Firearm Review: Yugo M48 Mauser 8MM Rifle

My Yugo M48 was purchased from a local dealer for $95 plus tax. A cheap plinking firearm even if its not that accurate. I also purchased several boxes each of the following types of ammunition:

Surplus 50's headstamp yugo ammunition, 8 cents per round
Surplus 70's headstamp romainian ammunition, 17 cents per round
New PMC ammuntion, 21 cents per round
New federal ammunition, 45 cents per round
New Wolf gold line ammuniton, 33 cents per round

All shooting at the range was done from the bench (as per range rules) at 100 or 200 yards. All shooting in the field was done offhand, standing shooting at silhouette targets of jack rabbits and coyotes from 25 to 75 yards,

Before heading to the range, I completely dissasembled and cleaned the rifle. It is important to inspect each part closely for wear and damage. Some of these surplus rifles have been in storage for nearly 50 years and damage can occur. In my case it was found I needed a new firing pin spring. It had been left cocked and the spring "took a set" and wasn't any good. I picked up a replacement from my local gunsmith on the way to the range. Cost was $1.34.

At the range i fired 5 rounds to clear the barrel of any remaining storage grease or cleaning agent. The first string of shots was five rounds of each type of ammo at 100 yards. All ammo was FMJ target type. I gave the rifle ten minutes to cool off between each shot string. the results are as follows:

Group sizes
Surplus 50's ammo
2.6" evenly spaced

Surplus 70's ammo
1.8 inches with one called flyer at 3.4 inches

PMC ammo
2.4 inches 4 touching 1 spaced out

Federal ammo
1.2 inches evenly spaced

Wolf Gold ammo
4.4 inches one group of three, one group of two

The second set of tests was 200 yards with the same conditons as above.

Group sizes
Surplus 50's ammo
4 inches three touching, two singles

Surplus 70's ammo
2 inches a five shots in a vertical line

PMC ammo
1.7 inches all shiots clustered tighly

Federal ammo
11 inches with all shots in different parts of the target and keyholing

Wolf gold ammo
8.1 inches all shots in a vertical line

At this point in the tests I discontinued the use of the federal ammo as it seemed to not take the rifiling and was keyholing at the 200 yard targets. The remainder of the federal ammo was given to another shooter to use up.

The field tests were done by myself and my nephew acting as my assitant. He set various targets at various distances in some tree rows near the town where i live. Tree branches and roots made some shots more diffcult than others. The targets were rated on a hit or miss scale and rated by difficulty upon completion of the course. I used PMC ammo for all the field tests as it had proven the most accurate at the range. Field results are as follows:

Target Range hit or miss Difficulty (1 is the lowest, 10 is the highest)
Rabbit 25 yards hit 1
Coyote 75 yards hit 3
Rabbit 50 yards miss 6
Rabbit 25 yards hit 5
Coyote 25 yards hit 2
Coyote 75 yards hit 9
Rabbit 75 yards miss 10
Rabbit 50 yards miss 6
Coyote 25 yards hit 5
Rabbit 50 yards hit 3
Coyote 75 Yards hit 10

Overall i was impressed with the handling and accuracy of the rifle. I wasn't expecting much from a $95 rifle with cheap ammunition. While not a tackdriver, it is an excellent small or large game rifle for short to medium range with correct bullet choice. It comes to your shoulder easily and is well balanced evne with its full length wood stock. The recoil is stout but mangeable and if you over 5' tall and weigh more than 150 lbs you can shoot this rifle with ease. At a later range session i put over 500 rounds downrange in a single morning without any ill effects from recoil and with the same good accuracy.

There are alot of aftermarket stocks, triggers and accesories for this rifle available. I prefer it in its stock, military configuartion but you can customize it as much as you like for not a lot of money. Several different scope mounts are available and monte carlo stocks with integrated scope mounts as well. For a cheap starter rifle for a young teen, a cheap rilfe to set up for deer hunting or even a tricked out varmint rifle, the versitile M48 Mauser fits the bill.