Posted: 9/4/2006 7:39:32 PM EDT
| I've got a Yugo-made '50s-era 8mm Mauser that I got as a present. I can't really afford anything else rifle-wise, so I'm considering fitting what I've got with a scope and possibly a bipod. However, I have heard some people disparaging it. How does it stack up against other guns in terms of reliability, range, accuracy, et c.? I want to know before I spend hours attempting to hone my skills on it before hunting season. What would you do? |
I had a 1913 Czech Mauser that I regretably gave away to a friend of mine... It was rugged, cheap, the ammo was like 75 rounds for $10, and it was VERY accurate. I'd fix'er up man... Masuer's are the cats meow 
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That rifle, while perhaps common as dirt now, is still a peice of history. You will likely regret "bubbaizing" it down the road. Remember, Garands were sold for a dime a dozen forty years ago, now non-CMP mediocre rifles go for $700 and up. Yugo mausers could go the same way in a few decades. Everyone has the urge to make their first surplus gun "uber tactical" at some point. I almost did it to my yugo mauser, for that matter. In the end, it is probably just best to appreciate it for what it is. If anything, you could refinish the stock so it looks nicer or buy a sling/bayonet. Ultimately, however, it is your choice. If you decide to add a scope, keep in mind that those synthetic replacement stocks with the scope mount already on them will not fit yugo mausers. Yugoslavian mausers have shorter actions that "normal" German mausers, hence many parts are actually not interchangable. |
Grr. that's frustrating, as one of my options was going to be buying another stock and doing all my fancy stuff to it, thus remaining able to put the hardware back on the wood stock for resale in 50 years or whatever. Is there any way I can get a replacement stock for the yugo? |
Depends , How does the bore look ? Before you spend any money on it , try shooting it at 25 then 50 then 100 yards. , see if you can get any kind of a group. If it's shot out or has a worn out muzzle you be lucky to get " minute of pie plate. " You would be better off buying an off the shelf $329 Savage rifle or one of those $244 AT 100 30-06 or .270 Mossberg rifles from wal-mart before you syarted trying to get a scope mounted on an old mauser. |
True, But my 1922 Czech Mauser (I'm sure similiar to your 1913 ) will shoot rings around any of my Yugos. |
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As far as the caliber is concerned, 8mm Mauser will kill anything that .30-06 or .308 winchester can. You can use it all the way up to moose or moderate sized bear if you use the heavy 198-200gr bullets, and it will work great on deer and wild boar. Handloading is a must as it lets you load it hot like it should be, and you can use quality bullets. US made factory 8mm is okay for deer, but it is way underpowered. S&B and Wolf Gold offer hot ammo, but the quality of the softpoints is suspect. I would avoid making any permanent alterations to a valuable collectible surplus rifle. If you do want to bubba one, get a Turkish Mauser as they are cheap and plentiful. You will still be pissing off the C&R gods, but at least you will only be chopping up a crappy Turk mauser that will never be worth much for the next few centuries. 
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My dad brought back a K-98 from WW-II and had it sporterized in the 1950's. It resembles nothing of its original configuration. But it is a tack driver at 300 yard (that's the furthest I have been able to shoot it). I put a new Nikon scope on it last year to update the 1950's Weaver scope that was on it. The rifle has a "CE" German manufacturer code, which is Sauer and Son. I use it for deer hunting and it is a ball to take to the range. I bought a original configuration K-98 a few years ago just to have one. If you can afford to get a war era model, sporterize the the M48. |
I don't think a 50s era Yugo will ever have significant collector value. I'm also not sure I'd bother doing anything beyond decent optics. It probably isn't worth getting into free floats and bedded stocks. |
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I also doubt it’s going to have much collector value, at least in the foreseeable future. It just doesn’t have much history behind it. Mauser’s are fine actions, but IMHO yours is going to take too much money to make it what you want. To make it a good long-range rifle it needs a better trigger. Also the receiver will have to be drilled and tapped for a scope. (Plus the present bolt handle won’t clear a low mounted scope.) The safety will also need to be modified or replaced. And you’ll need a cheek pad for the stock – or better yet a new stock. I doubt military ammo is going to give you the accuracy you want, and of course isn't very suitable for hunting. However, U.S. ammo in 8 MM Mauser is less powerful than European ammo. To get the full benefit of the round you’ll need either to start reloading or buy expensive European commercial ammo like Norma. IMHO, you’d be much better off saving any money the above would cost and putting it toward a Savage in something like .308 or 30-06. The only thing I’d do to your Mauser is put a Mojo rear sight on it. With that it would be a decent rifle to learn on. |
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For a Yugo Mauser I would recommend a Mojo rear peep www.mojosights.com sight and a slip on recoil pad. That's all that I did to my M48, and it is a great rifle to shoot. I've never shot mine for accuracy, but 2 liter soda bottles tremble in fear when I pull my M48 out of the safe. |
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i easily hit gallon milk gugs with my k98 at 200 yards without trying very hard. honestly if you can't hit something that size with iron sights, you need to learn to shoot first before relying on a scope. for SHTF huting or fighting you likely won't be shooting farther than 100 or so anyway. keep it stock. save the money for a real accuracy gun down the line. while the mauser is a great platform to start with it's still a battle rifle. never designed for target shooting in the military config and barrel. |
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Here is the thing. The mauser is a great rifle and cartridge in and of itself. Now think of the investment you will make in properly scoping it. Its a heavy kicking round so bargain basement scopes will not do. First, scope mounts, probably in the $50 range plus installation. Second scope, quality costs and a chinacrap scope will fail within 20 rounds, ask me how I know? For the cost of time and aggravation going on here, you could get a cost effective setup or Savage / Remington package from walmart. As is however, you could easily hunt with the Irons with a bit of practice. |
| The '48 Yugo Mauser is NOT a collectable. If you had a pristine '96 Swede or '98K or something like that, then I'd say leave it be, but the Yugos are an oddball length (between the short small-ring and the long large-ring) and other than the fact that you can get rifles in unissued condition, have no real collector value. It's what you have. Modify it to your heart's content. |
I foresee a bruised shoulder in you future. Try it out and see how the old girl shoots. If she doesn't shoot well, you might try one of those copper solvents to clean out the barrel. Maybe you should watch "War of the Rats" before you scope the gun. The Mausers look real cool with the WWII scope setup. |
It was designed to hit torso sized targets at several hundred meters and it does that quite well. Also, with surplus 200gr fmj, it punches angry holes through just about anything you shoot it at. I shot through both sides of a steel floor jack and the holes on both sides were the same size, the bullet kept going until it hit a school or something I imagine.
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Garands and carbines were associate with a major historical event. |
So was the Mauser. Sure, not the Yugo Mauser, but so what if it's another (arguably superior) rendition of the German Mauser. |
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You can get some decent non gunsmithing required mounts for em. I think s&K makes a scout style or you can get an iron-elite mount for it. Both replace the front sight, the iron elite goes back over the bolt like a traditional mount. I think they are both in the 50-100 range. The modification is reversible as well. Alternatively a K31 with a $75 St. marie side mount will do you just as well, and probably be more accurate at long range. |
My suggestion: Get a MOJO peep sight for your Yugo. It is a reversable modification that will greatly improve your ability to hit the target accurately. With this sight you'll be plenty accurate out to 100-150 for hunting. Most deer in America are taken closer than that. At distances beyond that you'd probably be better off with something else anyway. |
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Leave it alone and shoot it. Get molds and cast bullets from wheel weights so that you can shoot it a lot. Visit 'Cast Boolits' site to get info on what works and what doesn't. Chances are you will get best accuracy with cast bullets that fit the barrel well. Yugos have shorter throats than German K98's. Accuracy should be pretty good. You could get a Swiss K31 military rifle for less than $200. It is probably the most accurate general issue military rifle ever made. The K31 has grooves on the side of the action for a slide on scope mount. Brownells has the mounts. Swiss surplus ammo is very accurate. 284 Win cases can be run through dies for the 7.5 Swiss to make good, economical cases. .308 diameter bullets work well in the K31. This is your best bet for a military scoped rifle at a low price...or at any price. Check AIM Surplus, SOG and look on the military rifle sites, like swissrifles.com. If you want something else with a scope get a Savage 308 or 223, especially the heavy barreled ones. But, the light barreled ones will do and are a lot easier to carry. Search the pawn shops, etc. Savage makes "package rifles" that include scopes. The package rifles are cheap and even cheaper when used. Best, they work very well. My Rem VS 308 and 223 can hit 2 liter soda bottles at 500 yards. Savages are at least as accurate as Remingtons. The 223 using 50 gr Vmax's blow up the bottles way better than the 308's 168 or 175 gr Match Kings. The highest scoring sniper, Simo Hayha liked rifles without scopes because you don't have to expose as much of your head when using one. He fought a russian sniper at over 500 meters. The russian used a scope, Hayha used iron sights. Hayha won. The russian was killed. On the other hand there are scope mounts made for the K98 and Yugo Mausers that mount the scope up high so that the factory bent bolt handle can be used. You could make your rifle into an erzatz WW2 sniper rifle. I think the only damage to the rifle would be four holes drilled and threaded. The Mauser would be an excellent rifle for general shooting and hunting. A replica WW2 sniper rifle is way more cool than a butchered, formerly nice rifle. Sorry I can't find the link to the scope mount I'm talking about. Found it http://www.p-a-distributing.com/gallery.html it looks good to me, so good I might get a second Yugo to use one on. Forget the bipod. Don't think they used them in WW2 and they are of little use, at least I don't use the ones I have. Make some shooting sticks, two sticks tied together about 4 inches from the end. Also get used to shooting off some rolled up cloth. |
And M48's were representative of the Cold War & Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists. I think Cold War artifacts are going to get hot. I just bought a Soviet Personal ID book. |
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I recently bought a Springfield 1903a3 that had been mildly sporterized. Fortunately, all the previous owner did was cut down the stock. He didn't drill and tap it or mess with the stock sights at all. It's only going to take a replacement stock and a little bit of hardware to put it back to the original configuration. But what I couldn't understand about what he did was WHY? What did he gain by chopping up the stock? I suppose he saved a few ounces of weight but the rifle would have been just as servicable if left completely alone. Same with the Mauser (or as someone else mentioned, the K31). They're GREAT rifles just the way they are. There is no reason to mess with them. That being said, I think the Mojo sight is a HUGE improvement over the stock sight. I've done this to my v.24/47 Mauser and one K31. But neither gun is permanently altered. Drive out one pin and the original sight can be reinstalled. In the meantime the guns are MUCH better shooters with the Mojo sight . . . |