M48A from AIM, sehr Gut

H

HerrJaegermeister

New member
I picked up my Yugo M48A that came to the friendly family owned gun store ordered from AIM. I requested one with a great stock in excellent condition. They delivered. The rifle is no doubt in excellent condition, but the bluing is about 97 percent with some wear on corners. I call them character marks. There was one tiny surface rust spot on the under side of the barrel about 2/3 the size of a dime.

Some have gotten unissued and claimed to be unfired, but this one surely never fired a shot in anger. The inside of the barrel looked better than new remchesters.

The serial numbers on the stock, bolt, receiver and floor plate all match. The front sight hood and cleaning rod were also there. They threw in a bayonet that didn't have matching numbers.


I didn't want to mess with any water-based degreasing and cosmoline removing. I started with a spray down with Hoppes No. 9 degreaser and a quick wipe with an old towel. That was surprisingly effective. I then pulled out the floorplate and removed the barrel bands. There was little or no gunk near the barrel but the magazine was full of brown grease.

I used a somewhat coarse steel wool to debulk the stock grime very carefully and ever-so-slightly used some sandpaper. The next experiment included 3M Safest Stripper and then a good wiping after a few hours. I then carefully wiped the wood down with a 3M fine scrubbing pad lubed with WD-40 that was softer than fine steel wool.

Two coats of Minwax Tung oil and more wiping down produced a very sharp rifle that still had character and patina.


I reassembled using a hammer and soft wooden block to encourage the barrel bands back into place. A small C clamp carefully placed depressed the retention piece for the bands and they are back in place.

The metal received Rem Oil with teflon. The bold was not buttery smooth so I watched the History Channel and cycled the bolt a few hundred times. Now it is very good and will get better with some shooting.

I am anxious to shoot it, but it is raining today. A Mojo sight is on its way and ammo is in the cabinet. I plan to shoot surplus ammo and be very careful about cleaning. I slug hunt deer back at home in SE Minnesota so I'll have to take this out for coyotes in western Iowa. My single-shot .223 will shot just over a half inch group at 100 yards with a 6-18x scope, but an expanding full-power 8mm European load by Sellier & Bellot should anchor a wiley howler.

Please share any shooting experiences with your Mauser, Enfield, Springfield or Mosian Nagant.

Thanks
 
Those M44 Nagets are LOUD!!!!!!!! I had some marine's come over and ask what I was shooting at the range one day, during a Marine League Match. :D
 
Herr,

I think you're really going to like your new m48, I just picked one up earlier this week and love it!

I gave it a good scrub down as well. It's very clean. My bolt actually cycles very well. After I clean it and it's dry, it put a little oil on the rails. Watch out for certain ammo though. I shot 70 rounds (came in a bandolier) yesterday and it was great. I had bought some "surplus" with green 'brass' and immediately noticed how hard it was to open the bolt after firing. I dumped it in the live ammo bin at the range.

Watch the wood on the forend when firing, you may notice more cosmoline oozing as I did. I wrote a little about my trip to the range in the thread: "What is cosmoline" I also found out a lot of great info here my doing a search on yugo m48.

By the way, what is that sight you're putting on it? I do like the sights that came on the gun.

Hoppy
 
Mojo

I ordered a Mojo sight. It is a replacement rear peep sight that requires no gunsmithing. It was about $40. Just pop out the rear sight at the hinge and pop in the Mojo.

The aperature is 1/8 of an inch (or .125 inch, same thing) and is supposed to tighten up groups. It is elevation and windage adjustable.

www.mojosights.com

I decided not to mount a scope yet
 
Mine'll be here next week. Hope it's a nice one. I plan to degrease with Purple Power and then sweat the stock. I'll likely disassemble completely so I can really get out all the cosmoline. Then, I plan to simply use tung oil on the stock and CLP on any metal parts.

I'm told B-square makes a scope mount that replaces the rear sight and requires no smithing. Most folk put a long relief (pistol) scope on these rifles.

I too am a little curious as to whether anyone has used Mausers for hunting.
 
I picked up one of these Yugos a couple of days ago. Very impressive. They shipped the WRONG bayonet, but I don't care. Even though it doesn't fit the rifle, I like the wicked looking thing and don't really want to send it back. I have no idea what it actually fits, maybe a Swedish mauser or something. I was surprised also by the ability of Hoppe's #9 to clean off all that cosmoline. Got the whole thing cleaned up in a jiffy (three hours). Great shooter too!

I'd call the bluing on mine about 90% and the stock roughly 95. Buttplate is kinda rough, but hey - it's fifty years old! Bolt cycles real smooth and the bore is absolutely pristine. Thank for the headzup on the Mojo sight. I'm gonna check on it now.

I'm so pleased, I'm getting another! (Hopefully they'll send the right bayonet this time) :D
 
Swampy,

That thing is mint! Did you do anything to the stock? or did it come that way? Mine is teak and it needs to be degreased and refinished. The blueing on mine looks as nice though. The sling you have looks great as well. Did that come with it or did you put on a new one? The one that came with mine is cracked and moldy, perhaps it could be brought back, but I haven't tried yet.

I love shooting this rifle. I just picked up 2 more bandoliers of turkish ammo for this weekend!

Hoppy
 
Hoppy,

I did a COMPLETE dis-assembly, wiped down with paper towels and mineral spirits to de-grease, then oiled up the action with Rem-Oil. I did nothing to the stock beyond the initial wipe down with mineral spirits.

The stock is nice, but pretty rough sanded. This is OK for shooting as far as I'm concerned, though I'm thinking very seriously about getting another one just to see what I could do about really finishing it out as a showpiece.

THe sling came as a part of AIM's "accessory package", including the ammo pouches, frog, bayo (new), cleaner kit and oiler. Everything but the bayo was welll used. All the leather stuff is pretty nasty, cracked & moldy. All I did to the sling was wipe it down and oil it.

So far I'm really happy with my very first Mauser, both looks and shooting. I'm looking at picking up an "excellent" Swede Gustav 96 I located in a pawn shop this weekend to add to the collection. Fiddleback walnut stock, 85% blue, all matching serials and a #1 bore.

Later,
Swampy
 
I got my M48 about 2-3 months ago, I haven't... Havent..... ok, ill confess, haven't shot it yet:o I also just got a No.4 MkI Sporterized enfield, going to shoot in a few days with surplus ammo, dont know what kind though. The previous owner tried putting a wrong front blade in the dovetail so the metal was smushed up on the left side, so I filed away and corrected the sight. The rifle isn't in GREAT condition, but doesn't matter, its my brush gun for pigs and deer. My m48 is in great condition, it has a little blueing missing near the muzzle and such, the stock is cherry red like Swampy's. Mine came with a brand new sling, bayo, frog, cleaning kit and muzzle protector. Have fun with your new rifle :D
 
I too just recv'd my M48A today. It is covered in the goopy brown stuff. So, tomorrow I have off, I'm going to start cleaning this guy up. I have a bayonet with it that has more cosmo on it than the entire rifle, I believe.
Any hints on getting the bayonet cleaned (and other metal parts)?
 
Mineral spirits with #04 steel wool. Takes some scrubbing but it works the best at taking off cosmoline without damaging wood or bluing.

Hope it looks as good as Swampy's!
 
I found that a soft bristled brush works well and has NO chance of scratching the bluing. If you do it well, the stock will need to be re-oiled as anything that removes the cosmoline will also remove the oil finish that the stock had as it was issued. These are great and I would recommend searching the achives for hints on how to disassemble the M48's ... I found a VERY detailed posting from NOBAN that helped me immeasurably.

Good luck,
Saands
 
saands,

You mind posting that thread? I've seen it referenced a couple of times, but I'm having trouble locating it.
 
Thanks for the advice! I worked on mine today, now waiting for the tung oil to dry. Looks very good so far. Not too hard to clean up.
A final (perhaps :) ) question.
Any recommendations of restoring the leather pouch and sling that came with it? Both were old, moldy, and smelled...well, old.
Thanks!
 
Hey Folks,

I'll post some of the things I've done with mine. I've had it for about 2-3 weeks now. It is currently not assembled. I am refinishing the stock. Regarding the bayonet, I actually threw mine in the tub with really hot/really soapy water. It lightened the wood and cleaned up the bayonet quite well. I also found that Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner takes cosmoline off very well as does mineral spirits.

I have a work table set up in my basement with my woodstove nearby. I've been heating the stock over the woodstove and wiping the goo off. It's taken a while, but I got as much is going to ooze out doing it that way. I have 2 coats of tung oil on and I'm going for 5-7, I want it fairly high gloss. It already looks mint. Both pieces of the stock and the bayo handle are getting the oil treatment. By the way, are bayonets designed to be sharpened like knives or just sturdy pointy things? Just curious, as mine has no edge at all, but actually a 1/32 inch flat edge to it.

For the leather goods... My ammo holders look great as does the bayo frog. I put the sheath in the frog. The little hook on the front of the sheath goes into the hole in the front of the frog, right? It was a very tight fit to get it, but it looks right and the clasp now closes over the bayo handle, so I think it's right.

...on the sling, I washed it with murphys oil soap to clean it up and get all the patina off the brass, etc.. Then I laid it out on the workbench and applied 3 in 1 oil to it by hand. It really soaked it up and now it's dark and supple.

I can't wait to put it back together after the finish is done!
 
Questions

What's the difference between the M48 and M48A Mausers?

I'm asking because CDNN has both (with a $10) price difference between the two. I'm actually just interested in the actions, as I'm looking for a little project to work on during the winter.

Thanks in advance - JohnDog
 
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