Not a huge score... but a good shooter!

[sirhrmechanic]

Picked this up today at a gun shop near Crane. Sign said "Guns and Fireworks" and there was a big Trump sign in the window. How could I not stop?

Zastava 98/48. Pre-1950 Yugoslav refurbishment of a former German 98 Mauser. The markings indicate Institute 44, which, today, is Zastava.

No import marks that I can see, but since Yugo refurbs were not the sort of things that GI's bring back, I assume it came in as an import sometime after the wall came down. But there are no import marks that I can find.

Should be a good shooter. Looks like it's in nice shape. Smooth bolt throw. 8mm, so I have piles of ammo for it.

Overall, not exactly scoring a KAR98K for peanuts. But worth every bit of the $300 I paid for it. I didn't even haggle!

Cheers,

Sirhr

This indicates a Zastava factory and the Mod. 98 (instead of Mod 98/48) indicates pre-1950 refurb.

If anyone has anything to add.... I'd love to know more about these. Though I expect there is not much arcane out there!

Note that there is no Yugoslav crest... nor any Nazi marks. But there do appear to be draw-filing marks on the top of the action ring. So suspect that stampings/engravings were removed as part of the Zastava rebuild.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Veer_G]

Nice snag. I overcame my misgivings and picked up a beautiful Mitchell's K98 years ago for more than that. Maybe while we're doing postal matches lately we could set one up for large bore milsurp bolts?

 

[sandwarrior]

Interesting on the 98/48. I've seen them called a number of things. Some of it based on the time the rifle was built and some on the original length and some on who was the maker.

The Serbs and Croatia have been importing firearms (mostly Mausers) since before WWI. All the re-works are so many they got their own book.

My first thought when you said no markings was Bez Oznake. Literally, no markings. added: 'til you 'splained it.
Oh, what tales those rifles could tell.