Here's my 24/47 Mauser

[cavetech]

I worked on cleaning the cosmolene off my Yugo 24/47 8MM Mauser from AIM today. I found an excellent grade re-arseneled rifle. Blueing like new, walnut stock terrific and bore shiny brite with sharp lands and grooves, no sign of damage.

Accessories and bayonet worn but will clean up nice. Muzzle seems good with round stuck in end.

I'm very happy with it and got more than I bargained for, for $119.00.

Just wanted to share it with you.

Thanks for looking.

 

[ferguson]

That's beauty full.

Steve

 

[TNRat]

Very nice.

Tell me more about the round in the muzzle, please.

Thanks.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Tell me more about the round in the muzzle, please.

"GI" muzzle wear gauge -- it'll give you a quick and dirty indication of how many rounds have gone through the bore and how careful the guy it was issued to was with cleaning it. Generally, it'll also give you a pretty good idea of how well it will shoot. A good muzzle can make up for a lot of other sins.

Either that, or Steve needs to re-read the owner's manual again.

 

[Ad Astra]

Nice!

The walnut is a surprise, quality-wise. The bluing on the bayo sheath can be re-done (I did mine, was faded) and while I was at it, took a q-tip of cold bluing and carefully darkened that ugly "Imported By CAI" stamping.

Do bolt, stock & barrel serial number match? Mine do, but the floorplate had another number with a line thru it, then stamped with the same as the others.

Here's a link you might/not need:

http://www.surplusrifle.com/yugom48/fulldisassemble/hs.asp

Glad the bore's OK. How about a range report?


Mike

 

[TNRat]

AA,

That is a great website with loads of info.

FYI - I just received the CD put by the guy who owns the site. It has numerous milsurp manuals, articles, etc, etc.

I got a copy for 8 bucks shipped. You can find them on the site, or on E-bay.

Definitely a range report is in order.

Thanks.

 

[cavetech]

"GI" muzzle wear gauge -- it'll give you a quick and dirty indication of how many rounds have gone through the bore and how careful the guy it was issued to was with cleaning it. Generally, it'll also give you a pretty good idea of how well it will shoot. A good muzzle can make up for a lot of other sins.

Either that, or Steve needs to re-read the owner's manual again.

That was close, Dave. No wonder it was so hard to chamber on that end!

 

[cavetech]

Nice!

The walnut is a surprise, quality-wise. The bluing on the bayo sheath can be re-done (I did mine, was faded) and while I was at it, took a q-tip of cold bluing and carefully darkened that ugly "Imported By CAI" stamping.

Do bolt, stock & barrel serial number match? Mine do, but the floorplate had another number with a line thru it, then stamped with the same as the others.

Here's a link you might/not need:

http://www.surplusrifle.com/yugom48/fulldisassemble/hs.asp

Glad the bore's OK. How about a range report?

Mike

All numbers are different. There even appears to be Russian on the receiver.

It doesn't look like I will get to fire it until next weekend. I will report on how well it shoots.

Is Brownell's the best source for bayonet blueing? I like the tip about bluing the import stamp.

I used that link and the step-by-step for complete dissasembly/reassembly. Good photographs, too. surplusrifle has an enormous amount of info.

I too, bought a bunch of their dirt cheap CD's for reference.

 

[Dave Rishar]

That was close, Dave. No wonder it was so hard to chamber on that end!

When breech loading firearms are loaded from the muzzle end, one is often left with excessive headspace.

Speaking of checking wear on bores, I slugged some bores tonight. Some of you may find this interesting.

Yugo SKS, date unknown, obviously used: lands .301", grooves .313".
Chicom SKS, date unknown, nearly new: lands .301", grooves .312".
Romanian AK clone, late nineties, rode hard and put away wet: .302", .312".
Russian M38, 1943, rearsenaled in 1994, used lightly since then: .305", .315".
Russian M38, 1943 rearsenal: .305", .315" with a loose spot.
Romanian M44, 1954, apparently unissued: .303", .315", large loose spot, bore is not round.
Russian SVT-40, 1940, beat to hell and back: Oh, God. .380" fishing weight used as a slug deformed too little for a meaningful reading. Rifle is deadlined and will be sold at the next conveniant WAC show; potential owners will be warned that the rifle is OOC and no longer safe to shoot.

Looking at the numbers, one would guess that the second M38, the M44, and the SVT wouldn't shoot accurately. They don't. (The SVT is particularly inaccurate. Now I know why.)

For comparison, I mic'd three randomly selected 7.62x54mm cartridges from three manufacturers and 1 cartridge of 7.62x39mm.
Wolf 200 grain soft point, late nineties vintage: .3105".
Czech silver tip, date unknown: .310" on the dot.
Albanian surplus, late eighties date of manufacture: .310"
Wolf 123 grain ball, 7.62x39mm: .311"

None of the x54 bullets are really correct for my bores. The Wolf tends to shoot more accurately than the others...now I know why. It will be interesting to see what these rifles can do with appropriately sized bullets and a bit of care in assembly.

The x39 is a bit small as well, although one can usually get away with a .001" difference; even jacketed bullets will bump up a little. None of my rifles in x39 can be considered really accurate but the Yugo is acceptable. Again, I'm looking forward to seeing what difference (if any) larger bullets will make.

Where am I going with this? Slug your bores. (This goes for new production weapons as well.) You might be surprised at what you find.

 

[Ad Astra]

GREAT stuff and thanks.

Curious about my M39's.


Mike

 

[Leatherface]

Nice gun Steve...I had a really nice Yugo Mauser in 8mm that I bought for around $100.00 a couple years ago...Cleaned it up and restained the stock and it was a fairly nice weapon...Was accurate enough with handloads to hunt with...To bad it wasnt flame proof!!..lol

Dave...Good thoughts...Might have to look into that since I FINALLY found me some 7.62x39!!!! I am thinking of making my next AK in .223 or 5.45x39 just to be able to feed it!

 

[TNRat]

Russian M38, 1943, rearsenaled in 1994, used lightly since then: .305", .315".

Dave,

Thanks for posting all the info.

What would cause the loose spots in the bores, and where were they located? You do mean that if the bore overall owas 0.310 then there would be a spot that was 0.312 or so?

Can you explain the slugging procedure you use? Please keep it on a third grade level for me.

Perhaps in another thread?

Thanks.

 

[cavetech]

Nice gun Steve...I had a really nice Yugo Mauser in 8mm that I bought for around $100.00 a couple years ago...Cleaned it up and restained the stock and it was a fairly nice weapon...Was accurate enough with handloads to hunt with...To bad it wasnt flame proof!!..lol

Dave...Good thoughts...Might have to look into that since I FINALLY found me some 7.62x39!!!! I am thinking of making my next AK in .223 or 5.45x39 just to be able to feed it!

You don't say much about that fire, but I suspect it was real bad.

How does one pick up their life after that and go on?

 

[Leatherface]

Pretty much never talk about it..

BUT...

When ya get knocked down ya gotta get back up and go..ya know??


btw...I talked to one of my buds tonite...He loaded 150grn hornaday spiral points (he doesnt remember what OAL and what powder) for me to use...They pretty much were a lightning strike on the deer

With good handloads I could keep all 5 round on a playing card at 40yards on the bench..

With the crappy surplus stuff it would still group "minute of paperplate" at 100yards