Use of the M24/47 in Yugoslavia/Serbia?

M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone had any information regarding the use and service history of the M24/47 rifles. They were redesigned and rearsenaled Model 24 rifles and were used up until the present day under various uses (used in the Yugoslavian wars as a sniper type rifle for urban engagements) though I cannot find any other wars where this rifle saw combat. This is probably one of the reasons they are in such great condition. I am just interested about its record and use as a standard issue service arm. Anyway, your help is appreciated, thank you!

Regards,

-Mo.
 
Best I could do.
As with the Mosins, you missed the articles my wife's husband wrote about them and the 24/47 & the M48.

Records are not complete, the Bogdanovic paperback is the best reference material I've seen on the Yugos.

Good book to have.
Denis
 
I plan to order it in the near future, it will make for quite an interesting read, I think.

Thanks again for mentioning it, somehow I completely missed it in my Google searches. Otherwise I wouldn't have known of it.

Regards,

-Mo.
 
Yeah, they were used, alongside M59/66 SKS rifles and other outdated equipment. That conflict was long and terrible, and all weapons available were used.
 
They were using a lot of Russian bolt guns when the latest uprising went on. I was getting brass cased boxer primed ammo and it suddenly stopped. I called a major importer and he said "They are using too much killing each other and have none to ship out".
 
They were using a lot of Russian bolt guns when the latest uprising went on. I was getting brass cased boxer primed ammo and it suddenly stopped. I called a major importer and he said "They are using too much killing each other and have none to ship out".
Click to expand...

Wow, that's interesting. Are you referring to PPU ammunition? I've heard the conflict over there was bad, but I've never really delved into it. I'll have to do some research about it.
 
Regarding arms used in the recent conflict there...

Under Tito since 1945, Yugoslav defense strategy was based in good part on a huge reserve army in Territorial Defense units with locally stockpiled ammunition and a large-ish regular military, the JNA designed to retreat into the interior to serve as the core of national resistance to invasion. Tito made the goal of building a modern domestic arms industry a top priority after the war -- even to the point of diverting US aid funds from famine relief to that project.

Prior to the Communists, there also was a small arms industry in Serbia but until the 70s they mostly relied on imports for heavy weaponry. After WWII they reconditioned and stockpiled lots of captured German arms -- including Mausers which ran the gamut of pre war and wartime production quality. They also made their own copies which were rough but serviceable. They later switched to the ubiquitous Soviet-style weapons. All of these came into play in the recent blood letting.

Since Serbs dominated the JNA officers corps and armed police units at the outbreak of the recent war, they tried and often managed to seize and control local armories. So, they had the lion's share of the previous stockpiles. The others -- the Bosnians, Croats, Slovenes and Albanians -- had some stockpiled weaponry but also had to buy bits and pieces of arms abroad illegally in the face of a UN arms embargo, so they often fought with a mixed bag of arms.

Then, you have the issue of arms in private hands. The area has been overrun by foreign invaders and wracked by civil wars so often, many rural folk had --- rrr, still have -- hidden arms in hay ricks, attics etc. -- including really old stuff from WWI and WW II as well as new guns from the recent unpleasantness. Leakage from local arsenals was also not uncommon.

The US bombed the arms works in Kragujevac during our air war on Serbia and that also would have limited new supplies of bullets and guns for a time. But the PPU Ammo plant quickly came back on line and are now supplying both military rounds and a very wide array of sporting ammo to boot.

Oneb
 
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