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The Chameleon: A Yugo m48 Mauser w/Boyd's Laminate
Stock, Iron Elite Scope Mount, and Huber Concepts Mauser
Trigger! |
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| Article by
Jamie Mangrum |
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Adobe PDF
Downloadable Version of Article |
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For sometime now I have wanted to write a
"Mauser
Sporter" article. The premise for the
article would be to take an
inexpensive Mauser and turn it into a customized
hunting rifle.
I have written several Sporter conversion
articles prior, just none focused on the Mauser.
A good example is
"Lil' Black Beauty", where I
customized a Mosin m44 carbine into a great
little hunting rifle. The problem is that I
always get email chastising me that I have "bubba-ized" a military rifle. |
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| Not that I really
care what others think. If I did I probably
would not publish my thoughts in such a public
forum. The term bubba-ize when applied to
a military surplus firearm means that the owner
has taken a collectible firearm and permanently
modified it to be used as a "huntin' rifle". Usually a Bubba-ized rifle cannot be returned to
its original military configuration because
something has either been cut off or
welded on.
I agree with the ideology that
to Bubba-ize a collectible rifle is bad. But I
only apply the ideology to me. I would never
publicly criticize anyone, stating: "Hey - you ruined a beautiful,
wonderful, collectible military firearm!"
I might think it, but I would never be so
self-righteous as to say it out loud
or actually write it in a forum as I have seen a
few folks do! What makes
this country great is freedom. The basic freedom
that what you do with your own rifle or pistol
is your own business and not mine or really
anyone else's for that matter!
Here at Surplusrifle.com we try to promote
non-permanent alterations or improvements you
can make to your rifle without destroying the
value or collectibility factor. Sure, we have strayed
from the purist path more than a few times when we
demonstrated in articles: How to drill and tap a Mosin/SKS carbine
for a scope mount, or we bent a rifle's bolt, or
we committed the crime of all crimes.....in our early days we
actually applied polyurethane to a rifle stock
after we stripped and stained it. But
for the most part we love mil-surp firearms in
their original, untouched condition and this is
the mindset we very much try to promote.
I have been keeping an eye out for a while
for components for a project that would give the
look and functionality of a custom sporting
Mauser. This Sporter rifle would be built upon a
traditional military Mauser, but with a catch!
All would be done without
permanently modifying the original rifle. For the transformation I chose a cantilever
scope mount from
Iron Elite
Scope Mounts, a
beautiful laminate stock from
Boyd's Rifle
Stocks, and a
Huber Concept's trigger. Now keep
in mind that the Huber trigger requires you to
remove wood from the inside of the rifle stock
in the trigger well. If necessary the
modification would be made on the Sporter
stock and not the original so it still qualified for
the project.
Last but not least: The title of the article
is "The Chameleon: A Part-Time Bubba"
this kind of further defines the scope of the
project. The idea for the article would be that
we would start with a Yugo m48 Mauser (as
shown in figure 1) and then
disassemble it. We would then build up the
Sporter rifle and when we were all finished we
would take all of the the new Sporter components
off of the Yugo and return it back to its
original, unaltered, military configuration.
The point we are trying to prove is that you
can take a rifle and shoot it as a "Huntin'
rifle" during hunting season and then turn it
back into the military rifle you have fun with
during the rest of the year without making the
collectible value swirl down the drain. |
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One more last thing: The military Mauser I chose as the basis for the project is in unissued condition and is an
excellent shooting firearm. I mean it is
accurate (more so than I am capable of).
Whew! Take a deep
breath and let's get going.
I disassembled the rifle and stored away the
military parts.
For detailed disassembly instructions for the
Yugo m48,
click here. |
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Huber Concepts Match Grade Custom Mauser Trigger |
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The Huber triggers come in
three flavors:
- Match Grade: Looks pretty much
like the original trigger on the outside;
- Ultra Light: A skeletonized
version of the Huber trigger;
- Custom: Out of this world in
appearance. Your imagination is the only
limitation (figure 3).
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Legend |
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On close inspection the Huber trigger is
very adjustable. You can make three adjustments
via the supplied allen wrench:
- Over-travel: How far the trigger travels
after you break and fire a round.
- Anti-friction ball: Anti-friction ball
adjusts the sear engagement.
- Trigger creep: Trigger creep is how far
the trigger travels before you break and
fire a round.
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Huber Concept's Supplied Product
Description |
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Stainless Steel
Ultra-light Mauser Trigger $79.99 |
I have created this trigger with the
collector as well as the shooter in
mind. The black teflon model gives you
the performance of a match grade paper
puncher while keeping the original
military profile. The stainless steel
and ultra-light models add a distinctive
custom look with the performance you can
expect from this patented design. about
us about us about us more about us and
even more about us.
As a collector of Curio & Relic firearms
I have always loved the look of a rifle
that has survived 50 years or more.
Matching numbers with 90% finish, a
great bore with solid action but - that
awful trigger. With a pull you can
measure with a yard-stick and and creep
that is unreal. Now you can bring new
life to that old favorite with a one
piece up grade. I have tried other
industry standard and custom triggers.
Even at twice the price my trigger can't
be beat! With only a little fitting
required on some models compared to the
major inletting and grinding required on
some types, this installation is a snap.
In my military days we learned as
riflemen that each shot should be a
surprise. While my collection of war
time bolt actions was quite function
able and contained several great
calibers - that D@$#^ trigger. That's
why this trigger has come to be. Now my
favorite Mauser is a game getter. Match
grade quality and a sniper sweet feel.
The shooter can set the adjustments for
the feel that best fits their style and
needs.
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| Figures 4 and 5: Using a punch, I
tapped out the trigger pin and the original
trigger fell out. Figures 6 and 7:
Installing the Huber trigger is just as easy as
removing the old trigger. I placed it in the
sear and tapped the trigger pin back in.
The Huber trigger has more metal surface area
below the sear, when compared to the original
trigger. You will need to remove some of the
wood in the stock for the new trigger to move
freely without obstruction in a standard
military rifle stock. The beauty of the Boyd's
stock is that they supply an oversized trigger
well and the Huber trigger is literally a
drop-in part!
For more detailed information about
installing a Huber Trigger in an
Enfield,
Mosin-Nagant, or the
Mauser click on the respective links. |
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Boyd's JRS
Pepper Laminate Yugo m48 Mauser Rifle Stock |
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| Next I moved onto prepping my new stock. I
had ordered what Boyd's calls a JRS Laminate
Sporter rifle stock that they now also make for
the Yugo m48! This was a long time coming. There
is not a lot out there for the Yugo m48 in after
market accoutrements. |
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Boyd's Supplied Product Description |
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JRS
Yugo m48 Stock $119 |
Designed exclusively for BOYDS’ Gunstock
Industries, Inc. by the noted
firearms/hunting writer Jon R. Sundra,
this stock is a synthesis of all the
design elements found in the most
elegant examples of the classic style.
The slender, somewhat open grip is well
defined, but does not extend too far
below the toe line. The comb is parallel
to the bore, which aids scope use, and
because of its straight-line design,
minimizes cheek slap under recoil.
Additional facial support is provided by
a graceful cheekpiece that blends
perfectly with the overall shape of the
buttstock. The forend is flat-oval in
cross-section, and proportioned to
complement barrels of 22-26” in length.
The JRS is available in a wide range of
inlettings to accommodate most barreled
actions with factory barrel contours.
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Boyd's Gunstock
Industries
25376 403rd Ave
Mitchell, SD 57301
Phone: 605/996-5011
Fax: 605/996-9878
http://www.boydboys.com/
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| The Boyd's stock is a very nice Sporter stock indeed. I
really like the overall shape, look, and feel.
Boyd's also offers this stock in nutmeg (brown)
laminate as well as a traditional walnut. I love
walnut but wanted something different so I opted
for the pepper colored laminate as pictured in
figure 8 above. I was really lucky to
have read the article
Fitting a New 98k Stock written by Mike
Wetteland. It helped me in prepping the stock
for installation.
Once I examined the stock I found that although the receiver
seemed to drop in perfectly, the military barrel
was not a drop-in fit at all. If you look
closely you can see that the barrel rides up
about a half an inch in figure 8. |
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Following Mike's tips I closely
compared the original stock's barrel channel (figure
9) to the new stock (figure 10)
where I found it had a much narrower barrel
channel. The problem area was mainly around the
rear sight sleeve (figure 11). I
could not remove the rear sight sleeve because
the scope mount I chose for this project is
attached to the barrel via the rear
sight frame. The plan was to take my time using a rotary tool and
cut away only a little bit of wood at a time. I
would use the original stock as my guide. Every
once and a while I would stop and test the fit.
I was sure I would be just fine. |
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| Please note that I am NOT a wood working type of guy. I do not
have electric saws and other wood working tools
in my garage. The extent of my wood working
ability is cutting two pieces of 1x2 pine to sit
under my stereo receiver to make it sit flat on
an uneven surface. Both pieces are almost the same
length! My wife now only complains once a
week about how bad they look. This is after she walks by and spots the unfinished
and unsanded pieces of wood that stand out in a
glaring fashion because they are about as
white as snow in color and brightness. |
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Once I had the barrel channel
inletted and sanded to perfection and my
barrel actually fit, I installed the hand guard and
hand guard screws. Everything went fine with
assembly until I
tried to insert the
bolt. I could not insert the bolt at all. There
was wood that was blocking the way. I also could
not swing out the bolt stop so even if the bolt
did slide into the receiver I would not be able
to remove it. I found the area of stock as pictured in red in
figure 14 was about 1/8th of an inch too
high and I needed to remove it. I re-disassembled
everything and installed a large cutting disc on
my rotary tool and went back to work. I cut very thin,
even
pieces of wood off both sides of the stock (areas
in red). |
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| I have learned that you really
need to take your time when using a rotary tool.
The dang thing will fly out of control very
easily and do permanent damage to your body or
even worse - the rifle stock you are working on!
Please be careful! When I had removed enough wood (figure 15)
for the bolt to easily slide in unobstructed and
the bolt stop would swing out, I sanded
everything down and continued with the project. |
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Next task: I installed my sling
swivel studs. I do not have a jig for this because I don't
do this enough yet to afford one. For now I use
the old "sighting the the location with my eyes
method" and then I drill a couple pilot holes.
After this I compared
the length of the screw of the rear (longer)
and front (shorter) studs against the
drill bit so I knew how far I should drill. I
then drilled the final holes.
I used a small
steel punch as a wrench to turn the studs as I
installed them (figure 17). |
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Figure 19: Using a punch, tap out the rear sight
pin.
Figure 20: Remove the rear sight pin.
Figure 21: Place a flat blade screw driver
against the forward part of the rear sight leaf.
Figure 22: Remove the rear sight leaf and leaf
spring. |
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I reassembled the rifle with
the new stock and everything fit perfectly. I
was really excited and moved onto the next task
in the project of installing the scope mount. |
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Iron
Elite Cantilever Scope Mount |
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For the mount I chose something very unique in design. I
got the opportunity to speak with Robert Krenzel of Iron Elite Scope Mounts to
describe the project I had in mind and the
outline for the article. It was obvious to me
from the phone conversation that Robert thrives
on making an excellent and quality product.
When I received the mount in the mail at first I thought
he had sent me a bunch of the mounts because the package had
considerable weight to it. Nope, it was just a single mount.
This is not some cheaply made aluminum mount, it is made
from CNC machined steel and is pretty heavy. The design
is pretty ingenious. Taking from the design of the
typical no-gunsmith, scout type, scope mount that
replaces the rifle's rear sight, Robert's product extends back
over the receiver where the scope is suspended over the
bolt. The great thing with this mount is you don't have
to bend a bolt or know how to drill and tap to install
it.
I was able to completely install the mount in about a
half an hour with only the following tools:
- Assorted Allen Wrenches;
- Assorted Punches;
- Mallet.
When you first look at the Iron Elite mount you wonder if the
cantilever style mount will really hold the scope in
place after firing many cartridges or being jostled
around while being dragged through the brush. I answer
this question later in the article. |
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Iron
Elite Supplied Product Description |
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M48Y
Mount W/Rings $112.45 |
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people favor and enjoy shooting a scope mounted
rifle, but until now you had to either drill &
tap the receiver, cut off and weld on a new
handle or bend the bolt handle after heating it
with a torch. There are other mounts available ,
but none of them offer the Iron Elite
advantages. Iron
Elite TM Classic Cantilever Scope Mounts
- No Drilling
- No Gunsmithing
- No Permanent
Alterations To Weapon
- Use Standard Eye
Relief Rifle Scopes
- Does Not Interfere
With Use Of Safety
- Windage & Elevation
Adjustable
- Uses Standard Or Dual
Dovetail Rings
Iron Elite offers mounts
for the following Mauser rifles:
- German K98K
- Yugo K98K reworks
- M48,M48A Yugoslavian
- VZ24 Czechoslovakian
- 98/22 Czechoslovakian
- M38 Turkish
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Please use the legend in figure 26 when
installing your mount. Not all steps are covered in the
photos but are in the written text instructions. The
part names used in the text instructions correlate with
the part names used in the legend above. |
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Place the retaining nut into the leaf spring
groove of the rifle's rear sight as shown in
figure 27. |
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| Place the Iron Elite scope mount onto the
sight bridge making sure the hole in the mount
aligns over the retaining nut (figure 28). |
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Turn the rifle on the side and place the
retaining pin in the hole in the side of the
sight bridge/frame. Using a punch and mallet tap
the pin through the scope mount until it is
centered between the sight bridge and securely
holding the mount in place. |
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| Use the provided allen wrench to tighten the
set screw that is in the center of the retaining
nut. This will secure the retaining nut in the
rear sight's leaf spring grooves. The
instructions note that you should not over
tighten or use loctite. Install the retaining
screw and tighten with the provided allen
wrench. Tighten the retaining pin set screw at
the very front of the mount. |
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Turn the elevation screw until it just
touches the receiver. The tip of the screw is
brass tipped so it should not scratch or mar
your receiver's finish. |
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| The rings included with my mount are Leopold
scope rings and like the mount are a very high
quality product. You could say that I approve.
Mark Trope is turning me into a scope
and scope mounting hardware snob. There
are many things that it is perfectly all right to go cheap
on when purchasing. Optics and optics mounting hardware is not one
of these areas!
Mount the scope and tighten the
rings. |
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Please note that scope sits off to the left
hand side of the receiver (figure 33). This is true with the
Iron Elite mounts also made for the Yugo K98K reworks, Cz
VZ24, Cz 98/22, M38 Turkish Mausers. The 98k
Mount sits directly over the receiver. This is
because the 98k bolt is bent already to a degree
that allows for proper clearance of the bolt
whereas the other Mausers either have semi-bent
or non-bent bolts and the mount needs to be
offset to allow for non-modification of the bolt
handle. This is great! |
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| Well, figure 34 shows the completed project
ready to go to the range and test fire. |
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Range Day
aka Swimming in the Cold! |
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Weather had prohibited me from
going to the range now for the past three weeks
and short of a tornado, hurricane, and
torrential flood all happening at the same time
- I was going! Range day came and it was very
cold and wet.
I decided that since the end result of this
project is supposed to be a hunting rifle, that
it would be appropriate to use commercial 8mm
Mauser ammo. So, begrudgingly (because of the
expense of $20 per box) I purchase four boxes for the test. |
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| I purchased four boxes because I had
no idea how many rounds it would take for me to
sight in the scope and since my range is a 45
minute drive one way I wanted to make certain I
had more than an adequate supply on hand to get
the job done. Although the Iron Elite mount has
both elevation and windage adjustments I was
very lucky (probably far more lucky than ever
before) as I was able to place shots on
paper right away and it took me less than seven
shots to get the scope reasonably dialed in as
shown in figure 37. |
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Any fears that I harbored hat
the scope would not be secured properly were
quickly put to rest. This is a very solid setup!
The mount is great. I ended up shooting all four
boxes of
cartridges during the shooting
session (with cool-off sessions periodically)
just because I wanted to give the rifle a good
test. My shoulder took a little bruising, but
the zero stayed intact and I was quickly
shooting out at the 100 yard range and very
accurately at that. The stock's recoil pad limited
the bruising though and is the reason I was able
to shoot for such an extended time. Well,
and the fact that I was having fun! |
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| When you combine all of the new
components with the Mauser: The greatly improved grip of
the handsome Boyd's JRS rifle stock, innovative
and very stable Iron Elite scope mount, and the
phenomenally improved trigger because of the
Huber Concept's trigger upgrade, I was soon shooting
100 yard three shot targets very similar to the target shown in
figure 38.
I left the range cold and wet, but with a smile on
my face.
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| Compatibility Note: The components in this
article are available for most Mauser rifles. You may
not own a Yugo m48, but you may own a Turkish 1903/38 or
a k98 Mauser and with to complete the same project. You
can! The Huber Trigger will work with most any Mauser I
have touched. The Iron Elite scope mount is available
for the Yugo K98K reworks, Cz VZ24, Cz 98/22, M38
Turkish, and k98k Mausers and the Boyd' generic Mauser
stock will work on most 98 Mauser pattern rifles. So,
granted the focus of this article is on the Yugo m48,
but you could basically build the same rifle on most
Mausers. |
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After I got home and cleaned
the Mauser I removed the stock, replaced the
Huber trigger with the original military issue
trigger, removed the Iron Elite scope mount and
reinstalled the original rear sight. Then I
reassembled the rifle with the military
components I had stored away. I had completed
the project and had my Yugo m48 Mauser back in
its unaltered original configuration.
No
evidence of Bubba here! |
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I waited until the end of the article to let you know that
the article actually does not stop here.
I was able to get
FAC of America to sponsor a contest
associated with
this article. If you would like to win a Boyd's laminate
stock and Iron Elite scope mount for your very own Yugo m48
then please go to the
http://www.gunsnstuff.net/
web site and on the main page you will find the
following section: |
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This is a sample
graphic only. It is just a screen shot so you will know
what to look for! |
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Click on the Free
Newsletter Graphic above to go to the FAC website and
enter the contest! |
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Once on the FAC website's entry page you will enter your email address and then click on the submit
button. On March 31st, 2005, FAC will send me an email
address and I will contact that person and let them know
that they are the winner! Then I will send them the
components. To me this is really cool. To be able to
actually give someone else the same components I used in
the article. There is no obligation to purchase
anything. All you have to do is sign up for the email
newsletters telling you about sales at FAC on mil-surp
parts and rifles. |
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FAC Mailing List Privacy Statement |
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Privacy is important to us; therefore,
we will not sell, rent, or give your
name or address to anyone. At any point,
you can select the link at the bottom of
every email to unsubscribe, or to
receive less or more information.
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Winner
Selected!!! |
| Bill
Umphrey wins himself the Boyd's Yugo m48 Stock,
Huber Trigger, and the Iron-Elite Scope Mount!!!
Congratulations Bill and thank
you FAC! |
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jlm;) |
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Adobe PDF
Downloadable Version of Article |
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