What are the best 8mm Mauser rifles out there?

I too have a really nice refurbed Yugo K98 clone (or "Mod 98" as it's called). Shot lots of corrosive millsurp , shoots excellent, just need to perform the typical extra step "water bath" to neutralize the salts and your good to go. I also always store my Yugo with the bore coated with Aero Kroil just in case to prevent any corrosion.

 
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I enjoy the Czech mausers. I have had Yugo mausers and the Czech have way better build quality. My favorite the the 98/22. It has the long 29" barrel and they are very accurate.(very similar to the Persian mauser already described). Also the vz24 are very nice they have the 24" barrel. Last time I checked the 98/22 are not going for much more than the regular Turkish mausers.
 
My Spanish M43 was better than my Russian Capture K98.

I hear that Yugo M48s are nice, probably b/c they were made during the leisure peace time.
 
If you're stuck on using the open sights(you specified wanting to load with the strippers), it won't make much diff. Unless there's significant bore wear or damage, most any Mauser will shoot as well as the average person can hold with the battle sights.
I sold a bunch of Mausers the last couple of years I had the gunshop open. Most were VZ24's and all were adequately accurate. I had one D&T for scope and barrel cut to 20.5" for a short range deer/bear rifle. Another was D&T and cut back to get a fresh crown. This one is tricked out with an outer barrel sleeve and nut which "tensions" the barrel. Talk about accuracy, this is the ONE. It looks like a stainless steel bull barrel but weighs 8.5# and shoots to the limit of the currently mounted optic using handloads with Nosler 180BT.
Just sayin, you don't need much of a Mauser(as long as it's safe and doesn't have bore damage) to burn up 50-75 year old ammo.
 
I have a Nazi era WWII Mauser K98k Yugo capture that was re-barreled by the Yugoslavians with the Yugo crest on the barrel. It retains all Nazi markings except on the barrel of course. It is an excellent shooter. These can be had at decent prices, although not near the prices they originally were when they came in over 10 - 15 years ago or so.
 
I have 2 - 8 mm... both Czech one more sporterized, one lightly sporterized... one thing I note from both theze rifles, is the rifling is very deep...

I only shoot non corrosive handloads in my rifles, but they are basic & solid, & easy to clean if you should choose to shoot up your corrosive ammo through one
 
So, what are the best (in terms of quality and accuracy) of the surplus Mausers?

If you are really interested in the best in terms of quality and accuracy, you have to go with the 98/29 Persian Mauser. I have several, including one that was D&T'd by the previous owner.

I use it in a vintage military rifle silhouette match in the "open" category (as issued, with scope). It usually shoots around 1 MOA or a bit better.

Recently I took the Persian to the range to check zero before the monthly match. It shot a 5-shot, .9 MOA group at 300 yards with the 200 grain Nosler Custom Comps. This is typical for the rifle. I've shot a number of 39/40's with this rifle in the match, which includes 10 rounds each at 220, 330, 420, and 550 yards.

Here is the auction pic of the Persian...(just to prove that I wasn't the one that D&T'd it :) )



When it arrived, I found it to be an all matching, excellent condition, Persian Mauser with an excellent bore.. I mounted a Bushnell 10x40 Elite 3200 scope, developed a 200 gr handload for it and the "Ayatollah" has done quite well at the match.

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Here is the target from my 300 yard zero session...

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