. One thing to consider is the number of mausers that were assembled post WWII using various parts from various places. I have a pred-44 mauser that looks like a franken mauser. Not sure if they did it at pred-44 or if somebody changed things around afterward.

 

[451 Detonics]

A lot were reworked after the war...you can find 98's that were reworked in Yugoslavia and remarked 98/48 for example.

 

[KennyTHX]

Any particular reason the Turkish ones are more beat up than the others? I'm guessing most of the others were taken from surplus whereas the Turkish ones may have actually been in battle?

 

[Vaarok]

Turkey was never in a war, but scrounged and recycled everything they could from WW1 in the 1930s, built a ton in the forties, then trained three batches of conscripts with 'em every year since.

Some are nice, some are beat.

As for 8mm rifles in general, it's only the most common centerfire military bolt-rifle cartridge in the world.

The Turkish carbines are 1946 short rifles, if that helps, but nobody advertises them as that.

 

[CornCod]

"Turkey was never in a war"

Turkey (as the Ottoman Empire) fought in WWI. There also was a pretty big war with Greece 1919-1922. Turkish troops fought in the Korean War on the UN side.

 

[WardenWolf]

Turkish Mausers are very nice. The fact that they stayed out of World War II means that they're usually in very good condition. That said, there's many different models of Turkish Mausers. The earliest Turks were produced in Germany on contract. Turkey's contract stipulated that if any other nation adopted a more advanced Mauser design, the remainder of their contract would be switched to that model. As a result, Turkish Mausers, in 8mm, can be found in both cock-on-close and cock-on-open configuration.

Furthermore, the cock-on-close and the earliest cock-on-open Mausers were chambered for the 7mm Mauser cartridge, then rechambered later. You can identify these rechamberings by a crescent cut-out at the front of the receiver to allow the longer rounds to still be fed via stripper clips.

Around 1938, Turkey started producing their own Mausers, also known as the K.Kale Mausers, which is the arsenal in Ankhara where they were produced. Turkish-manufactured Mausers are interesting in that they are large ring, but use a small barrel shank. This does nothing to affect their quality, but it does mean that normal 98-pattern barrels cannot fit unless they are turned down.

My beautiful 1943 Turkish K.Kale:





Not bad for a $200 rifle.

 

[El Mariachi]

There's also some cool sporterized 8's out there----here's my 1949 Husqvarna Model #640 for example. Think I have less than $365.00 into her...

 

[aka108]

About 15 years ago I purchased a near mint condition 1909 Peruvian Original Mauser 7.65 for 250 dollars. I'm amazed at the quality that went into these old military rifles. Needless to say there are probably a thousand or more different Mauser variations floating around.

 

[P5 Guy]

Portuguese '04/39s are unique. Made in Germany in 1904 the Portuguese reworked them to 7.92x57 from 6.5x57. The one I found was pristine. Carlos the First crest on the receiver.

 

[Cosmoline]

El Mariachi, I want to see the video of you surfing while shooting the Swede ;-)