Collecting and Shooting the Surplus Rifle - Mojo Sighting Systems

In prior articles I have complained that the sights on your typical Mauser rifle are for a younger man's eyes. The Yugo m48 rifles are especially guilty of enflaming this ailment. To be honest, I am usually happy if I can hit the target with my Yugos. They are a fine and wonderful rifle but only offer "serviceable at best" sights to the slightly sight impaired (or eye glass wearer, as I am).

Note: I do really like Mausers rifles. Hell, I have a closet of the things. I just believe the sights could be improved upon greatly. Also like anyone who has even the most minute of an ego I like to be successful at what I do and usually when shooting Mausers I am not very. So as a result I don't shoot them often.

Remember - if you cannot win then try, try again. If that does not work then change the rules to the game!

Mojo Sighting Systems offers a product for us old folks that I have found make the Mauser a fun rifle to shoot again.

Note on Sponsorship and Product Reviews

Mojo Sighting Systems is a sponsor of Surplusrifle.com. This is not a paid or solicited article or commercial offering of the products Mojo sells. You may have noticed while reading other articles on the site that you cannot find a bad review on Surplusrifle.com. Our policy is that we only produce reviews on products that we believe in or can stand behind. Surplusrifle.com has a closet full of products and projects that don't meet our standards and therefore we have not published anything about them. We follow the approach my father taught me as a child - "If you don't have anything good to say - then don't say anything at all." Regardless of whether Mojo is a sponsor or not we would write and publish material about their products.

Mojo Contact Information

Web Site Address:
http://www.mojosights.com/

Manufacturer Product Description and Price

(Yugo M48, M48A, most 98-actioned Mauser long rifles except German and Yugoslav K98k)

Mojo's new, longer T38 - Here's where Mojo got its start. We cobbled together a rough prototype peep sight to fit a newly acquired Turk M38. Buoyed by an immediate improvement at the range, we figured there must be other shooters who would appreciate the same for their rifle. We were right.

We make two models for the M98 actioned rifles, the T38 and the G98 (German, Yugo K98k)

Pictured in figure 1 is the original military sight assembly. It is a standard leaf style (sight ladder) with sliding tangent. The sight pivots on two trunnions that are held in the sight base by the pressure of the leaf spring pushing upwards and a retaining pin that is driven through the trunnions.

Note

The Yugo m48 rifle's barrel and receiver pictured below was removed from the rifle stock for other work than shown in this article. It is not necessary to remove the rifle from the stock to perform this installation task.

Figure 2 shows the typical front sight with a male dove tail held in the base in a female dove tail.

Figure 3 shows the rear Mojo T38 aperture sight. Note the allen screw on the top for adjusting elevation and the allen screw on the side for adjusting the windage. Yes, you read correctly - a rear Mauser sight with both elevation and windage adjustments.

Figure 4 shows the Mojo front T38 sight (optional). Note the appearance of another aperture hole. The unique thing about the Mojo front and rear sight sets is this design. Later in the article you can see what the sight picture actually looks like.

First before starting any firearm related project: Make sure the rifle is unloaded and pointed in a safe direction.

To remove the original Mauser rear sight you first have to drive a small retaining pin out. I use a small punch and lightly tap out the pin with a hammer. Then pull the pin out the rest of the way with a pair of needle nose pliers. Be careful not to bend the pin.

Figure 6 shows the removed pin.

Once the pin is removed you can use a screw driver and press down on the front of the rear sight leaf so the trunnions are free to move. While the front of the leaf is depressed you can pull the entire sight leaf out to the rear of the sight base.

Figure 8 shows the removed rear sight leaf. Set it aside and keep in case you want to restore the rifle to original unaltered condition.

Installing the Mojo rear sight is very quick and easy. Slide the Mojo sight's trunnions into the grooves of the sight base. When it reaches the front of the sight base, press down with a screw driver so the trunnions can drop into their resting place.

Then release and the leaf spring will apply enough upward pressure to securely hold the new sight in place.

Removing the military front sight can prove to be a task. It is necessary to have a good punch and hammer to do the job correctly. Once you break the front sight loose it will easily tap out of the sight base.

Figure 12 shows the removed front sight and dove tail in the sight base.

I guarantee that the new Mojo front sight will not fit into the original female dovetail in the sight base without some modification. Above is an excerpt from the supplied instructions showing where to file the male dovetail to make it fit.

I have found that if you set the new sight's male dovetail next to the original sight then you will get an idea of how much needs to be filed off. It should not require more than a hair to be removed to fit properly. Don't take off too much! Take off only a little at a time until it is a very snug fit. Also make sure to follow the original angle of the male dovetail while filing. The instructions state that if the dove tail is too small to begin with, before alteration, then to call Mojo and they can walk you through a successful repair.

The sight picture on the Mojo T-38 Phase III is excellent and easy to see and line up as shown in figures 15 and 16. Simply line up the two circles (one centered inside the other) and then place the target in the middle.

Mojo includes a short description on dealing with the new style sight picture. "For most shooters, shooting with a tandem aperture sight set is an entirely new experience". They also go on to say that you will adjust and excel at using the new sights.

After practice I found that I am able to acquire a sight picture much quicker than a normal blade style, sighted rifle.

As I stated earlier in this article you can adjust both the elevation (as shown in figure 17) and windage (as shown in figure 18). Mojo does supply an allen wrench that fits both screws but I forgot mine and luckily had this multi tool in my kit.

When I packed up to go to the range I boxed up a bunch of ammo to take along for various projects I was working on. I packed what I thought were two boxes of commercial 8mm Mauser ammo and thought that that would be more than sufficient to complete the task. I know - I know - I have developed a very clinical way of describing shooting and the preparation involved. It sounds more like I am talking about work then actually going to the range to have some fun!

Note to self - I really have to shoot more without taking a camera along!

Back to the story - when I pulled the two boxes of 8mm out at the range to shoot I found one box had twenty empty cases and the other had only ten cartridges and ten empty cases! My range, like most, is a fair distance from the nearest place to purchase ammo.

I thought to myself what the hell do I have to lose? So I shot off four rounds and found I was almost right on target (as shown in figure 19).

After a quick adjustment to the elevation and windage, I was able to shoot my last six rounds in groups of three producing figures 20 and 21.

To say the least I walked away from the range to my vehicle with a smile on my face. Not that I did not want to come back and shoot a more in-depth range report but I was pleased that I was able to gain confidence and proficiency with the sights so quickly. I have another rifle with Mojo sights on it but have not shot it in over a year.

What do I see in my future? I can see a lot of empty 8mm Mauser cases in my garage getting loaded up for some (fun again) shooting at the range with my Mauser!

jlm;)