The M48 Yugoslavian Mauser

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

Since my last post I have fired the M48 over as many of the long-range silhouettes as the sights would reach - this was out to 500 yards.

I experimented carefully with the various peep extensions I have in my shooting box and none would work.

Here at home I put together a new combination that allows me to increase the height of the peep by 0.4375. ~ Fortunately this additional height corresponds closely to the 500 yard setting - after the sight staff has been lowered all the way down to +6 minutes from the bottom of its travel in order to zero the peep itself at the same elevation as the staff with no modification at +61 minutes on Lyman's scale.

The modification looks a little weird but the bolt handle clears the sight - which was the problem that prevented me using my old methods.

Next will be the move on out in distance to our maximum range of 835 yards.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Forrest

[Bob S]

I must disagree with Bob S about the M48A Yugo Mausers, I have quite a few that cost $80 New and ALL shoot my jacketed and cast handloads well. The M24/47 is fine IF you like a horizontal bolt handle. I have a few and they are NO better, or worse than a M48A.

Adam

For the record, I didn't say the M48 wouldn't shoot well. Mine shot quite well after I worked over the action so that it would feed, extract and eject reliably. Mine was apparently turned in to stores as soon as it was manufactured; no one would ISSUE a rifle that was THAT unreliable to troops.

Respectfully,
BobS

[FAsmus]

Adam Helmer;

This M48 of mine is 'in process' but my point here is that the receiver and bolt of this rifle seem soft enough that the action will virtually never operate smoothly ~ the two pieces simply do not slide past each other like they should and, on some rifles do since the material is hard enough to permit.

Thus, the turn-down bolt of the M48 is a further handicap as compared to the straight bolt since it offers less leverage for operation of the sticky action.

Forrest

[kungfustyle]

I have tried three different cast boolits with my M48 and the only one it loved was the Lee 175g rn at .326 I get about 2 inches at 100 yards with 25.5g of SR4759 and I do have a peep sight on mine to. I have tried the NOE RD mold and the 200+g Noe loverin design and the gun just didn't like them. Tried the 4759 and H4895 from 1600 fps up to 2000 fps and couldn't beat the Lee. So sold the great molds and kept the Lee.
By the way, I put the peep on because I couldn't get the ramp sight to dial in at 100 yards either too high or too low.

[WILCO]

Wilco;

Lemme see if I remember how to do that..

Attachment 132337

Over-view of sight & receiver markings

Attachment 132338

Profile view

Attachment 132339



The front sight.

I don't know why they're so small..

I just came back to this thread. Thanks for posting the pics. Rifle looks great.
Just love those old Mausers!

[WILCO]

Next will be the move on out in distance to our maximum range of 835 yards.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Forrest

Hi Forrest!

At this point, are you still throwing lead downrange?

[azrednek]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and there were millions of military rifles made, all looking the same.....

I agree, possibly 30-60 years from now its re-sale value to a mil-surp collector may suffer. The true value of the rifle is its worth to you and your son. I have two Yugos. With Turk surplus ammo it is a fun gun to shoot at distant dong targets. My Turk ammo followed the issue sights pretty close. As close as one can expect with 64 year old eyes.

[FAsmus]

Wilco & Gentlemen;

The load for me, so far is the SAECO 62081.

After I re-worked the bedding as much as I could stand the load of 32 grains Varget under the 190 gr bullet has worked well. The groups have printed around 5x1.700 to some 5x2.000 or slightly more. ~ Good enough to see how it would do at long range. So far, not bad at all and with the additional sight extension I worked out the distance may be extended out to our maximum of 835 yards.

I'll be back when the shooting is over tomorrow.

Forrest

[Tackleberry41]

I guess they have variations of the M48. I bought mine back in 2001, $100 thru a place on shotgun news. Wanted a beater rifle I could haul around on a 4 wheeler not worry to much about it getting beat up. But mine has the hooded front sight, never had any problems with fit, finish, or function. Always been a good rifle. I eventually put a scope on it and trigger in it, so stopped being a beater rifle.

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

The shooting went well the other day.

I'll attach a shot of the elevation card I made up as I acquired each silhouette:



The place on the sight-setting shows the break I addressed in the previous post ~ the place where the regular staff ran out of travel, requiring the addition of the sight extension on the Lyman receiver sight to reach beyond the 500 yard distance.

This modification amounts to 0.437 additional elevation for the first hole and 0.875 for the second hole over the standard sight's capibility. This enables me to use the short-staff M48 Lyman for virtually all distances - even the 1000 if I wish.

Here is what it looks like as installed and set for the 835 yard distance:



Good morning,
Forrest

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen:

The M48 Yugoslavian Mauser has undergone some changes.

Over Christmas I gave my son a new Bishop sporter stock for it. ~ This was after I'd attempted to restock it with a relatively clean M98K stock. The motive for this was because the Yugoslavian wood was so steeped in cosmoline that it "sweated" the stuff whenever it was exposed to sunshine. Yuck.

The (free) M98K stock didn't work because the stock screw center distance is not the same as this M48. The new Bishop stock is nicely made but the "fit" of metal-to-wood was only casual. Obviously it needed the typical epoxy job.

Well, my son and I didn't find a good time to work together for the job and along in February he left for a commitment in the Air Force. ~ I procrastinated for awhile but recently I got to work and bedded it.

I've done it before and although it seemed to take longer than it used to it did come out quite well.

During the interval I also have had my local gun-runner cut the front sight base down about 0.090 and cut a 3/8 dovetail into it so I could install a Lyman 17A front sight. This looks good.

So, when all was ready I loaded up the load-of-choice when it was full military and headed for the 100 yard range to do the initial testing. My! I was shocked to see my 'groups' printing wild no-hope stuff down range!

On the way home I realized that since the rifle was now basically "new" that my old load was no longer in the running.

I backed off and did another series of typical load work-ups from squib cast bullet combinations on up to full jacketed, winding up with the first load that worked when I was first testing the outfit: 21 grains 4759 and the SAECO 62081.

This provided about as good accuracy as the issue barrel and my marginal eye sight is capable of I think. ~ It would be interesting to see what improvement good, sharp eye sight would make..

Next was the proving of the combination at long range. I loaded 70 and with my spotter headed for the hill-top silhouette range. This was done in pretty good conditions and was enjoyable since the rifle did quite well enough at all distances right on out to 834 yards.

I did screw up in this outing - I forgot to bring a good machinist's steel scale. This was needed to accommodate the reduced height of the front sight: None of the old numbers were useful and none-the-less my make-shift sight extension had to be installed;

Right about at the 606 yard distance I ran out of staff and had to install the extension. Since I didn't have a scale I just took piece of stiff target paper, marked the center of the peep as it was for the previous distance,installed the extension and lowered the staff until the lines matched up, adding 3 minutes up for the next target. ~ This worked; my spotter saw my first shot just a foot or so off the silhouette, easily adjustable for a hit the next round.

With these things done my work is complete; the rifle is up and running for whenever my son returns to town from his training base in Texas.

Good evening, Forrest

[Scharfschuetze]

I'm sure that your son will appreciate the effort. Is your son with the 300th Field Artillery (HIMARS) Regiment?

[FAsmus]

Scharfschuetze;

The young fellow is in (worse luck) the Air Force.

This training is in San Angelo, Texas - where, I understand, all branches of the military get various kinds of training.

Forrest

[Scharfschuetze]

Scharfschuetze;

The young fellow is in (worse luck) the Air Force.

This training is in San Angelo, Texas - where, I understand, all branches of the military get various kinds of training.

Forrest

Just wondering. I've got a relative at Fort Bliss on pre-deployment training and his unit is from your neck of the woods.