Recently Purchased Mauser

roverandbrew

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I just purchased the Mauser below online to re-barrel to 7x57mm. The add stated pre-war Mauser. Is this a 98 acquired after the WW2 or actually a M48 and it’s mislabeled? I called the shop and they said the metal is good and action is smooth but did not know much about the markings. I figured for the price it might be a good start after I refinish the stock and swap barrels.
https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...zed-mauser-8x57mm-mauser.cfm?gun_id=101434398

E941E3A7-7BD9-4D01-A7C2-10EC6594A594.jpeg
 

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Hard to say with just those pics but seeing as it's Zastava there are a couple possibilities:

1. It's a Zastava M 98/48, which were WWII-era Kar98k rifles made across Europe and refurbished by Marshal Tito's regime after WWII. Rifles refurbished prior to 1950 will have "Mod. 98" on the side of the receiver and rifles refurbished after 1950 will have "Mod. 98/48" on the side, plus an indicator of where the refurbishment was done on the receiver ring (i.e., PREDUZECE 44 in the case of my own refurbed Kar98k).

2. It's a Zastava M48, a post-1950 Zastava-produced M98 pattern rifle, which is a combination of the Kar98k and the M24 design points but has an incompatible bolt with the German Kar98k. If you suspect this to be one of those, be careful as Mauser 98/Kar98k parts will not interchange.

3. It's something else.​

As I said, it's hard to tell without a good view of the other side of the receiver but if it's a military surplus action as the listing says, then it's probably either #1 or #2. I'm leaning a bit towards #2 since it has Zastava production markings visible in your photo and the GunsInt. photos don't show the refurb location marking on the receiver ring.
 
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If it was a Yugo M48 it'd have the coat of arms on the receiver ring as well as the M48 marking, it'd also have a manufacturer's marking (Cyrillic lettering) on the left side of the receiver (or at minimum it'd have some form of proof markings). Doesn't appear to be any evidence that those were scrubbed. It's also not a Mark X action. Looks like an M98 action to me. Hard to tell from the pictures, what are the markings on the right side of the receiver ring by the S/n?
 
re: @WebleyGreene455's post:

I'd lean towards option #1, but per my post above, would need to see some of the markings a bit better.
 
re: @WebleyGreene455's post:

I'd lean towards option #1, but per my post above, would need to see some of the markings a bit better.

I think I will have the rifle in hand this weekend to see the marks. The pics are blurry but the employee I called said good metal and smooth action so I took the risk. I looks fairly clean.
 
If it shoots straight you did just fine at $299, whether its option 1 or 2..

Im leaning toward option 2 based on what I see.. but like the others its hard to say definitively without getting some better close ups of the action..

A big indicator is all 48's made after 1952 used sheet metal stamped floor plates.. after 1956 more stamped parts were incorporated into the 48's...

If you have a milled floor plate you very likely have a 98.. only about 140K of the 48's were made in 1950 and 51 that had milled floorplates.. the million or so rifles made after that all had stamped..

The little tick marks around the floorplate on the rifle you bought are what all of the stamped floorplates look like that I have seen..

Thats not to say the floorplate hasnt been swapped out at some point.. or that a milled floorplate wasnt made with the tick marks.. Im just saying I havent seen it before..

All that said.. there is ZERO wrong with a tight M48.. and a barrel swap to 7x57 is just as easy and affordable as it would be on a K98..

At the price you paid, you got a good deal regardles.. and if you ever decide you dont want it, I'd gladly pay you what you have in it and take it off your hands (and leave it as an 8x57 :) )...
 
I agree with @mdwest. Looks like a post-war rifle to me. It is also seems to be drilled and tapped and maybe with screws in place. That would also indicate likely post war factory work. But as noted, for $300 bucks I would not be concerned.
 
I had one just like this. Ex mil action, new barrel and stock put together by Zastava. Mine was in 6mm Rem. It had MAUSER markings on it and there was another just like it in 30-06 on Gunbroker recently, may still be there.
The bolt handle on that is identical to what was on the 6mm.
Believe its a standard length 98 action, though I didn't measure the one I had. Whatever it is it will make a nice 7mm.
 
I had one just like this. Ex mil action, new barrel and stock put together by Zastava. Mine was in 6mm Rem. It had MAUSER markings on it and there was another just like it in 30-06 on Gunbroker recently, may still be there.
The bolt handle on that is identical to what was on the 6mm.
Believe its a standard length 98 action, though I didn't measure the one I had. Whatever it is it will make a nice 7mm.

I appreciate the insight. I have been reading about the M98 / 48 and that’s what I’m leaning towards.
 
It's a Zastava M98, which is a civilian rifle built using the M48 action. This is an intermediate length action specifically for the 8X57mm JS cartridge. It will accommodate cartridges of ?X57mm (8X57mm, .257 Roberts, and so on) or shorter (including ?X51mm such as .243 Winchester and so on). The stamped instead of milled fixed magazine floorplate *I think* designates a M48A style action. Safety is the flag style safety mounted on the bolt instead of the sliding thumb safety used on the Zastava M70 action used for cartridges with lengths up to ?X64mm (7X64mm Brenneke, .30-06 Springfield, and so on). So it should work fine for 7X57mm but if you plan on mounting a scope you need to be cognizant of the distances between the holes.

I don't exactly recall where I downloaded this copy of the owner's manual so I made the copy in my Google drive available to be viewed. Pay attention to the callouts for "M98" and you'll see the parts specific to the rifle you just purchased.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10h4q_XU2Gi0DqRJORI1yR1CKaUuCYKpP/view?usp=drivesdk

Numerous such bolt action rifles bearing that importer's stamp Foxtrot) hit the US market over the last year or so. I have two Zastava LK M70 rifles with that same importer's stamp having two trigger set trigger system I purchased from two different sellers (neither associated with Cabela's) on Gunbroker.com in 2019.

I'm curious: does this rifle have a single adjustable trigger or a single non-adjustable trigger? My guess is the latter was standard on the Zastava M98 rifles. The Zastava LK M70 rifles have several trigger options but my bet is the M98 has the simple single military trigger of the M48 rifles.
 

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I truly appreciate the information. Do you happen to know the compatibility with an aftermarket M-70 style 3-position safety for Mauser 98? I guess a replacement stock would be for a M48 action.
 
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I honestly don't know but it's the same basic bolt design, so I don't see why it wouldn't work. A good question for NECG or similar vendor of Winchester M70 style aftermarket safeties to confirm yea / nay I reckon.
 
Eh, the edit feature isn't being cooperative for me ATM. The only real M48 stock I know of is the military issue M48 rifle. I think the key words to look for from aftermarket stock vendors is "Intermediate" and "Yugoslavian". For example, Boyd's has multiple choices under "Yugoslavia" but I don't know exactly whether to choose "M48" or "M48A" in those options, nor whether the "#1 Barrel" option matches that Zastava M98 commercial / civilian barrel contour.

https://www.boydsgunstocks.com/resources/top-selling-firearms-brands/mauser-rifles

There are also some other intermediate length Mauser actions (some with crests of Mexico as an example I think) but I'm not really familiar with all those. There's a web page I've found handy that details some if not all Mauser style actions and their key differences.

http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/catalog/mauser_reference.html

The Arabic number designations in the first part do not 1 to 1 correspond to the Roman numerals in the second part.

Your new rifle's receiver is spelled out in the section for 4.) In the first part, and I think Roman number V is where it fits in the second part but it's not really spelled out in the second part.
 

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FWIW there's no real reason to believe the action was salvaged from a military service M48 instead of using a brand new action that was never stamped with the military service marks (which in military furniture would be a M48BO) installed in a civilian use pig back stock, either at the factory or by some independent gunsmith.

Also there's no reason to believe the D&T for scope mounts were performed after the rifle left the factory.

As the owner's manual shows, these were offered as-built from the factory. I would expect higher sales were made inside Yugoslavia over the years than export sales in this civilian use form.

In military dress the export market probably dominated sales, especially the M48BO models sans any national crest and no factory identification stampings.
 
Photo of rifle on the first post, probably is made before 2006. Stamp says "ZASTAVA YUGOSLAVIA"
As political environment in history changed the factory changed the name as well.
The same factory was after end of world war 2 - PREDUZECE 44 (or "enterprise 44", as 1944 was the year of liberation for Serbia, Belgrade liberated in october 1944)
Then it was CRVENA ZASTAVA (Red Banner) - FNRJ, SFRJ
Then it was ZASTAVA,
Now is ZASTAVA ARMS

The last two countries forming "Yugoslavia" were Serbia and Montenegro, and they broke up in 2006. So, Yugoslav suffix probably not used after 2006.
I beleive this is classic m98 rifle, having typical mauser 98 wing safety. They have it in their catalog even today, traditionally produced for civilian market.
 
I truly appreciate the information. Do you happen to know the compatibility with an aftermarket M-70 style 3-position safety for Mauser 98? I guess a replacement stock would be for a M48 action.
The thread is a bit old, but I am guessing you still have the rifle...There are still plenty of after market parts available for 98s. Brownells, Midsouth, etc. all are good sources. You will find three position safety conversion kits or even after market bolt shrouds with the 3 position safety in place. You could also go for an after market (Timneys most likely) trigger assemble with a built in safety, but those will not be 3 position.
 

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