Which Mauser?

[Pointblank2K]

I've seen a bunch of the milsurp mausers available...but which one to get? I don't want to spend a bunch of money...I saw that Centerfire has a BRNO and a Yugo available for $89.00 and the turkish ones seem to be everywhere for $39.00 I bought a russian M-44 at the end of last year from AIM for $69.00 in the mummy wrap and it was in excellent shape...I have been bitten by the milsurp rifle bug! now I want to add a mauser to my small collection...which one?
Thank's,
Tony.

[StuporDave]

That milsurp bug bites hard, doesn't it?:)
The Turk Mausers are cheap and not very pretty. But if you find one with a good barrel (not hard to do) they're accurate and surplus ammo is cheap.

I just got a Swiss Schmidt-Rubin K31. It's a cool little rifle. Straight-pull bolt action. Extremely accurate. Ammo is expensive and hard to find though.

Check our Parallax's C&R forum for lot's of info on all kinds of milsurp stuff.
http://pub42.ezboard.com/bparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums

[litework]

My personal favorite is the Swedish Mauser. They can be a bit pricey compared to the Yugo's, Turkish Mausers, and Nagants (which I also love) but most Swedes are in excellent shape and they are chambered for an extremely accurate and versatile round (6.5X55). Bayonets, stripper clips, and slings can be purchased at a reasonable price, as well.

[Cosmoline]

Yugo M48's tend to be in the best overall condition, and also have matching bolts. On the other hand, they were not as well made as Czech or German Mausers so it may take some smithing to smooth out the actions.

The Turks are very cheap and some of them are actually pretty amazing shooters. Unfortunately, the word on the street is that the stocks of good-quality Turks have been depleted and what's getting shipped out now from the wholesalers are lower grade Turks. Soon the supply will probably dry up, and you'll see prices go up to $100 or $150. I would never shoot one unless I checked headspace first. Plenty of them will eat a field gauge, whch ain't good at all. On the plus side, you can find some pretty unique Turks. They had a long-term requirements contract with Mauser which allowed them to get upgraded every time Mauser had another bright idea. They ended up with a mixed stock of Commission rifles, Model 93's (like the Spanish Mausers), and of course '98's. The Turks never threw anything away, so you can find rifles with bits and pieces of various Mausers combined in unique ways. I would never use high pressure 8x57 in any of them except the pure K98's with good headspace and good barrels. The others may be shootable, but only at the reduced pressures you find in US ammo.

BRNO Mausers are among the best, but a lot of these rifles went through at least one world war. You might end up needing to replace the barrel on a BRNO you get for under $100. The K98K and Gew. 98's from Germany proper are also usually not in the best of condition. You can get the best deals on the de-NAZIfied rifles, which in my book should increase their value.

If you want .308, there are Israeli mausers in that cartridge, but the ones I've seen lately were in just terrible shape. I don't know so much about Spanish Mausers. The one '93 action I've used was really fast, more like and SMLE than a Mauser. It cocks-on-closing. It's not as strong as the K98's, though, and does better with 7x57 pressures than 8x57JS.

[dwil453]

I have a K98 German that I was told was a battlefield pick-up in Russia and sold to the Yugoslavs. You can still see Nazi markings that they missed when they removed them all. I will never part with it, and it shoots great.

I also have one of the M48 Yugoslav Mausers that was probably never issued - it looks brand new and also shoots great. I was going to make a custom out of it but have decided to sell it instead - it never gets used 'cause I favor the K98.

Order some of the 154 grain Turkish 8mm ammo from J&G Sales - it's a hot load and costs about $80 for 1400 rounds. It's like a .30-06 on steroids.

[dirtbrokegundude]

Yugo 24/47 if you can find it, that's the best I've seen anyway.

[shaprshooter]

I've got a Czech BRNO 98/22 8mm. Got it from Big5 for $89 on sale last week. The tag from Century Arms said GOOD condition, and it is. The stock was a little dinged but nothing major. ZERO rust except for one tiny spot under the front handguard. Good barrel, nice and sharp and shiny, no pitting.

It passed the headspace check by my gunsmith (free service) so I went home and stripped the stock and cosmoline. Then I lightly sanded to smooth things out and used water based walnut stain to bring back a little of the brown color. Then two thinned coats of Tung oil to get it deep into the wood followed by 4 coats of pure Tung Oil, the last two were polished with 0000 steel wool after it dried. (the wood was REALLY dry) The finnished result is a great looking mauser rifle that is in great shape, looks and feels great, but still gracefully retains the "battle" scars and marks.

I've put about 120 rounds through it using Equadorian '54 ammo. It shoots about a foot high at 100 yards on the lowest setting and right on target at 600 yards. Can easily hit garbage can sized rocks at 600 yards off hand. No problems with the Equadorian ammo yet, no misfires or split cases. Seems pretty "clean" (not much fouling) although it IS corrosive. I ordered a mojo peep sight to try out, hopefuly that will fix my elevation problem. If not, I'll replace the front sight blade with a taller one. Maybe I'll do that anyways just to keep the rifle looking 100% original.

Great rifle! Great price! I'll post a pic soon.

[Steel]

Tony-

AIM has Yugos for $100. They sold out of their previous supply quickly.


http://198.63.62.70/acatalog/AIM_C_R_Rifles_6.html

[Pointblank2K]

Thank's Steel...BTW...did you get one? and if so...how did it look?
Tony.

[Steel]

Tony-

No, I have not yet. However, I have heard good things about their stock (I bought a great M44 from them). I say go for it!