8 MMm Mauser

Well I went to a local GS i know the owner well and siting on the shelf was this 1942 Turkish K98 Mauser ( why would Turkey be making Mausers in 1942?) Anyway, he was asking 150 Bucks and I Bought it. The furniture is real nice and the bore is actually not bad, a little dirty but not bad some frosting of course. He threw in 65 rounds of ammo in a bandolier. As far as I can tell everything works fine and i am looking forward to putting some rounds down range. Did I do O.K.? Also how can I tell if the ammo is berdan or boxer primed?

I'd be interested in seeing a picture of this Mauser, I know a little about Mausers but not an expert....

I've never seen a 1942 vintage vintage Turkish Mauser, from what I've read Turkey bought up rifles from other countries and put them to use, updating older rifles in their armories to modern specs, etc.

Could be an older German Mauser re-worked and dated 1942....

I'm sure someone with more Mauser expertise will be along shortly, but a picture would definitely help.

As far as the ammo, assume all military surplus 8MM ammo is Berdan primed and corrosive.

Turk Mauser - Model of 1938

Here's some information you might find interesting.

The Turkish Mausers don't seem to bring what German or Argentine mausers do, but at $150, I'd say you stole it. I would have bought it myself.

Please post all markings (pictures of marking would even be better).

If the receiver was manufactured in 1942, it's a pretty safe bet it was not made in Germany, unless it was acquired after 1945.

The Turks bought and made Mausers. They were friends with Germany.

Post pics of the ammo. If it's military it's corrosive

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The only way to tell if it's boxer or berdan is to fire it and then look in the case.

One big hole in the middle - boxer. Two little holes offset - berdan (you probably already knew that).



Thing I'd be concerned with is corrosive or non-corrosive. If it's military, it's, 99.99% chance, corrosive. Civilian - maybe not.

Many of the Turkish Mauser's were made by CZ.

$150.00 is a good deal for a Turk Mauser in good shape, good score. I have 7 Turks, 3 Czhec, 2 Romanian, and 2 Yugo Mausers I shoot quite a bit. A note on ammo, odds are, if the ammo is in a bandoleer with metal buttons or a later "fold" closure and one of 4 colors, blue, off green, or some shade of grey or brown, the ammo is Turkish manufacture. As far as I know the Turks are the only ones who put their ammo in bandoleers on five round clips (all my Turk ammo is packaged this way). The Yugo, Czhec, and Equadorian 8mm ammo I have on hand is in fifteen round boxes on five round clips. Romania put their ammo in fifteen round boxes loose or on clips. You should consider All milsurp ammo corrosive and Berdan primed. Boxer primed milsurp is the exception rather than the rule. I'm shooting 8mm ammo in my Turk, Yugo, Czhec, and Romanian Mausers that was manufactured in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Enjoy that Mauser and shoot it, they are a hoot. If you plan to buy more Mausers (you will, and how do I know this?) Robert Ball's Book, "Mauser Military Rifles of the World" (3rd edition) is a good investment to make.

De Oppresso Liber

Fredo Batali said:

$150.00 is a good deal for a Turk Mauser in good shape, good score. I have 7 Turks, 3 Czhec, 2 Romanian, and 2 Yugo Mausers I shoot quite a bit. A note on ammo, odds are, if the ammo is in a bandoleer with metal buttons or a later "fold" closure and one of 4 colors, blue, off green, or some shade of grey or brown, the ammo is Turkish manufacture. As far as I know the Turks are the only ones who put their ammo in bandoleers on five round clips (all my Turk ammo is packaged this way). The Yugo, Czhec, and Equadorian 8mm ammo I have on hand is in fifteen round boxes on five round clips. Romania put their ammo in fifteen round boxes loose or on clips. You should consider All milsurp ammo corrosive and Berdan primed. Boxer primed milsurp is the exception rather than the rule. I'm shooting 8mm ammo in my Turk, Yugo, Czhec, and Romanian Mausers that was manufactured in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Enjoy that Mauser and shoot it, they are a hoot. If you plan to buy more Mausers (you will, and how do I know this?) Robert Ball's Book, "Mauser Military Rifles of the World" (3rd edition) is a good investment to make.

De Oppresso Liber

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Ditto on that book, now in its third edition. It not only shows the rifles in great detail; it tells a lot about the history of the countries involved. Has many, many photos.

Keep in Mind that Turkey was allied with Germany in WW I. Remember the British and Allied debacle at Gallipoli? They were fighting Turks, and it was largely Turks that Lawrence of Arabia led his forces against.

The Ottoman Empire (Turks) was once a major threat to Europe. Turkish forces penetrated into Austria

In fact, the famous Sir Samuel Baker bought his wife in a Turkish slave market, while posing as an Arab. She was an Austrian girl taken by Turks. He later freed her and they married. Their romance was one of the great loves of the 19th Century, and she went with Sam on his journey to discover the source of the Nile.

I think that Turkey also bought Mauser pistols and Lugers.

Turkish forces fighting on the UN side in the Korean War of 1950-53 were fierce opponents for N. Korea and China. I think they mainly had US arms by then.

If memory serves, Turkey is a member of NATO. The US has/had bases there.

Now, be honest: could you or your family find Turkey readily on a globe? I'm amazed by how little history or geography most people know today.

Probably a Model 1938 Turk Mauser made in 1942.
M98's some w/receivers made in Turkey, some rebuilt rifles from rifles of German origin and remarked.

K.Kale,,Ankara (Arsenals),,and a few other markings are generally found on the recv'r ring. Turk property markings, ect.

Most have the somewhat odd combination of the Large Ring 98 recv'r but use the Small Ring 98 bbl thread size.

They were imported in huge numbers in the 90's.
There's also a 1903 Model with it's high rear bridge charger loader, and I think one other Model designation I can't recall. Seems like one was a pre-98 Mauser rifle,,,maybe not.
Just do a search on 'Turk Mauser' and you can find lots of info I'd think.

They were $35 surplus rifles then and brushed aside by the 'real expert' Mauser people.
Since then they've gained quite a following and many have been built into fine sporters.
One cheap way to go is to use a Swede 96 6.5 bbl, or a 93/95 Mauser 7x57 bbl on one as the bbl threads are the same. That's of course if you don't care for 8x57, which I personally don't see anything wrong with.

$150 is a decent price now for one in good shape. Many of the imports were like new condition under a heavy coating inside and out of axle grease.
I remember having one near pristine example for sale at a show. The heavy grease was cleared from the bore and action to show the condition but the rest of the rifle was still in need of cleaning. At $65, no one wanted it. I think I ended up trading it for something else.

Tons of ammo came in with them. The cotton and corduroy button bandoleers holding 70rds IIRC in 5rd strippers were $5 & $6 each bandoleer.
I still have a couple K of it. Mostly marked 1940 and 1941 with the Islam/Turk Cresent on the head it seems quite hot when fired in another 98.
A few neck splits here and there, but fun shooting for what it its and quite accurate.
Definetly corrosive,,clean accordingly.

Many shooters used to pull the bullets and dump the powder then reload with a 10% reduced load of the same for a more comfortable round. Some used to just pull down the rounds and reuse the bullets and powder in new primed brass,,scrapping the old brass w/ corrosive primer. It was certainly cheap enough at the time.

I had a Yugo Mauser that I bought at a pawn shop for 89 bucks a couple of years ago. I liked the short 24" barrel and turned down bolt and it had all milled and matching parts and was in great condition. If I could find one of those for under $175 I would jump on it because it was a great shooter and a lot of fun. I think the old military bolt actions are a lot more interesting than the new black bolt action rifles with synthetic stocks.

Yugo had 2 different Mauser rifles. The 24/47 which was a small ring Belgian Mauser 1924. Later updated in 1947. And the standard M48 German carbine

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2152hq said:

Many shooters used to pull the bullets and dump the powder then reload with a 10% reduced load of the same for a more comfortable round. Some used to just pull down the rounds and reuse the bullets and powder in new primed brass,,scrapping the old brass w/ corrosive primer. It was certainly cheap enough at the time.

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Got that right. I bought 3000 rounds for, I believe, 65 bucks a thousand. I wasn't even after the ammo. I wanted the clips.

1000 rounds is 200 clips at 65 means 20 for 6.50, 2 for 65 cents, 32 cents each.

That made the ammo free.

You did fine at $150 if it's in decent shape. Turk ammo came packed 70 rounds to the bandolier, and it sounds like that's what you have as well. The Turk ammo packs quite a punch.

If you have K Kale stamped on the receiver (see below), then the gun was made in Turkey. If not, it was most likely re-arsenaled in Turkey. Most have mismatched bolts. If the S/N on your bolt happens to match the rest of the gun, you're lucky indeed.

I had a '42 years back that I sold. Ended up selling all my Turks except for one, a '46. The Turks were imported in bulk and sold off cheap, and because of that many thought of them as inferior to the Yugos, Czechs, Germans, and so on. I never bought into that myself.

I still have several Mausers, including a bring back K98k, and my Turk shoots as well as any of them. They're great guns.

Gunzuki said:

Well I went to a local GS i know the owner well and siting on the shelf was this 1942 Turkish K98 Mauser ( why would Turkey be making Mausers in 1942?) Anyway, he was asking 150 Bucks and I Bought it. The furniture is real nice and the bore is actually not bad, a little dirty but not bad some frosting of course. He threw in 65 rounds of ammo in a bandolier. As far as I can tell everything works fine and i am looking forward to putting some rounds down range. Did I do O.K.? Also how can I tell if the ammo is berdan or boxer primed?

Click to expand...

The Turkish M-98 shares the same excellent engineering common to the 98 series. Chambered in 8x57mm, it is eternal. It will be present and accounted for after the rapture when those left behind pick it up off the ground and start using it. The Turkish 8mm ball ammo has a reputation for being loaded full-power. More than likely it will shoot POI to POA using the normal battlesight on the rifle. Turkish 8mm ammo is infallibly berdan primed, which is the norm for just about any european ammunition produced in that era.

If the barrel is dark, etc., give it a good brushing w/ Shooters Choice and a Phosphor-bronze cleaning brush. If needed, get a copper Chore Boy and wrap bits of that around the brush to scrub out all the gunk. Some Clover valve grinding compound worked into a patch and worked through the bore will also help. You can also take a lead bullet and roll it through some of the Clover compound on a piece of glass then load it over a mild charge of powder... say 8 gr. of Unique or so and fire it down the barrel. This will "fire-lap" the barrel. If the barrel is in really bad shape, it may help. Have not seen it hurt a barrel.

Strip the rifle down and clean all the dust and dirt out of the bedding of the stock. Clean and oil the metal, reinstall in the stock and tighten the stock bolts firmly. Forget about the capture screws as they seldom time so that you can firmly tighten the stock screws. Just set them aside in a zip-lock bag for use in display, etc.

One final thought. Disassemble the bolt and clean the interior of the bolt, spring, etc. Give attention to the firing pin tip. It may show damage from firing if it pierced a primer on corrosive primed ammunition. Have fun with your new rifle!

Turkish Ammo is pretty hot. It's pretty well known in Mauser circles that Turkish Mausers have headspace issues. Might want to get it checked.

1942 makes it almost certain that it is a Turk K. Kale built Model 1938 long rifle.

Turk ammo can be OMG hot. 150gr pill at 3000 fps+ from a Turk long rifle. Be sure to check the bedding and see if the stock is straight when you disassemble the gun. Bad bedding is not uncommon with those rifles. A properly bedded Turk is the equal of any bolt gun with the right ammo. One with bad bedding is a shotgun. You may guess how I know.

Turkey also purchased 98/22 Mausers from Czechoslovakia and remarked (Turked) them or left them "as is". I have three 98/22's and one has been "Turked" with Farsi numbers on the rear sight leaf and a few miscellaneous parts. Gotta love those Mausers

De Oppresso Liber

The Turkish rifles have a good reputation for reliability and strength. they have to: that Turk ammo is HOT: a 154 gr (comes out even in metric) bullet at a real 3000 fp;s.

i only shot the yugo in 8mm it kicks like s a mule but right on the money