Okay, this is the first time I've ever ventured into the clone realm, and I need some honest input.

I've always been intrigued by the Yugo Mauser sniper rifles from the Yugo Civil War. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and the AK Forum starts having a discussion about a ZRAK scope mount group buy for the M48. Come home for spring break, venture on over to the LGS and lo and behold there is an M48BO sitting on the rack. All matching that I saw minus the bolt. No cleaning rod, $250. Of course it immediately goes on layaway.

Now, do I buy the rings and send it off to be turned into a clone? I know personally I am usually against sporterizing old rifles but this may be a one time chance to get my hands on one of these sniper rifles. It will be professionally done and in historically correct taste. The only bump in the road is that the ZRAK is 26mm, but the scopes are really hard to find. The group buy offers both 26mm and 30mm rings. I am thinking it would be best to buy both just in case I can not find a ZRAK, I can mount another scope in the 30mm rings in the mean time.

This is the M48BO, so there are no markings on the receiver ring that would be covered up by the bases. Input? I think this would make a good summer project.

I used the original zrak scope mount/rings. The scope I used is a on76 from a yugo m76 sniper, which is correct and works (already cammed to 7.92). If you don't care about the tritium insert, you can find used ones in various places around the net. FYI there is no way to replace the tritium insert. Apparently once it's dead then it's dead.

You can still order the scopes new from zrak, they still make them. The ones I built shoots pretty good, especially with the Privi Match ammo.

Bump for more input. Here's a pic of what the finished product would look like:

That's awesome...  and I happen to have an extra m48a...  

You have given me a new project.

hehe

I am excited. Decided to definitely go for the project. The bore was pristine, so I am going to headspace and shoot for groups; hopefully it's a good shooter.

The big part is finding the scope itself. Does anyone have a distributor that sells ZRAK scopes? Or am I going to have to hunt for one?

Link to the group buy should anyone else want to order some mounts and rings: http://www.theakforum.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=193579&start=0

I thought they also used M48's with a scout scope setup.

I bought one of the ex-snipers that Century offered a while back, and finally got it all together last year. Mine was a little easier as it had the receiver drilled, bolt bent, and handguard shortened to accommodate the front base. Snagged the M76B from APEX when they had them in the M76 side mounts, don't know of anywhere that has these scopes though, or of any ZRAK dealers/importers.

basically that group buy is your only chance to get what you need unless you want to gamble with being in the right place at the right time sometime in the next 10-15 years.

advntrjnky

Little update; group buy is still waiting on paperwork to clear.

Shot the M48 for the first time yesterday, was dead nuts zeroed at 100 yards off the rack. Really enjoyed shooting it, with one catch. After firing, it was hard to unlock the bolt. Back and forth motion was fine but the initial unlock was pretty stiff. Fired cases all looked fine. Any ideas as to what can cause this? Ammo was 50s Turkish.

Turk ammo is pretty stout. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the ammo. I'd try something else in it and see of the problem remains.

Mine didn't have trouble with 40' Turk, other than to pound my shoulder to hamburger, but it's worth looking into.

I have some 50s Yugo I can try, otherwise I'll buy a box of commercial stuff and see if that works, thanks.

M48 are known to have soft locking lug recesses in the receivers prone to bolt set-back, especially when used with hot ammo...which the Turk is.  They finally got the heat treat right by the M48a, M48b, M48bo (?) series.  If yours is the M48 and you still have the hard opening with milder ammo check for bolt set back.....if you do, the receiver is basically toast.

advntrjnky

ETA: I'm not sure where the M48bo fell into the heat treat problem.  IIRC the M48 had all milled parts and the later series had some or all stamped.  so, if yours has milled parts it might be early enough to have poor heat treating.

Mine has a milled front band but a stamped floor plate and trigger guard. How do I go about checking bolt set back? Will headspace gauges tell me that?

The stamped floor plate was a feature of the M48A and later, so I'd think it is one of the rifles without this problem, but that is a WAG.

Hopefully more knowledgeable people will be along soon to confirm if I'm right or not.

That sounds like it should be new enough to be OK.  M48 had all milled parts, so anything with any stamped parts is generally GTG.....but that doesn't mean that something wasn't swapped around at some point.  Kinda unlikely with a M48bo because they were for export and weren't generally in regular circulation.  I have only seen one Mauser that had bolt set-back and it was noticeable while opening on an empty chamber while dry firing, and such.  To check for yourself pull the firing/ back plate assembly out and then re-insert the stripped bolt back into the receiver.  With the bolt closed put slight back pressure on the knob and slowly open.  If it's OK it should open smoothly with no catching.  If you have set-back you'll have to use more pressure to open than normal and and feel a catch/ let-off as the bolt lug lifts out of the recess formed from set-back.

advntrjnky

Thanks I will try it tonight. The floorplate and trigger guard which is stamped is matching to the receiver FWIW.

I would probably bet that it's going to be fine and is only the hot Turk ammo.  If you can get any I would try some Wolf or PRVI factory ammo to see how that works for you...it's reloadable brass, to.

advntrjnky

Yup, did the test just now and it opened smoothly. I'd bet it was the Turk ammo because it also made my K98's bolt a bit sticky to open as well. Will try to find some commercial stuff to try and post back. Thanks for the help.

Glad to hear!  Keep us posted on the optics.  I was just reading the book "Yugoslav and Serbian Mausers" by Branko Bogdanovich and noticed a picture of the M48/52 sniper rifle.  It is basically an M48 series rifle with a Soviet PU 3.5x side mount scope.  I am contemplating of building a clone of one of those due to the ease of finding parts.  I've been wanting to build a vintage sniper clone to shoot in competition.

advntrjnky

Couldn't find a pic online, do you have any? Which mount does it use, the side mount or the ZRAK rings? Sounds like a cool project.

The only pictures I have seen have  been in the book I mentioned.  The author is active on some collector forums and may have posted some, but I don't know for sure.  It looks like it uses a standard PU side mount that has been slightly modified to work one the front left side of the m48 action.  The scope is a Yugo copy of the PU, but a Soviet PU is easier to find.  I have only seen 1 or 2 examples of the Yugo PU scope in collector's hands.  They purportedly only made a little over 2,000 of them and were never put into mainline service.

advntrjnky