Unfortunately, I own a Mauser from Mitchell

[JungChomsky]

Maybe I should’ve been more clear and I apologize for that: I didn’t mean “were they made during the occupation on German equipment?” Rather, “were they made on German equipment at all, in this case after the war?”

It’s looking like it was Yugo tooling not sourced from Germany. Got it.

No worries, I fired off my comment from the hip without thinking. I have seen nothing to indicate that the tooling used to build the M48s was anything other than Yugoslavian. Kind of a pet peeve of mine how often I hear that M24/47s and M48s were "based on the k98k"

 

[tsmgguy]

Late to the party but this looks like a factory fresh Yugo M48B with matching serial numbers and no problems. You're lucky to have it!

These were very well maintained while in storage. The Yugos knew that preservative grease is hydroscopic, in that it attracts and holds moisture from the air that eventually starts to eat away at the gun. These guns were cleaned, inspected, and pickled again every ten years or so while in government storage. Mitchell's cleaned off most of the exterior grease, but I recommend that you disassemble the bolt and get the grease out of there as well. Heavy grease in the bolt can really slow down the firing pin, making the rifle unreliable at the range. Light machine oil is appropriate for the firing pin.

You'll know your M48 is functioning well when it'll reliably fire surplus Yugo 8mm from the 1950's thru 70's, which is notorious for its hard primers. This stuff used to be widely available. It's corrosive, so clean well after firing. It's really well made, full power ammo.

150 Round Pack - 8mm Mauser 196 Grain FMJ Yugo 1950s M49 Spec Brass Case Corrosive Primed Surplus Ammo | SGAmmo.com

150 rounds, packed in 10x15 round boxes, of 8mm Mauser 196 grain Yugo 1950s Surplus ammo. This is clean looking brass case ammo with a non-magnetic FMJ bullet. Some of the is ammo may be on stripper clips, some may not, special selection not available. This is 1950s vintage ammo with a corrosive...

www.sgammo.com

 

[Remfan]

Might as well shoot it and enjoy. Beats pulling the trigger on an all matching 98k and having the stock crack or worse. Just my opinion.

 

[lovemauseractions]

Nothing unfortunate about owning a Mitchell Mauser so long as you did not over pay. When Mitchell's was charging $499 for you could get an unissued M48B for $149 to $199 from other distributers. Sure you did not get accessiors and fake certificate but that stuff matters to few at the end of the day.

More importantly you could get what was essentialy a new post war Mauser to make into a custom rifle for far less than purchasing a commerical action from anyone else and it essentialy has no collector value. You could shoot it as is and have a rifle on par with a $1200 Winchester or use it for a custom build.

The M48A and B are fantastic rifles as is or for a very nice custom build.

Back int he day you could also get NOS Yugo 8x57 barrels for $25 to $35 each in the white. I am getting ready to put one on a shot out, rode hard VZ24.

If you wanted to get milled bottom metal for the you M48A that was really a B those where cheap and widely available too.

So no matter what you do keep it stock or use it for project build absolutely nothing wrong with the M48 even if sold by Mitchell's other than they price gouged compared to the rest of the market when those hit the market origanaly.

Like a good many things in this world it is about perspective more than anything else.

The best rifles have forged recievers and bolts everything else no matter how good the groups on paper are just cost cuting ecconomy rifles sold at a premium. Peter and Paul Mauser change the bolt action rifle world forever! I wish I had bought 3 or 4 M48A/B rifles instead of just one whent hey they where $148 to $199!!!