Yugo M24/47

[NickSS]

I visited my local Big 5 yesterday and they had Model 24/47 Mausers for sale for under $100. I looked at the three they had in stock ans went home with the best one. It does not have all matching numbers but the bolt and reciever matches and it has whet looks like a brand new barrel. The stock has two minor repairs and the rifle was covered with cosmoline. To tell the truth it took nearly four hours to clean it all off. Blueing is 100% on all metal except for the magazine floor plate and the front barrel band. The floor plate looks like it has normal carry wear and the front band has various nicks where a screwdriver was used to get it off. Now that it is cleaned off I can't wait to shoot it. I think I will go blast some surplus through it just to try it but I bought this one to be a cast bullet shooter so that is next. I only have a Lee mold for this caliber but that's a start.

Can anyone tell me what the difference between the Model 24 and the 24/47 is? Any history would be appreciated.:-D

[gzig5]

The Model 24 is a full length action and will handle 30-06 length rounds with no or little modification. The 24/47 is an intermdiate length and won't work with 30-06 length rounds without some serious metal removal but are fine for 7/8mm mauser or .308 Win type rounds. I don't know what the actual difference in length is. There are probably other differerences. I've picked up two 24/47s in recent months and at least one will become a .358. Both of mine have matching bolts and one is completely matching on the stock and floorplate. This one seems almost too nice to modify, unless it don't shoot.

[NickSS]

Well I ran a few rounds of surplus Turkish ammo through my rifle today and was really pleased. I did not have a lot of time today so just blasted away a few clips of ammo to see if the rifle would shoot. I fired five rapid fire five shot groups at 100 yards. The smallest was 1.5 inches and the largest was 2.5 inches including one flyer that opened up the group to that size. This rifle has promise now all I have to do is get around to loading some cast loads and trying it out.

[Bob S]

The Serbian Model 24 is an intermediate-length action, the same as the FN Model 24, and some of the initial Serbian Model 24's were indeed made by FN. When these rifles were overhauled in the Post- WW II Marshall Tito era, the Serbian markings were scrubbed and the Yugo communist crest was substituted for the Serbian crest; the rifle was redesignated Model 24/47.

The Czech Vz24 is a "standard length" action. A number of these rifles and similar rifles ended up in Yugoslavian armories in the post WW II time frame. These were overhauled by the Tito government and redesignated Model 24/51.

Summary:

Model 24-47 is a Serbian or FN-made intermediate length action overhauled after WW II.

Model 24/51 is a Czech-made standard-length action overhauled after WW II.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[NickSS]

Thanks for the info

[Ricochet]

Bob's right about all that, but the Yugo refurbed Czech Vz.24 is their M24/52c.

Most folks think the M24/47 is more nicely made and smoother working than the later M48 series. There's a poll thread on "Your Favorite Yugo
rifle" in the Yugoslavian Mausers forum at: http://milsurpshooter.net/ There's also some nice information on the history of the Yugo rifles.

[Bob S]

Bob's right about all that, but the Yugo refurbed Czech Vz.24 is their M24/52c.


Ooops. I guess I had 1951 on the brain. It was a very good year. :)

I agree on the general superiority of the 24/47 to the M48. I have one M48, purchased in as-new condition a few years ago, and it needed some mothering just to get it to function properly. I ended up with 4 M24/47's, all with bores that look new. All have proved to be accurate and reliable with little or no "experimentation" as to loads, with both jacket and cast. One of the 24/47's got a Wilson military profile .308 barrel and an FN 24 turned down bolt:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/Mausers/308_Yugo.jpg

Dang. I really need to take a better picture.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Ricochet]

Here's my lonely M24/47:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g166/SlidePicker/M24-47.jpg