M48 Mauser

[303carbine]

I managed to find one that was still in the brown wrapper, what a load of cosmo in this old girl.
The bore was packed with it as well as every inch of the rifle, the front sight had a big gob of that nasty stuff and was totally covered.
I took a heat gun and sweated the cosmo out and wiped it up with a rag as it liquified.
To get it out of the bore, I dumped boiling water through it and it came out coffee colored water.....ick.
I bought a can of carb cleaner and the rest of the rifle was done, the bolt was packed solid with 60ish year old cosmoline.
I cocked the rifle and tried to fire it, instead of the firing pin dropping and making a click sound, it released and slower than molasses in January.
A total disassembly of the bolt and a bath in carb cleaner with a little coaxing with an old tooth brush and I have a working Yugo M48 8mm Mauser.
The stock sucked up a couple coats of Boiled Linseed oil already and the teak stock looks 100% better than it did out of the wrapper.
All of the numbers match including the stock, now if the rain would stop long enough to get to the range.
PS, I have a couple of pics of the M48 during the unwrapping, if someone wishes to post them for me, email for pics at deerslayer@shaw.ca

[lefty o]

never heard of a teak stock on one.

[303carbine]

never heard of a teak stock on one.

The dealer said they are teak or elm, I'm inclined to believe the stock is elm.

[Peregrine]

From what I understand the M48's wearing "teak" stocks is a long standing misconception. I've commonly seen it blamed on Mitchell's Mausers incorrectly identifying them as such in their advertising and it spreading from there. There never actually were teak stocked M48's.

Walnut seems to pop up on earlier examples, more commonly the stocks are birch or elm. Mine's a rather nice elm stocked example, here's a picture for reference on what the elm looks like;

Attachment 169525


303carbine, there's a guide on how to upload your images here. That or just go to Imgur, hit new post, and navigate to the image you want to upload. Once you select it it will upload the image and give you a URL which you can either just copy and paste into your post or embed.

[lefty o]

elm, yes.

[curator]

Do not despair over having a stock made from Elm wood. No other wood to my knowledge so resists splitting. Ask your firewood supplier if he has any Elm wood. He will look at you like you are crazy. Many gas-powdered hydrolic log spliters have been defeated by a couple of Elm logs. On the other hand, Elm is a bit fibrous for stock making and has little or no "figure." What you do have is a very serviceable wood stock that will not warp or split for several generations. Elm wood does suck up Cosmoline and weep for ages. Calcined clay (unscented Kitty-litter) will absorb this if the stock is heated to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy!

[hc18flyer]

Congrats on a Great rifle, I love mine! Make sure the wood is solid at the recoil lug, mine wasn't ! When I shot a heavier load, the poorly anchored lug allowed the action to shift rearward, cracking the wrist. It was bought as a shooter, so a little epoxy and a couple of brass screws filed flush, and back to shooting! My stock is elm. I talked my two brothers and a nephew into 24/47 Yugo's, so we can have a little friendly cast boolets Competition! hc18flyer

[funnyjim014]

I don't know about you guys , but the smell of cosmo is one of the best going, brings me back to a few unwrapping of new toys

[Scharfschuetze]

Glad you found a nice and new Model 48. I also picked up a new one with all the accouterments back in 1999. It's been a great shooter ever since. I hope yours shoots as well as mine.

[Shiloh]

More than likely red elm. I have heard of teak, but the consensus is red elm.

Shiloh

[Tackleberry41]

Considering teak does not grow in Yugoslavia, its doubtful they imported teak, when they have plenty of elm trees. I got an early one that wasn't packed full of cosmoline. Mine was pretty much ready to shoot, tho was 2002. As tight as everything was, one would wonder if many of the M48s were ever actually used and fired.

[Shiloh]

Considering teak does not grow in Yugoslavia, its doubtful they imported teak, when they have plenty of elm trees. I got an early one that wasn't packed full of cosmoline. Mine was pretty much ready to shoot, tho was 2002. As tight as everything was, one would wonder if many of the M48s were ever actually used and fired.

Everyone I have seen, a dozen or more, have had mirror bores. Mine arrived in early spring 2003 and was infused with cosmoline. When I cocked it and dry fired, the firing pin would barely move. Warmed up, you could watch the firing pin slowly move.
Thank goodness there was a website called SurplusRifle.com. Showed how to take the bolt apart and how to clean encrusted cosmoline off of and out of it.

SHiloh

[Hardcast416taylor]

I found that 9" long veterniary Q-Tip cleaners for cleaning dog ears work good on doing the insides of a bolt body. I got several handfuls from my Dr. over several visits. Have also heard of them listed as G.I. surplus in catalogs.Robert

[Tackleberry41]

My M48 was ready to use when I picked it up. Maybe the later ones had less care given before being shipped to the states. Now an old Spanish mauser I picked up recently, it worked, but the bolt was jammed full of old grease. I wonder how much the rifle was used since nobody in the last 70yrs did anything to make it possible to load more than one round easily. I had to use a file on the follower and mag well to make it possible for the follower to not hang up trying to load more than one round.

[Shiloh]

The longer Cosmoline sits, the harder it gets. Turns waxy and hard from evaporating solvents. In rifles from Russian and Eastern European arsenals, it has permeated every part of the rifles.

SHiloh

[Multigunner]

I've heard that the Yugoslavian gun makers used Teak wood on special order for rifles sold to African governments due to the problems of white ants eating away the stocks of unattended rifles in a matter of hours.
I remember a White Hunter writing of going to pick up a rifle left propped up outside his tent overnight and the wrist of the stock disintegrating in his hands.

Teak wood is strong and stable but heavy. Its almost impervious to insects and rot.

[Mr Humble]

I bought 5 from Mitchell's about 5 years ago. All had teak stocks. Have a boat and know what teak looks/smells like.

[Multigunner]

There are several varieties of teak that vary greatly in color due to prevailing chemical contaminates in the soil of the regions they grow in. Some are blond or nearly white while others are quite dark. They generally have the same qualities.
A Persian Mauser Carbine I owned many years ago may have been manufactured in Yugoslavia. Its stock was very light blonde with small dark specks through out. A Yugoslav SKS I owned not long ago had a stock of identical wood. The Mitchell Mausers Tanker carbine in catalog illustrations had a stock of exactly the same type of wood. The Carbine and SKS stocks were far heavier than they looked.

[tomme boy]

They NEVER made teak stocks. They are walnut or Elm. That is it. Wood is very hard to identify by the looks alone. Over on the old ParillaxBill web site this was beat to death years ago when that was the #1 site for milsurps. One of the members was a student at a college our in California that did I think it was a type of DNA testing on it. It was a agricultural type research. All kinds of wood shaving were sent to him and were test as walnut and elm. Not one TEAK piece was identified.

[Geezer in NH]

It sucks that the cosmoline kept your rifle in like new condition.

Join the group of Milsurp and hope all your purchases are the same.

The wood will be a European cheap hardwood. No government spent money for pretty, great wood. Only serviceable for the task at hand.

Enjoy the task of cleaning it up and the research into the actual weapon and time period. THAT is the pleasure IMHO.