Yugoslav TRZ.5 M24/47

[Jim]

I call it a Cracker Jack because like the snack, there were (some) surprises inside. Nothing major but unusual to me.

It's a nice, all matching, script font TRZ.5 with what I believe to be an early rendition of the crest, thus its crudity. No proof of that yet though I'm researching that.

Some of the curiosities- First and foremost is the Belgium proof on the bolt arm root. This is presumably originally from an FN rifle then. As it happens, this is the first such I have encountered on a 24/47 though I know the Yugo FN order was for 100,000 rifles. There's another stamp there who's origin I don't know.

Another oddity is the stuff in the action and in the cosmo of the floor plate. My first thought was that it was some sort of metal chips and how the heck did they get there? But my second thought is, could these be powder flakes? If so, anybody know whose powder this is? Who made the ammo?

The initials(?) "S M" badly scrawled on the stock attests to its use in the "troubles" following the break up of the former republic of Yugoslavia. There was also some dirt mixed in with the cosmo though very minor. And there was cosmo! Lots of it. This is one of the gooier ones I've had.

There's an unusual (to me) #4 stamp inside the butt plate that does not resemble common post war Yugo stamping fonts. Is this just a damaged stamp or does it have some origin other than Yugo? Also, I have not run across this red sealer inside the butt plate before but, then, this is my first TRZ.5. Is this a common practice with them?

Also the asterisk - 6 pointed star(?) stamp on the bolt part. I really don't believe it has anything to do with the Israelis, but am not familiar with its use as a Yugo stamp.

finally, the ground cavalry sling barrel band is the roughest, worst done, I've yet seen.

About as plain an unadorned "T" proof mark on the barrel as it gets but the old royal proof on the receiver is apparently from a different tool than I am so far familiar with. This was probably stamped after the refurb. They weren't supposed to continue using the old, royal proof stamps but with Yugo practicality, they used what they had. I have seen some that apparently had the crown at least partially removed.

There were two patches of sticky residue on the butt like there had been stickers there. Perhaps celebrity or religious images like we've seen on some?

Very entertaining, this one.

The pics can tell the tale best...

Information

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[Dutchman]

This one had the faintest remnant of the FN Model 1924 crest.

They had fairly lax standards post-war. Yours looks pretty typical. Mine had a pretty contrasting elm handguard. <gag>



Dutch

[jmoore]

Jim, the little squarish bits are most likely unburned powder flakes, as you surmised. I've seen plenty of this type powder in various European rounds, but I couldn't say from whence it came exactly.

Don't know how I missed this post earlier...

[remus]

The flakes are very similiar to powder flakes that I saw after pulling some bullelts from Turkish 8mm stuff.