I can't decide

[8mm Mauser]

I can't decide on whether or not to buy a yugo m48 or to wait and buy a mosin nagant. I have already bought an m24/47 and i can say it is the best rifle i have ever fired. i have shot my grandfather's m48 and that is what got me hooked on Mauser's. Have any of you guys ever had any experience with either or both of these rifles. thanks for the advice.

[bcp477]

The 24/47 and M48 are very close in design (as you know). However, for me, it would be the M48....all the way. I've never cared for the Mosin Nagant....and I consider it an inferior design. Just my opinion, worth just what you paid for it.

[WILCO]

The downside to the mosin nagant is the brass itself. At least with the 8mm, brass can be had from 30-06.

[WILCO]

I wouldn't pass on the mosin though. You'll enjoy it.

[8mm Mauser]

I think that I am going to go with the m48 because they are very nice rifles with one of the strongest actions in history. Plus they look really good. But so do the mosins. Although, I think that alot more mosins were made than Mausers. I can always get a mosin nagant later.

[Donor8x56r]

I have M48A and M91 Finn Mosin.

After few years of shooting both with cast boolits I think I would have done better spending my money on better fitted and preserved MN than Yugo Mauser.

While at it some of the $ would be spend on Lapua brass and perfect fitting NOE (or other) boolit mold.



BTW-I don't understand why there is so very few 8mm molds for casts under 200Gr.
I can think of only two-Lee and Lyman ,both 165Gr.
I'm hoping someone will make Harris design in 8mm but it seems chances are slim to none.

[8mm Mauser]

My dad already has 8mm brass and an 8mm bullet mold. I believe that they are 215 grains and we were getting 3-4 inch groups at 100 yds and about 1/4-1/2 an inch at 50 yards. Overall, I'm pleased with my rifle and would like to buy another one. Mausers are good rifles.

[8mm Mauser]

Oh, and another question, since I will have two 8mm rifles, how do I get the brass to fit both guns? I tried putting a mysterious peice of empty brass in my 45 colt and that is when I actually saw the effects of fire-forming. Do I have to full length size it or anything like that?

[Larry Gibson]

Oh, and another question, since I will have two 8mm rifles, how do I get the brass to fit both guns? ......... Do I have to full length size it or anything like that?

Odds are you will have to FL size if you want the ammo to fit 2+ rifles. I have a 24/47 and two M48s and solved my own ammo interchangabilty by getting an RCBS X-die to FL size with. I adjusted that FL die to size the cases to fit the rifle with the shortest headspace so I could just feel the bolt close on the case. With your 2 rifles the one who's fired case will chamber in the other but not visa versa is the shortest headspaced one. Now with the cases FL sized with the X-die the ammo fits all 3 of my rifles. Prior to the X-die when using a Lyman and an RCBS stabdard FL die case life was short and I had to trim the cases, especially if they were fired in the 24/47 which had the longest headspace. With the X-die case life is exceptionally long and I no longer have to trim.

Larry Gibson

BTW; I've been shooting both M98s and MNs since the mid 60's. I currently have a M28/30 sniper (real one), a Finn M39 and 2 bring backs from SEA; a M28/30 and a Type 53. While I like to shoot them a Mauser is hands down the better action in my opinion. I also prefer the 8x57 to the 7.62x54R for numerous reasons. But, since I have both, cast for both and have enough brass for both to last me I enjoy both.

[8mm Mauser]

So you're basically saying that m48's usually have the shortest headspace? I think that i have to trim my 8mm lot right now because the rounds will feed into the chamber, but you almost have to hit the bolt handle as hard as you can to get it closed. Either that, I have to seat the bullets a little deeper. I believe that with the last rounds that i had, the overall length was around 7.90-7.92 in overall case length. After a round jammed at the range, we were able to get it out and examined the cartridge. It seems that it is hanging up on the crimp groove so I may need to seat it a couple thousandths of an inch deeper. Althought, I'm a little leerie about that because it would be awfully close to crimping on the ojive and I dont want to have to go through the trouble of having the bullet collapse into the case.

[JeffinNZ]

Buy one of each. Once all the Milsurps currently out there are gone.....that's it. No more. No nation is going to surplus their selective fire 'assault' inventory once it is retired.

[8mm Mauser]

I already own one and I'm probably picking up an m48 today. Sometime in the future I hope to get an sks and a mosin

[bob208]

jeff that is what i have been saying for a few years now. the mosin's are it once they are gone they will be the last of the massive importation of mil-surp rifles.

[8mm Mauser]

Once all of the originals are dried up, it would be neat if they made reproductions. Theyre already doing it for the m1 garand.

[Hardcast416taylor]

If you are planning on finding and buying a Mosin Nagant and or an SKS you had better grab them NOW! The way just about all Mil.Surp. weapons are literally flying off gun racks you may not have an "I`ll buy it later option". I have a variety of Mil. Surps. and enjoy all of them.Robert

[8mm Mauser]

Thanks for all the help guys but I decided on the m48 and picked one up today. Although, the bluing isnt very good and it appears to have minor pitting and the stock is dinged up. I hope that it will shoot accurately

[phaessler]

Mauser..... simple. And if it isnt a good shooter, which I find hard to believe based on experience , I would think that it would be a boat-load easier to find an acceptable barrel to either rebarrel or sporterize.
Pete

[8mm Mauser]

My dad slugged it last night and it is a little bit bigger toward the muzzle end. Has minor pitting and the crown is semi round. Will these factors pose major accuracy problems?

[bruce drake]

get the crown redone as that oval is courtesy of 60+ years of cleaning by recruits or illiterate soldiers-peasants.

[8mm Mauser]

I may or may not just get a new barrel depending on how bad it really shoots

[bcp477]

The up side to a worn M48 barrel is that you can get a replacement from Numrich, for a very reasonable price. Re-barreling a Mauser is not difficult. I replaced the pitted (original?) barrel on my M48 with just such a spare from Numrich. I paid $34 for the barrel, with shipping (this was several years ago). As it turns out, the barrel I got was brand new - NOT a "take off" - but a SPARE barrel, never mounted on a rifle. It was PRISTINE - I mean perfect ! It is on my M48 now - and it's a GREAT barrel.

[leadman]

The Sportsmans Guide also has the Yugo barrels for $39.99 brand new in the white.

[8mm Mauser]

Thanks guys I'll check them out. I havent had a chance to see how well it groups because I have only been able to shoot a whopping 3 shots so far. Will have to take it down to the range and shoot some more.

[MtGun44]

As far as "no more milsurps" comments, I agree with the baseline premise, that the supplies of
cheap bolt (and straight pull) have been nearly fully exploited, altho I suppose they will find a few
odd warehouses here and there for quite a while, no huge supplies should be expected except for
the Mosin's which were built in such quantity as to be difficult to imagine.

However - at least in the US, we have been getting a steady flow of the retired full auto military rifles,
like FALs, H&K G3s, CETMEs and M16s, Thompsons, Suomis, Sterlings, Stens and the zillions of various AKs.
Of course, the rub is that the "guns" can't be imported, but the parts can. Until recently, that meant the
guns were disassembled, the receiver cut or removed and the rest of the parts bagged up and sold.
New receivers and semiauto only parts were sold by various businesses that catered to this crowd
and hobbyist and some businessmen reassembled semiauto versions of the original. Our wonderful
BATF (fed antigun agency) recently decided on it's own (questionable authority, it would seem) that
barrels were also to be destroyed, adding substantial cost to these rebuilds, but creating business
for American barrel makers.

In any case, many folks have done these rebuilds as a hobby and there are moderate supplies from
time to time, with various build quality levels (from fine to poor) from commercial rebuilders in the
US as semiautos. So they have been releasing lots of the full auto guns and here, we have had
access to them, albeit in a rebuilt semiauto form. I have seen BARs and Browning 1919 belt
feds as semiauto, too, although fairly rare and expensive.

Our current politicians are working on stopping this, hope they do not succeed.

Bill

[dbosman]

Buy one of each. Once all the Milsurps currently out there are gone.....that's it. No more. No nation is going to surplus their selective fire 'assault' inventory once it is retired.

Amen to that.
And, welded de-milled parts doesn't make for an "original".

[8mm Mauser]

I am soon-to-be faced with a difficult challenge... I have decided my next rifle will be the ever-famous M1 Garand. I am pretty sure that I want to buy from fulton armory so I can rest assured that I will get a quality rifle