8mm Mauser ammo- doesn't make sense.

J

joeranger

New member
My father in law gave me his "German" 98 which turned out to be a Check 98 years ago. It is a display piece for me but while cleaning out his estate, I found an ammo can marked 8MM in marker and had 250 rds of mystery ammo.

It looks like Israeli letters and then a "54". I thought 8mm should be marked 57...

Help!
 

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Israeli manufactured in 1954. No mystery. The Israeli defense forces used the 98 in 8X57 as a standard service issue for years.
 
Czech your Czech 1948 carefully, several thousand were sold to the Israelis in 1948 during their first war for independence. Look for a small Star of David on receiver, stock, or barrel indicating acceptance into Army service.

Lots of German K98s also came in the same year in a larger shipment.

Many were reworked to 308 in the 1960s and put into war reserve or issued for kibbutz defense groups.
 
I got one of those Czech 98 models back in 1964. It was a whopping $14.95 at Monkey Wards.

Never had any Israeli ammo, but back in the days I did buy some Greek ammo for $5.00 per hundred rounds. They were nasty shooting, but accurate. IIRC they were 196 gr FMJ. I converted some to hollow points and shot a couple of deer with them, but way, way too much meat damage.

Couldn't even reload them as they were 2 holers in the pockets and there was no Berdan deprimers back then, at least none that I found at the time.

I took good care of that rifle and turned it into a real shooter. It would do 2" at 200 yds with open sights. Put a scope on it, but accuracy stayed the same.
 
I bought a large ring, stepped, 7x57 barrel (In the white) from a surplus outfit that was made in Israel. It was quite a while ago, but I still have the gun I put it on and it shoots great. There is no telling what kind of conversions they did.
 
Lots of military ammo is NOT marked with the caliber. The date of manufacture was more important since there weren't many "choices" of caliber in the government supply system.
 
Czech your Czech 1948 carefully, several thousand were sold to the Israelis in 1948 during their first war for independence. Look for a small Star of David on receiver, stock, or barrel indicating acceptance into Army service.

Lots of German K98s also came in the same year in a larger shipment.

Many were reworked to 308 in the 1960s and put into war reserve or issued for kibbutz defense groups.
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Ironic that a weapon used to try to wipe out the Jews in Europe would go on to fight for the creation of the Jewish state.
 
"I bought a large ring, stepped, 7x57 barrel (In the white) from a surplus outfit that was made in Israel."

I doubt 7mm, must have been 7.92x57.
 
Ironic that a weapon used to try to wipe out the Jews in Europe would go on to fight for the creation of the Jewish state.
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Another ironic thing was the Israelis using Messerschmitt Me 109s against Spitfires flown by their enemies.

The world is truly an ironic place.
 
In the Warsaw Ghetto, the Jews used captured Wehrmacht weapons. No irony there, the weapon is incapable of it. People make armies, not weapons.
 
I guess it does make sense:) Well, sort of...

I shot 50 cal rounds marked "45" and now I know it was from 1945.

It seems like old surplus ammo is pretty cheap online, so I assume I should just take it to the range an have a "blast", right?
 

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When new Israel was desperate for weapons. Many nations would not sell to them. They took what they could get as they worked on making their own.

I've seen news photos of Syrian fighting and there were a couple 98s in the hands of insurgents. That rifle is still in combat 117 years after being introduced. Best bolt action rifle ever designed. It has not been improved on by any newer designs. Manufactured until at least 1955 (likely even longer but I know they were made until 1955) the 98 has an incredible manufacturing time.

I love my 98s, both military and sporting. Here's a couple...

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SaxonPig said:
Manufactured until at least 1955 (likely even longer but I know they were made until 1955) the 98 has an incredible manufacturing time.
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The Yugo M48A was produced to 1956... then the M48B (and the unmarked BO) were produced to 1965.

Your caption in the BO picture seems to me as wrong. If you want, I'll take a shot of the serial number ranges/production numbers of them when I get home.
 
I've an old friend with a Czech Mauser which looks exactly like the one in the last picture. It's never been fired to my knowledge and is truly beautiful.
 
Hey gunplummer, was that in- the- white 7x57 barrel from Sarco? I bought one also and put it on a '09 Argentine action. Mine is carbine length and makes a handy little walking around rifle.
 
In the Yom Kippur war, the Israelis had just acquired new FAL's and proudly issued them to the front line troops. When they encountered sand storms and dust kicked up by the tanks, they found the FAL's wouldn't work. So, in the deepest secrecy, they recalled the FN rifles and issued K.98ks taken from the reserves. The old Mausers simply ignored sand and dirt and kept on firing.

Jim
 
SaxonPig said:
Serial is V4504
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The book lists production of the M48BO at 386,022 for 1957... but no other numbers were given for subsequent years. In 1956, 40,036 M48A rifles were produced, with about 104,000 being made in 1955 (numbers are different between two sources), so the transition was likely in mid-1956.

The V is just a batch number, so I'd put it likely in 1956. If they numbered M48B and M48BO rifles together... it would be even earlier in the production line. Think the types of rifles were numbered per type (be a 4504 M48, M48A, M48B, and M48BO). Also, they began production of the M59 (SKS) line in 1964 (100 rifles were made in 1961), so there was likely some reduction in production in the 1960s, but likely more M48BO rifles because they were being sent to sympathetic nations/groups.
 
"In the Yom Kippur war, the Israelis had just acquired new FAL's"

Israel used FALs in the Six-Day War of 1967. By the Yom Kippur War of 1973 the IDF was already transitioning to the Galil and took on the M16 as a second standard issue.
 
Another ironic thing was the Israelis using Messerschmitt Me 109s against Spitfires flown by their enemies.
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The Messerschmitts were actually post war Czech produced modifications of the Bf 109 (the Avia S-199). Israel also had some Spitfires in their infant air force.

A Sabra friend of mine who had served in the Israeli army said that Mausers were called by the nickname "Czecky" since most of the early ones had come from Czechoslovakia after the war ended. She was one heck of a woman. One day at my house, I showed her my FAL, and she promptly field stripped it. LOL!:eek:
 
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