Zastava M48

Type	Bolt-action rifle
Place of origin	Yugoslavia
Service history
In service	1948–present
Used by	Yugoslavia, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq
Wars	Yugoslav Wars
Production history
Designed	1948
Produced	1950–1965
Number built	1,224,000+
Variants	M48, M48A, M48B, M48BO
Specifications
Weight	3.9 kg (8.6 lb)
Length	1105 mm (43.5 in)
Barrel length	597 mm (23.25 in)
Cartridge	7.92×57 mm IS (8 mm Mauser)
Action	Bolt action
Muzzle velocity	760 m/s (2,493 ft/s)
Effective range	500 m (547 yd) (with iron sights) 800+ m (875 yd) (with optics)
Feed system	5-round stripper clip, internal box magazine
Sights	rear: standard V-notch, adjustable to 2,000 meters in 100 m increments front: hooded, inverted V

The Zastava M48 is a post World War II Yugoslavian version of the Belgian Fabrique Nationale designed Mauser Model 1924 short rifle which was produced under contract by the "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" beginning in 1928 and ending with the Nazi occupation in 1941. After World War II, the Yugoslavs took this design and incorporated modifications based upon Germany's Mauser Karabiner 98k. Although similar in general appearance to that of the German rifle, many of the parts of these two rifles are not interchangeable, especially the bolt and related action parts. The main difference between the M48 and the K98k is that the M48 uses an intermediate-length receiver. They are usually easily identified by the top handguard, which extends behind the rear sight and ends just in front of the receiver ring, although this feature exists on other models as well. M48's are regarded as a military surplus firearm and can be collected in the USA, Canada and Australia at a generally cheap price due to the numbers recently imported from Europe.

Combat use

Most M48's were put into government storage shortly after they were manufactured. Most M48's that are encountered in the United States and Australia today show only slight wear—usually from storage. Many rifles are sold with accessories, including bayonet, bayonet scabbard, leather bayonet frog, ammo pouches, cleaning rod, and field cleaning kit. The rifles are normally sold coated in the protective grease 'cosmoline' which needs to be cleaned out before the rifle is fired. The condition is frequently excellent due to a Yugoslavian maintenance program that cleaned and inspected the stored rifles in rotation every 5 years until that nation's breaking up.

As such, the M48 only saw limited use in the Yugoslav Wars. Often the M48 was used as the basis for a sniper rifle, drilled and tapped for the ZRAK 4x32 telescopic sight and mounts.However, other than an experimental batch of approximately 4000 rifles, no official M48 sniper rifle was ever fielded by the Yugoslav Army. (ref. Serbian & Yugoslav Mauser Rifles by Branko Bogdanovic, North Cape Publishing, 2005)