bobmoffett Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 A friend of mine has for sale what he has been told is a Bulgarian Mauser. I've have never before heard of such a Mauser. It appears to be a standard M98, with a crest, somewhat similar to a 1909 on the receiver ring. The writting on the left side of the action would appear to be the same or similar to the Russian alphabet. Overall, the rifle appears to be in excellent shape. Anyone have any ideas about this rifle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbum Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 yugoslavian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Serbian? How about some pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmoffett Posted March 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I will see if he can take some pics. Did not consider the possibility of it being a Yugo. Do the Yugo's use the same alphabet as we do, or do the have characters like the Russian alphabet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbum Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 cyrillic. some of the yugos use the cyrillic alphabet. could be serbian too, but probably not only because they are less common. have your friend look at yugo mausers on gunbroker and see if that does not help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilurey Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 If it's a Yugo M24 the crest on the top of the front receiver ring will have the word "Monan" beneath it and M24 or model 24 someplace on the sidewall or front receiver. Early model 24s were manufactured by, or on, FN machinery as FN set up production of this model for the Yugos. Almost all of these rifles were rerurbished following WWII and are M24/48s to distinguishe them from new 1948 production. The Yugos also refurbed K98s and Vz24s, removing original manufactures crests. If an original early M24, refurbed M24/48, new production M48, M48A, or M48 without a crest, then it will be an intermediate action and use a shorter magazine trigger guard assembly than standard. The bolt will be missing the continuation of the front of the left locking lug, which extends it beyond the face of the bolt and acts as an extracted cartridge guide. These bolts are also shorter than standard. Check out the above info and let us know, one of us can probably identify it and this gives us something to chew our cud about. I told a friend that talking about guns is the next best thing to shooting them, he said the same was true about sex. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmoffett Posted March 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Well it looks like the rifle is a Serbian 1924. Ok fella's what's this thing worth? The best I remember it was in good shape in full battle dress. Not sure if the serial numbers matched or not. He was asking $200 for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Well it looks like the rifle is a Serbian 1924. Ok fella's what's this thing worth? The best I remember it was in good shape in full battle dress. Not sure if the serial numbers matched or not. He was asking $200 for it. Serbian 1924? Probably the same as a Yugo 24, made by FN. $200.00 sounds high to me. Yugoslavian 24-47's are selling for just over $100.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 I'm sorry, but I have to laugh when people call these Serbian. When they were Made the country was called Yugoslavia. When these were first imported there were idnetinfied as Yugoslavian. Then, after years of importation suddenly importers had "serbian" mausers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun nutty Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 You could make a mint off of Thai Mausers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Muai Thai! Official Mauser of the MMA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmoffett Posted March 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 According to what I can see on the Marstar Canada website, this rifle is a 1924 not a M24. It says these rifles were built by FN for Yugoslavia (now Serbia!). Are these still intermediate length like other Yugos? Any more value to a 1924 compared to M24's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilurey Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Prior to WWl, the Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled a number of slavic/Baltic countries successfully using the "Iron Fist" approch. Following WWI this empire was dissolved and about a zillion neighborhoods became independent countries and immediatly began killing eachother. During WWII Tito began to draw togather Serbia, Croatia, and Boznia (sound familiar?) into a unified country - Yugoslavia. He snuggled up to Russia as a satalite state member of the USSR to gain Soviet influence to support this unification. So, in 1924 FN was approched by the then independent neighborhood city-state of Serbia (they engineered the assignation of the King of Austria which resulted in WWI) to build a national armory. FN set up the whole operation for manufacturing an early version of the Oberndorf M1898 which had an almost completely sealed breech to prevent case head separations and blown-up rifles. Few parts are interchangable with the standard M98, and, rebarreling in a very involved process, adding considerably to the costs (also true for sporterizing). Very few of the seal breech version were sold as smokless powder and brass technology were greatly improved by 1920. There is no difference in stamping or marking to distinguish between early FN or Serbian manufacture. This is the Serbian Model 1924, sometimes refered to as the Yugo M24. These rifles were refurbed in 1948 and then became M24/48s, leaving an opening for the "Who Cares" milsurp distributors who were also selling "Turk M38s" with the same degree of concern for historical accuracy. In addition, this arsenal began producing commercial M98 Mausers which were sold as the "MarkX" brand. To further complicate the issue, the arsenal also began new production of the original M1924 (M24) with a bent down bolt and a few other changes with 3 variations in receiver stampings. Also, the refurbing of early pre WWII Czech Vz24s as M24/56(?) and Russian captured K98s. Manufacture of military M48s continued thru the Bosnian War. Marstar of Canada had a fairly complete and concise list of models at one time. The U.S. finally destroyed this arsenal, when the Serbs refused to conform to the cease fire agreements of the Bosnian War, the last business manufacturing M98 commercial rifles was gone. It's difficult to remember all the models and designations without a pile of reflerence books, especially since all this info must then pass thru the Swiss Cheeze brain of a blank-eyed man of my age. Apologies for any sins of omission or commission in this info. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdog Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 this thread needs pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1r Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Seems the reference I used was in error claiming that Yugoslavia came into existence in 1924 rather than 1929. Still, in 1924 when these rifles were made, Serbia was part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes which was formed in 1918 and renamed in October 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Again, not an independent state. That last true Serbian rifle (mauser) that I am aware of is the 1910. Prior to that they used a 1908 more of '95, and other pre-98s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Seems the reference I used was in error claiming that Yugoslavia came into existence in 1924 rather than 1929. Still, in 1924 when these rifles were made, Serbia was part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes which was formed in 1918 and renamed in October 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Again, not an independent state. That last true Serbian rifle (mauser) that I am aware of is the 1910. Prior to that they used a 1908 more of '95, and other pre-98s. There was also a Serbian 99 made in Germany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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